Part Two - Narrative: Project Three - Photographing the unseen: Exercise 1 - Non-visible themes

This exercise is about our reactions to three cases studies by Level 3 OCA students presented in the course materials, who have explored metaphorically non-visible themes:

• Peter Mansell
• Dewald Botha
• Jodie Taylor.

We are asked to consider our reactions to these projects, as in which resonates most, and how we feel about the loss of authorial control that comes when the viewer projects their own experiences and emotions onto the images we've created.

My reactions to the three pieces of work are set out below.

Peter Mansell

I found Mansell's story very moving and tried a google search to find more images but unfortunately to no avail.  I haven't been in Mansell's situation, nor do I have a personal relationship with someone who has experienced such a traumatic event, so can only sympathise rather than empathise, but I can see that self-expression through art/photography can be a therapeutic process.  I found it interesting how Mansell documented aspects of his life, e.g. the space his wheelchair occupied rather than him sitting in his wheelchair.  Somehow, this seems to be more moving than a self-portrait.  It gives you an idea of the planning and logistics of living with a wheelchair - you need to make space.  I wondered if it was also a metaphor for time as well - how much extra time does Mansell need to factor in to get from A to B?

Dewald Botha

Botha's work resonated very strongly with me and from two, maybe three, different perspectives.  His project "Ring Road" documents metaphorically his reactions to living in China and his search for "beauty and relief" in a place of "busy-ness and intensity".  Firstly I worked in Dakar, Senegal for four years (over 20 years ago now) and to describe that experience as intense and claustrophobic would have been an understatement.  It was during that period that I first became interested in art and took up painting, plus I also read and read and read as a form of escapism.  I did take photos during that time - but these were tourist shots - I was not a student photographer then!  Secondly the exercise of walking and capturing is a process I have been through recently through my participation with the Bleeding London project, however, this is a documentary process not a quest for peace.  But, I realised post-hoc that my recent submission for Assignment One, could well have been a subconscious expression of frustration with the state of my local neighbourhood.  Thirdly, my life at the moment is crazy.  Both home and work calendars are back-to-back - one meeting after the next - one event after the next, and I spend a lot of time commuting, rushing, and generally living at 100mph trying to combine work, OCA, home, personal practice, and last year, I went through a period of time (during DPP) of feeling drawn to negative space images in a search for peace and tranquility.  That is no longer the case though now, I now work with the momentum and ride the crest of the wave, rather than trying to retreat from it.

Jodie Taylor

I also found that Taylor's work resonated with me.  My third assignment for DPP was on a very similar theme in which I revisited the town of Felixstowe and photographed places that I remembered from my childhood holidays with my parents and grandparents, and submitted the final body of work as a presentation.  All the posts relating to this piece of work can be accessed by following this link to my DPP blog http://jointheaadpp.blogspot.co.uk/p/blog-page.html and then clicking on each separate link under Assignment Three. 

Authorial control

How do I feel about the loss of authorial control that comes when the viewer projects their own experiences and emotions onto the images I've created?  If I'm honest, I don't really feel anything, other than this is inevitable and part of the process.  If you take the view that art, and in our case, photography, is a form of expression and communication, there have to be two people minimum in that relationship: the communicator and the receiver.  The creation of the art is only complete, once there has been interaction or reception, and the translation or interpretation into personal experience or resonance on the part of the audience is just part of the process.

I think that for a photograph to be appreciated, it has to mean something to someone, and there therefore needs to be that reaction.  It may not be the reaction that the author intends, in which case, yes, there is a loss of authorial control, but I see it more as the continuation of the story that may have several directions of travel.  Someone is able to take that form of expression and make it their own.  In fact, I do feel something, I feel that it means that the piece of work is successful.  If it means something to somebody, if someone can apply some meaning to my expression then my work is successful.  It may not be the reaction that I intended, but seeing as that is something that I may never be able to control (beyond guidance through the use of text), I'm not going to worry about it.  I will just be pleased that there has been a reaction.

References

• Boothroyd, S. (2014) Three Case Studies. The Open College of the Arts course materials for Context and Narrative, pp 62-68

Own work referenced

• Alison Adcock (2013) Assignment Three - Felixstowe Rediscovered (for OCA Digital Photographic Practice) available from http://jointheaadpp.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/assignment-three-monochrome-submission.html [accessed 23 November 2014]