Nigel Shafran is a fine art photographer and uses his personal life as his subject. He does not appear in any of his images, but he communicates his habits and daily routines. In the series ‘Washing Up’ he takes photos of his sink are before and after meals and accompanies the image with text captions describing the meal.
The course notes state that it is intimate, beautifully lit and composed. Really? Dishes and utensils around a sink? I have looked at his other series and they appear more of the same and I am struggling to understand the artistic merit. It appears to be the photography equivalent of reality TV, or a Facebook post from someone you vaguely know letting you know what they had for tea.
The questions to this exercise provide some additional context relating to gender. I don’t see that a series such as this would be favoured by either a man or a woman. If anything it is about what utensils were used in the making of the food. By not including people he is not attributing stereotypes to the act of domestic life. Maybe it was more profound at the start of the 21st Century but I don’t feel that this series carries much weight on gender politics.
I also struggled with the change in portrait landscape choices. The scenes drain away any emotion from me as a viewer. I imagine there is more context that I need to research. Something about the artists that means that the kitchen is a significant place for them or some reason that these tasks are difficult.
I have seen similarly composed images by Wolfgang Tillmans of items on his desk. I accepted these fairly easily but I think that was because I was aware of his other work and the subjects he chose. His range of subjects and methods add gravitas to the work he produces. If that was the only type of work he produced I would probably struggle to understand it but as a series looking at the workspace of a photographer I found interesting.
Maybe I have more against kitchens and dishes than I had realised. If I like looking at an artists desk why do I dislike looking at another artists kitchen? What would I feel if it was Wolfgang Tillman’s kitchen?
This has been quite an interesting exercise and has drawn out more passion than I had before writing this piece.
Trish Morrissey [1] uses herself in her projects but does not see them as traditional self-portraits. She sees that she is the protagonist where she plays other characters. Her projects have humour but have deeper meaning regarding family relationships and relationships with strangers. In her series Front she places herself amongst strangers on the beach to create a family snapshot. These are interesting as you look more at the strangers and imagine their lives and who has been replaced in the photo, who is missing?
In Seven Years Morrissey recreates old family photos with her sister. They don’t just play themselves they also dress as their male family members wearing fashions of the time. These are quite fun but contain nostalgia and raise questions of the past and where the family are today.
In her series Album, Wearing planned and prepared meticulously to produce self portraits wearing prosthetic masks of her younger self and family members. The compositions were re-enactments of old family photos. For assignment 2 I flippantly said I would need a time machine to produce a photo of my younger self. Well here an artist has used their imagination and creativity to produce just that.
Brotherus’ self-portraits in Annonciation, rather than hide and obscure her life and emotions, puts it all out there and in focus. No gimmicks or allusion. Once you know the subject is of her attempts at IVF she conveys the heartache, pain and emotional exhaustion of repeated failed treatments.
Vivian Maier (1926-2009) was another photographer whose work became known after her death. In fact she was not known as a photographer (her day job was a nanny) and her work highlighted her outside interest. Her self portrait work is of her reflection in mirrors and windows with the camera on show. These images work as a record of how she wanted to be portrayed rather than how she was seen in her day to day life.
Martyn Rainbird 