Art and Space
Krzysztof Wodiczko is an artist that we looked at during Week 8 of this class in context to ideas of art and space. Well, what does art and space refer to? What does it mean? And how do social issues tie into his work?
In Wodiczko's reading Interrogative Design he examines how his work works to social issues to make positive change or impactful statements. Wodiczko's work focuses primarily on his projections, and important aspects of this that he highlights include The Father, Aura, Social body, Medium, social effect, method, and warning. I really identified with this quote from Wodiczko's Public Projection, "Gazing, viewing, observing, and staring, we are trying to fathom Its mysterious grammar."
In my photography, I've started my career through photographing activism, and my work today has continued this theme. Whether it's for journalistic stories that capture community change, or is just a local community event that I photograph for my own interest, I still have social issues at the forefront of my focus. When I think of social issues, I think of humanity. Visually, this is what I try to portray. In any fight for justice, there is emotion, sensitivity, gentility, and frustration. Capturing these emotions through scenery, through texture, is one of my favorite techniques to use in my work. This image represents this humanity, even though there is no direct social message meant to come through.
When I think about art and space in this image specifically, I think about it in the context of sports. I used to hate the idea of sports photography before starting to work for the newspaper, but this was in large part because I didn't have the skills to do capture fast action and low lighting well. Now, having those tools, practice, and knowledge, I find myself understanding the spaces in which sports take place much better. I found the pockets of quiet among the noise. This image is a perfect example of this. A volleyball player pinning her hair back, tilting into the light of the basketball court, reminded me that this moment would not have happened in the same way outside this court. She ties her hair back as the coach is talking to the entire team. Sure, this context may not be clear from this image, but it still stands out to me in the intimacy that it presents us with as viewers.
Paradox and Photography
When we discuss "the social definition of photography" we're really discussing the idea of paradox. This image represents this paradox in that it's an image of a performance. It is not an image of life. Yes, this is a live performance, and yes that means that it exists within life, of course. However, within the idea of paradox within photography, we're talking about how what we capture is just an interpretation of what is 'real.' It's not what's actually real, but it's the idea of realness. Photography is just another medium that is here to interpret real life, to try and mimic it, to capture it, to recreate it. Life itself, however, cannot be recreated, or relived. It can be interpreted and reinterpreted, but it cannot be lived twice. And this is where we get this idea of paradox. When the viewer sees this image, they may see a portrait. They may see that this is from a performance. They may see that this is a real, plastic blow up guitar being held by the subject. They may see that this is a subject holding what appears to be a guitar, but it could really be a ukulele. These many layers of unknowns are compelling to me, as well as the paradox of photography. Since a large part of my job as a photojournalist is to capture real life and events as they are, as unedited and as genuine as possible, I find that capturing this truth is really a subjective matter. Yes, there are the usual wide and establishing shots to set the scene, however, everything else will be framed no matter what. The audience may interpret events differently, even when looking at the same image.
Surveillance Culture
This image was taken for a newspaper project was about an artist who is also CU alumni who does sculpture art. This artist recently has been working on a project in Aurora, CO, that involves a public art installation of some of her sculptures. This image is a visualization of what the town is going to look like after it has been developed. This development will take about 10 years to start and finish construction. But, in the meantime, those who manage the property and source all of the art that will be installed around the town gave us a tour. This specific image relates to surveillance culture in that it shows us this idea of a bird's eye view that anyone can see. When I went to photograph this I had no prior connection to the artist or the site developers. Now, after photographing it, this information about the art and the development are public knowledge. One could google the name of this artist and immediately find the article with the images about it. Then, one could find out more about the artist, where they are local, how they are active on social media, and so on and so forth.