A photograph may represent that delicate moment when dealing with the truth. In ‘Camera Lucida’, Roland Barthes interprets the connection between the photographic subject to the real subject as an “intractable reality”. Barthes claims that the referential truth of photography manages to distinguish photography from other representational mediums, such as painting, film or literature. Photographs can never transform nor go beyond the subject. A photograph cannot originate a subject since it is authentication itself.
The presence or absence of our loved ones is important, especially at that noteworthy moment, which stimulates the taking of images. Such body of works may take various forms, including portraits, self-portraiture, exteriors, interiors and stills. Generally, we photograph those symbolic moments in family life, which we want to keep in mind, emotionally and visually.
We are built to engage and practice life’s ups and downs, therefore what makes us and what breaks us. We share our presence until we leave this place. However the imprints and the marks left on us by those who came before us become the remains on this land. Recently, I have lost my dearest grandmother and through this project, I would like to represent my connection with her throughout history and how such life event affected me emotionally. Nevertheless by capturing my grandmother’s loss in the places, which had a great significant to her, both interior and exterior examines the marks she left on the people close to her.
For the majority of the works incorporated into this research paper, the photographers present Barthes’ idyllic vision of the spectator, whose observation remains focused on the subject of the photo, rather than the photograph itself. ...
... middle of paper ...
... sadness is quite evident in his photography. The series ‘Occupied homes’ consists of images of suburban empty interiors of occupied homes. Although the interiors are empty, a human presence can still be felt. The link between death and loss is the backbone of my project, conveying these concepts both in interiors and exteriors.
Benjamin in his critical essay, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” asserts that the impact of media and various cultural technologies emptied the image’s particular aura; hence it’s distinctive value. Authenticity in art has been lost because of the mechanical reproduction available in the 20th century. The reproduction of art lacks presence and personality. A reproduction enables you to choose independently how you would like to present it. The attachment the subject and representation is considered to be enduring.
I saw that soldier’s faces were lit eerily in the dim light. The sculptures apparel seemed fitting due to the light rain that was falling at the memorial site. I noticed the wall glimmering as the raindrops slid down the glassy surface and fall into the wilting flowers while the images illuminated from the glare of rain and light. I felt this morbid and realistic presence of the soldiers and for a mere second felt the gloom and menace of the war they were in. I walked around the site to gather more information on what the memorial was dedicated to. I walked past the mural wall and as I did I paid particular attention to the various images of people and equipment on the wall. All of the facial expressions of the people on the wall gave the memorial a very real presence to it. I continued walking down the granite walk and I read it was the Korean War Veterans Memorial and immediately got the message the artists were trying to convey. It was very clear that they were showing the public that freedom is not free. The memorial symbolizes the soldiers that have fought for the freedom of others and it recognizes the importance of these actions and
The earliest forms of art had made it’s mark in history for being an influential and unique representation of various cultures and religions as well as playing a fundamental role in society. However, with the new era of postmodernism, art slowly deviated away from both the religious context it was originally created in, and apart from serving as a ritual function. Walter Benjamin, a German literary critic and philosopher during the 1900’s, strongly believed that the mass production of pieces has freed art from the boundaries of tradition, “For the first time in world history, mechanical reproduction emancipates the work of art from its parasitical dependance on ritual” (Benjamin 1992). This particular excerpt has a direct correlation with the work of Andy Warhol, specifically “Silver Liz as Cleopatra.” Andy Warhol’s rendition of Elizabeth Taylor are prime examples of the shift in art history that Benjamin refers to as the value of this particular piece is based upon its mass production, and appropriation of iconic images and people.
The role of photography is questioned; he asks, what about photography makes it a valid medium? We read about the operator (the photographer), spectrum (the subject) and spectator (the viewer), also about the stimulus (what we see in the photograph) and the punctum (the unclassifiable, the thing that makes the photograph important to the viewer). According to Barthes, the photograph is an adventure for the viewer, but it is ultimately death, the recording of something that will be dead after the picture is taken. This idea is the main focus of Barthes’ writing, the photograph “that-has-been”, in Latin “interfuit: what I see has been here, in this place which extends between infinity and the subject; it has been here, and yet immediately separated; it has been absolutely, irrefutably present, and yet already deferred” (Barthes, 76).... ...
Throughout the lives of most people on the planet, there comes a time when there may be a loss of love, hope or remembrance in our lives. These troublesome times in our lives can be the hardest things we go through. Without love or hope, what is there to live for? Some see that the loss of hope and love means the end, these people being pessimistic, while others can see that even though they feel at a loss of love and hope that one day again they will feel love and have that sense of hope, these people are optimistic. These feelings that all of us had, have been around since the dawn of many. Throughout the centuries, the expression of these feelings has made their ways into literature, novels, plays, poems, and recently movies. The qualities of love, hope, and remembrance can be seen in Emily Bronte’s and Thomas Hardy’s poems of “Remembrance” “Darkling Thrush” and “Ah, Are you Digging on my Grave?”
John Mahtesian's photography offers a visual poetry of the human condition. It is a direct expression of his warmth, depth of spirit, and humanity. A true gentleman, extremely humble and unfailingly polite, he achieves an invisibility that is the success of his art. His patience and commitment to his vision allow him to capture moments others could not. If his subjects are aware of his presence, his gentle nature so enchants them that they are unguarded and their essence is revealed. So compelling are his images that we are truly convinced his insights are our own. They make us rejoice in the world around us, and in the nature of human existence.
Benjamin does not really find the work of art lamentable, but rather elevated. Replicating an art substitutes a mass existence for a distinctive existence, hence, the reproduction of art, once permitted, brings art closer to the masses (Benjamin 1054). As time gradually changes from its traditional past, to the present “renewal of humanity” (1054), so does the perception of the masses and its movement. I would argue that the development of technological reproduct...
...on their market value, has become the substitute for what paintings lost when the camera made them reproducible” (146). Confirming Berger’s argument, when I viewed this piece of art, I was amazed by it. It invited me in and I spent a long period of time looking at, and looking into it. Although the environment of the museum added to my experience of viewing the artwork, if the original painting had looked as vibrant and colorful as the reproduction, the painting would have been even more intriguing. If I had seen the reproduction first, I know that I would not have been pulled into this piece of art.
Bringing distressing images and situations the forefront of art isn’t gimmicky, and it isn’t entertaining. It’s indispensable. When punches are held the point is only half-made. Vividly bringing to life the tragedies of the world is the only way in which we can come to understand them with any validity, and understanding these heartrending circumstances is the only means through which we can learn from them.
Overcoming the grief that is felt after losing a loved one is a physically and mentally agonizing task. According to Dr. Christina Hibbert, a clinical psychologist who graduated from the California School of Professional Psychology, three main stages of grief include anger, depression and acceptance. Each one of these emotions can be seen in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet and The Descendants (2011, Payne) as the artists explore the effects of grief and the different emotional responses that one can have due to the loss of a loved one. Additionally, in Ismail Kadare’s Broken April, the Berisha family feels the sufferance that is associated with unexpected death, as well as the various temperamental reactions that one will have after losing a loved one. Each of these works of art represent a powerful example of the stages that one will go through after feeling the intense sorrow that is connected with death, as well as the unavoidable effects of grief.
As the first poem in the book it sums up the primary focus of the works in its exploration of loss, grieving, and recovery. The questions posed about the nature of God become recurring themes in the following sections, especially One and Four. The symbolism includes the image of earthly possessions sprawled out like gangly dolls, a reference possibly meant to bring about a sense of nostalgia which this poem does quite well. The final lines cement the message that this is about loss and life, the idea that once something is lost, it can no longer belong to anyone anymore brings a sense...
In the book, the Barthes creates some terms. Operator, Spectator and Spectrum are the first one. The Operator means the photographer, the viewer who looks at the Photograph becomes the Spectator and the thing emitted by subject is called eidolon(image, phantom, ghost), in other word the Spectrum. Barthes talks about Operator’s ability to take the picture of naturalness from the situation. He says that a Photograph is closer to the Spectator than the Operator and the Spectrum is the closest one. The stream of his thought naturally moves from the subject of the picture to viewers with excluding the person taking a picture. It was interesting for the artists like me because for artists, the subject matter goes first and then the work is created later. Particularly, for me, considering viewers mostly comes at the end or sometime, I even ignore the audience. For a viewer like Barthes, seeing the work is a completely opposite way to creating the work.
In Confronting Images, Didi-Huberman considers disadvantages he sees in the academic approach of art history, and offers an alternative method for engaging art. His approach concentrates on that which is ‘visual’ long before coming to conclusive knowledge. Drawing support from the field of psycho analytics (Lacan, Freud, and Kant and Panofsky), Didi-Huberman argues that viewers connect with art through what he might describe as an instance of receptivity, as opposed to a linear, step-by-step analytical process. He underscores the perceptive mode of engaging the imagery of a painting or other work of art, which he argues comes before any rational ‘knowing’, thinking, or discerning. In other words, Didi-Huberman believes one’s mind ‘sees’ well before realizing and processing the object being looked at, let alone before understanding it. Well before the observer can gain any useful insights by scrutinizing and decoding what she sees, she is absorbed by the work of art in an irrational and unpredictable way. What Didi-Huberman is s...
Margot Lovejoy “Art, Technology, and Postmodernism: Paradigms, Parallels, and Paradoxes” (Vol. 49, No. 3, Autumn, 1990): Page 257 of 257-265. “Art Journal”
Sontag feels that photography endears itself to voyeurism, exploitation, and an imperceptible aggression. Sontag expresses this when she writes, “Still there's something predatory the act of taking a picture. To photograph people is to violate them, by seeing them as they never see themselves, by taking knowledge of them they can never have, it turns people into objects that can be symbolically possessed.”, here Sontag shines a light on the often invasive nature of photography. Capturing an image is a way of symbolically capturing a part of that person, which is forever frozen in that moment recorded on film. Sontag also argues that photographing an individual is a way of participating in that person's eventuality (death). She writes “To take a photograph is to participate in another person's or things mortality, vulnerability, mutability. Precisely by slicing out this moment and freezing it all photographs testify to time’s relentless melt.”, so essentially Sontag argues photographs serve as a physical reminder of the inevitable corrosion that time visits upon all things. To photograph a loved one, a pet, a cherished place or thing is an inadvertent reminder that, that person, place or thing will inevitably age, decay and cease to be. This appropriation is often done unintentionally but is appropriation nonetheless and aids in altering our outlook and
Works of Sophie Calle has appeared in several media across the US and Europe (Yve-Alain Bois, 1). Her works have been described to leverage on the use of constraints which is reminiscent of the French literary cult Oulipo of which she was a member. Sphie’s works are are a reflection of her personal life, where she tries to create a link between her intimate moments and her art (www.egs.edu). Sophie employs a unique and unconventional form of photography that has made her standout in the art circles. Her natural tendency to be contentious has made her works what they are. From mode of execution to exhibition Sophie marks a different role for her kind of work.