Away – Study Visit to Oxford–28th July 2012

The visit started at the Jam Factory for coffee. (Former home of Frank Cooper's preserves including "Oxford Marmalade" , now a bar and restaurant) OCA Tutor Sharon Boothroyd introduced herself and we started with introductions and a short history of our involvement with photography. The discussion continued with, amongst other things, how we use photography and why we are passionate about it. We named our favourite photographers and talked about what we liked about their work. On my list I included Cartier Bresson, Sebastao Salgado, Bill Brandt and Geoffrey Crewdson. I could also have included Bruce Guilden and Joel Meyerwitz whose New York street photography I admire.

Amano talked about the work of Raghu Rai and Jeff Wall. I need to research these photographers, their work sounds interesting. At the end of our discussions we walked up to Art Jericho to look at "Away" , an exhibition showing Sharon Boothroyd's series "If you get married again will you still love me?" and Tim Crooks' photographic essay on West Park Asylum. We viewed the photographs of both artists and took a break for lunch.

When we returned, Sharon gave a short talk on her work, including the current exhibition. She outlined how the idea came to her and initially that she had tried to use real fathers and children but that it was very difficult so she opted for the idea of using friends and a 'setting' to stage the ideas of the words spoken to separated fathers by their children. The exhibition consists of seven prints five of which show the father (or in one case the legs) and the child while the other two show just the child, isolated, moody and in situations associated with being kept somewhere they don't want to be; sitting at the bottom of the stairs in that no-mans-land between adult space and your space (i.e upstairs in your room) or standing against the front door making your presence felt by being in the way, a symbolic stand at the portal preventing entrance or exit.

One of the group mentioned that the portrayal of the fathers in the pictures represented (to him) an idealised view of fathers as mothers would like to see them reacting to their children i.e. caring, concerned and supportive. Sharon's blog on WeAreOCA explores this further. I was particularly interested in this topic as a separated father although as I explained in the discussion, I only recall a withering look from my eldest son when he realised I was spending a lot of time with a new friend after his mother and I separated. It was interesting to hear Sharon's take on this during her talk Representations of the Real. I have taken the liberty of pasting the quote she added to her blog below. I found this a good summary of what is required when I go beyond simple representation in my photography.

"While painters have the amazing ability to imagine something and create it on paper straight from the imagination, photographers have to find something that actually exists, take their camera to a relatively close proximity and make the image without an obstruction getting in the way. Photographers have to be physically present with their subject. The problem is; How can you be physically present with an idea?

Photographers have to find something that represents that idea before they can begin to create anything. In some ways this can be extremely limiting and frustrating but at the other end of the spectrum it can open the mind to new ways of thinking and interpreting what is real and new ways of representing that reality. In fact, by defamiliarising an idea using a different means of representation, I believe it creates a more engaging and interesting body of work."

From the collection, one image stood out which may or may not be a stereotypical scenario but perhaps one all fathers would recognise. The teenaged girl and her father sitting at the café table. Communication has definitely broken down, the body language, the untouched portion of chips, the detached gazes in to the distance, all point to the gulf that exists between them. Fellow student Gill  liked the use of colour in this series. I agree, I think it gives an immediacy that black and white doesn't deliver for this type of photography. (that's another discussion entirely).

Tim Crooks exhibit was enjoyable too. Picking out the evidence of the long gone human presence in the photographs, clothes, abandoned suitcases, jigsaw pieces on a corroding table, the word DUCK spelt out on the floor in red letters, all sit amongst the decay, peeling paint, flooded floors and dilapidation. There was a severe sense of loss. The word Asylum has a newer connotation these days but to me it brings to mind the fact that this place was a home, a place of safety for many who were unable to function in society. The passing of this type of institution is to be celebrated but to some it was the only home they may have known. That just adds to the overwhelming sense of sadness.

Several of the group then walked down to the Old Power Station to visit the Exercise Djibouti exhibition. I'm afraid I only lasted 10 minutes. A video of virtual soldiers running around a figure of eight track in the desert as the camera pans slowly round the site did not engage my imagination or interest. This is a shame because I am studying Digital Film Production and I thought their might be more of interest. Tea and cake back at the Jam factory and the bus back to Fyfield was more appealing.

In conclusion I found this study visit very useful. I have continued my exploration of photographic art, art photography, call it what you will and have yet another insight into the ways in which photography can be used to present ideas and narrative.

OCA Study Visit 28/04/12 – Gillian Wearing Whitechapel Gallery

Introduction
This was my first study visit with the OCA and I was sent very useful joining instructions which set out the objectives for the visit:
 gain a personal perspective on the work of Gillian Wearing
 reflect on the experience of seeing photography and video in a gallery
 network with other OCA students

The introductory video by the gallery curator Daniel Hermann is here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qv02v3aOrC8
In it, he states quite clearly “Gillian Wearing is interested in the divide we build between the front stage and the back stage of our lives” and “the powerful discrepancy between the public and private is at the heart of the work of Gillian Wearing”.
I have also read two articles from the Guardian newspaper, the first gives some background to the exhibition and the second is a review by Laura Cumming:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2012/mar/04/gillian-wearing-whitechapel-gallery-feature
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2012/apr/01/gillian-wearing-whitechapel-patrick-killer-tate?intcmp=239
This link gives some more background to the exhibition with some interesting images of the construction of the masks for the album series.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/gallery/2012/mar/27/gillian-wearing-takeover-mask?intcmp=239#/?picture=387780737&index=7
A personal perspective

The first objective is probably the most difficult to tackle. It is now three days since the visit and I am still trying to make up my mind about how I feel about this body of work. This degree course is my first encounter with the arts. As yet, I don’t understand a lot about why artists do what they do and what motivates them.

From the information above, it is quite clear that the purpose of the work is to examine the differences between the perception of ourselves that we present outwardly and  the private, hidden self within us. In Tim Adam’s article for the Observer, he starts his piece recounting an overheard conversation on the top deck of the 55 bus. This relatively new phenomenon shows how readily we are prepared (almost without thought) to share details of our lives in public.  Social networking, blogging, ‘reality’ TV shows, instant communication and celebrity see us sharing more of our lives with the world. This seems to be self perpetuating, the more we see, the more we want to see and share. With the current speed of  communication and interaction, perhaps Andy Warhol's alternative quote “in 15 minutes everyone will be famous” could be just around the corner.

As a group, we looked closely at these parts of the exhibition:

• Signs that say what you want them to say and not signs that say  what someone else wants you to say.
• 2 into 1
• 10 to 16
• Crowd (a painstaking video  reproduction of Albrecht Dürer’s “A large piece of turf” 1503) link here

Of these, “Signs…” was the one I found most interesting. Given that the subjects were presumably given a free reign on what they wrote, I wonder if there were perhaps some frivolous thoughts or even if there was an element of people writing what they thought was expected (i.e something outrageous) rather than what they were actually thinking. I’m sure most of us are thinking very banal things most of the time.Very difficult to judge and equally thought provoking. Michael Lawton, who showed us around the gallery mentioned that apparently,  the suited business man holding the sign “I’m desperate” rushed away from the scene once his photograph was taken. I wonder if he was “desperate” for the bathroom? (That note of cynicism still surfaces, is that healthy?) I think this was a good way to engage people in the creation of an artwork and the signs make you think “what would I write?”

In the same gallery space there were three contemporary small painted bronze sculptures of named individuals, all heroic in very different ways.

Crowd It would have been easy to overlook this small video screen tucked into a corner. I thought this was a very interesting and simple idea. The artist has  reproduced this 16th century watercolour by Albrecht Dürer and  produced a 15 minute video loop. To see any change you have to search the image almost as minutely as the artist’s recreation was painstaking but you are rewarded with subtle changes in light and the movement of ants over the leaves.

2 into 1 This was amusing. Twin boys’ comments lip-synced by their mother and vice versa was a very clever idea and although the things they said were as you would expect from a mother and her sons talking about each other, each twin reacted to his mother’s words as they were played back and synced by his brother. It must have been toe curling and embarrassing for all parties but they carried it off brilliantly.

10 to 16. This I found strangely disturbing. Seven children from the ages of 10 to 16 speaking about their lives, their words lip-synced by adult actors. Again, with the exception of the 16 year olds contribution, much as you would expect to hear from children of this age. To hear children’s voices from the mouths of adults seems somewhat sinister to me. During  discussions it was mentioned that perhaps this was a device to make us listen more closely. I wondered if  one or two in this series of videos were deliberately designed to shock. One of the children’s voices was lip-synced by a naked dwarf sat on the edge of a bath which was disturbing (to me at least). The final sequence from the 16 year old was also provocative in that it was graphic in it’s description of the boys confusion over his sexuality. I’m afraid I am of the generation that stills finds four letter words cause me to wince inwardly although I do  accept them (reluctantly) as part of everyday expression.

Album (the family likenesses) I didn’t know how I felt about this at the time and nearly a week later I’m still uncertain. I can understand the idea that you may wish to draw attention to family likenesses and that to wear a mask and body suit of a relative to show an intimate connection  reinforces this. What I do admire is the execution of the idea, a very complex and time consuming process which produced something of interest. As a technical process, very challenging. Is that its own reward perhaps? This work tells us something about Gillian Wearing but I’m not sure what. The second part of this gallery, the artists Wearing considers her major influences, is clearly meant as a tribute to Arbus, Mapplethorpe, Warhol Cahun and Sander. Again the masks are beautifully created and the poses are based on existing photographs. I’m not sure if this type of work has ever been done on this scale before. Maybe this is the artist’s motivation?

There were other video sequences to watch, the confessions series, and one or two others but I had seen enough. I found the video “Dancing in Peckham” amusing for a few seconds and was more interested to see the reaction of passers by who seemed to treat the arm waving and head banging dancer as part of the everyday experience of a shopping centre.

All of this makes me think that it is more important that I preserve (rather than hide) my “backstage”. I don’t consider that I have anything to hide but on the other hand, there is a lot which could be misinterpreted or misused and besides, I have to reserve some aspects of my personality for those I wish to be intimate with. After all, if you show it all to everyone, what is left? I think Gillian Wearing knows this only too well.

The Gallery Experience It was pointed out to us as we entered the first part of the exhibition where the majority of the video screening booths were located, how like the “backstage” area of a theatre it was with the unpainted wooden framework exposed all around us. The photographs were hung differently, the Signs series were arranged like large contact sheets, the Album series at differing heights with different coloured frames, an informal family collection whereas the others on the opposite wall were of similar size and arranged formally in a straight row. I’m not sure whether these arrangements affected the way I perceived the exhibits, it may have been very subtle.

Networking This was certainly a very effective way of getting to meet other students, a tutor and staff involved with the OCA. Lively discussion took place in the gallery Cafe about the exhibition, our individual courses, submissions for assessment events, art and photography in general. A very worthwhile and rewarding experience topped off by an additional visit to the FOTO8 Gallery to see the Dana Popa “After the New Man” exhibition.

http://www.foto8.com/new/online/interviews/1569-dana-popa-talk-at-foto8

A slideshow of the images is available on the link above. Essentially, the photographer has documented the everyday lives of the young people in post Communist Romania. These images were supplemented by a caption list which provided a commentary; echoes of the past interspersed with the hopes that these young people hold for the future.

Reflection This visit has gone some way to help me to understand what art is, why artists do what they do and the role of  the artist in society. I read on one of the OCA forums last year in which Clive W. said that our understanding would come in time. I think I am a little closer to flicking that switch.

Here is a link to the We Are OCE  blog where you can find links to other students' blogs:

http://www.weareoca.com/photography/tell-gillian/