"All art is political" The above photograph by Sabastian Salgado set the visual stage for our discussion today about the intersection of photography and politics. We recognized from the outset that the subject was too large to discuss in one session. With that being said, Howard stepped up to lead the discussion. Howard had a large PowerPoint presentation...way too large to include in this blog post. Opening narrative below from Howard: “The trend in art today is to be political — perhaps more so than any time since the 60’s. From music to dance to movies to television, literature, painting, sculpture, you name it. In almost anything these days, someone will find a way to politicize it. Take the new Wonder Woman movie for example. If I read one more critique about how important it is from a feminine perspective….Why can’t it just be a story about good vs. evil? Plus, once one person takes a position, others start piling on from both sides of the aisle. These days we debate everything. And, social media has made it easy to disseminate those points of view along with photographs — some of them doctored — to make the point that much more memorable. As Sebastian Salgado said last week at his talk at the Getty… about his own work — every picture is political.” From that starting point, we explored "political or politicized" pictures, many known to us from previous discussions, relating to our subject. The above iconic, Pulitzer Prize winning shot was one of many that were shown. While not directly political in the sense it doesn't picture the body politic, it's metaphoric political implications were immense driving political discourse in our country. In contrast, the Vietnam era award winning picture "Napalm Girl" (not shown) drove the international political community discussion about the human cost of war and our pain inflicted by the US. The Lange picture, on the other hand, was driven by the politics in Washington and the body politic wanting to understand better the "dust bowl" effect on the population. This picture also drove our conversation to staged photography in the political realm. The Time Magazine cover picture of Trump and its set up picture of the photographers in his home taking the picture. The props of the set as well as the ultimate picture showing "horns" on his head...from the juxtaposition of the word "TIME" and his head. The picture above represented yet another political statement...on a number of levels. In this case the fact she was "bathing" in Hitler's tub is, in itself, a statement. This coupled with the mud on the rug dragged in from the concentration camps Lee visited as a photographer. This picture with it's back stories of Lee Miller and her life encouraged all of us to take up her life and photography at a later session. Salgado's social photography took up the greater part of our our discussion time in light of his recent talk at the Getty and the large exhibit at the Museum of Photographic Art in San Diego. His work has documented the human condition and the state of the global environment in his attempt to influence political discourse. It is beyond the scope of this blog post to discuss the impact of Salgado. We also touched on multiple other photography-political areas: influence of photography on local vs country politics / example North Korean images influence of photography on gender issues in politics… / example Catherine Opie's work influence of photography on social / environmental issues / example Salgado access issues in political arena photography and the visual politics of terrorism rise of iphone phtotgraphy and social media on the body politic photography and propaganda violence and photography photography as free speech dust bowl photography conflict photography protest photography Too much to discuss...not enough time. And this from former White House photographer Pete Souza, Obama’s personal photographer is a master of the art of getting a political message across by means of simple, non-posed, narrative photography. All photography is political. Because all photography takes place in a social and cultural context and is, even if unintended, a form of suggestive manipulation. Politics, per definition, is the art or science of influencing people’s beliefs on a civic or individual level. That’s what photography is about: conveying a certain interpretation of a reproduced reality that we take for real. I thought I would end this blog with a huge thanks to Howard for his effort with this topic AND some reading references on the subject: In an era of social confusion and visual pandemonium, David Levi Strauss tackles issues of photography and politics in a way that few critics today are courageous enough to attempt. The essays collected in "Between the Eyes" address topics ranging from propaganda and the imagery of dreams, to Sebastião Salgado's epic social documents and the deeply personal photographic revelations of Francesca Woodman. Other issues broached here include the legitimacy of photographic imagery and the media frenzy surrounding the events of September 11, as well as essays on the work of Ania Bien, Miguel Rio Branco, Alfredo Jaar, Joel-Peter Witkin and others, plus an interview with painter Leon Golub (who worked from photographs). Contemporary art is increasingly concerned with swaying the opinions of its viewer. To do so, the art employs various strategies to convey a political message. This book provides readers with the tools to decode and appreciate political art, a crucial and understudied direction in post-war art.
From the postwar works of Pablo Picasso and Alexander Deineka to the Border Film Project and web-based works of Beatriz da Costa, Art and Politics: a Small History of Art for Social Change since 1945 considers how artists visual or otherwise have engaged with major political and grassroots movements, particularly after 1960. With its broad definition of the political, this book features chapters on post colonialism, feminism, the anti-war movement, environmentalism, gay rights and anti-globalization. It charts how individual artworks reverberated with enormous ideological shifts. While emphasizing the West, Art and Politics takes global developments into account as well - looking at art production practiced by postcolonial African, Latin American and Middle Eastern artists. Its case-study approach to the subject provides the reader with an overview of a most complex subject. This book will also challenge its readers to consider often devalued and marginalized political artworks as properly part of the history of modern and contemporary art.
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This week's meeting was led by Rene... Joe Loudermilk presented two projects...B&W...of course. Narrative by Joe Loudermilk (edited for space) Hooper Car Repair Shop “You never know where you may find, or stumble upon images to photograph. I needed to have work done on my truck. I was referred to a shop that turned out to be a family owned business that has always just specialized on rear end axles. When I walked in I could immediately see this was a shop with an image rich environment for Black and White photography. I managed to get back to the shop a few days later with my camera and was given full access to the shop. I spent close to 2 hours walking around, observing and photographing. All the other images were shot as I found them and with only the existing lighting in the shop.” All pictures below are by Joe Loudermilk and untitled Blue Ox Restoration, Eureka CA
“The second group of images are of the old woodworking shop called ‘Blue Ox’ in Eureka CA. The shop specializes in Victorian restoration, using tools and machines from that period, most of them hand or peddle powered. In addition to the woodworking, Blue Ox also has a vintage print shop and blacksmithing area.” All pictures below are by Joe Loudermilk and untitled “The camera is an excuse to be someplace you otherwise don’t belong. It gives me both a point of connection and a point of separation.” Susan Meiselas Separation Anxiety Today we had a new/old guest, Doug Hill a professional architectural photographer known to many of us for his work and his participation in PasadenaPhotographyArts as Co-Director. Doug talked to f8 several years ago. His presentation today focused on his newer work in the urban street environment. Specifically, his narrative was about finding new direction in his work and developing his artistic vision going forward. He showed 50+ examples of his new work...several of which are shown below: ...All untitled by Doug Hill also here is a link to his website Doug Hill Website Doug talked about the importance and difficulty of moving to new projects...hence the title "Separation Anxiety" We discussed the importance of curating new work...and even old work. We discussed the visual bias of his architectural photography. Also discussed was the color vs B&W aesthetic...more importantly the continuing need for composition as a basis for his work. There was feedback on his new work. Also Cyndi showed a few pictures of the Doug Eakins "Mirage House" that was part of a recent exhibit called "Desert X" ..below is a link Doug Eakins / Mirage House Busy morning at f8 Pasadena... We mentioned the article in the New Yorker (May 22, 2017) about the great bookmaker Steidl...below is the link to the article. Steidl...The Book Monk Finally, we noted the passing of Marie Cosindas
Marie Cosindas, an early pioneer of color photography whose work blurred the line between could be produced by a paintbrush and what could be accomplished using a camera, has died. She was 93. Before William Eggleston revolutionized the field by introducing hues that had rarely ever been seen before, Cosindas had become among the first photographers to experiment with color. Featuring a wide variety of subjects, from an arrangement of dolls to a portrait of Andy Warhol wearing sunglasses, her work had a painterly quality to it, and her style was praised for its softness. One of her champions was John Szarkowski, the Museum of Modern Art photography curator who, in 1966, gave Cosindas her first solo show. (The exhibition also made Cosindas the fifth female photographer ever to have shown at MoMA.) Having garnered critical recognition in the 1960s, her work faded into obscurity in the decades afterward, only to experience a newfound interest in her work late in her career after a 2013 retrospective at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth, Texas. |
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