EXPLORING IDENTITY - 'Portraits: Digital Photography'
TASK ONE:
Resource task using library resources and conducting research.
- Choose four portrait images from your chosen artist that stand out thematically and aesthetically.
PORTRAITS
'A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expression is predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the person.'
- Wikipedia
Annie Leibovitz
'Nature is so powerful, so strong. Capturing its essence is not easy - your work becomes a dance with light and the weather. It takes you to a place within yourself.'
'When I say I want to photograph someone, what it really means is that I'd like to know them. Anyone I know I photograph.'
I've highlighted key words/sentences that i thought stood out. This isn't directly to do with the work of Bajew but it gives some context as to what purpose his art serves and why it's on a website such as this. Through the sentence 'new future practice' we can understand that this is obviously a site that wants to make a difference. And their way of doing this is bringing varying voices of artists and collaborators together to create a platform for change. They want this website to invite people in to become 'part of the discussions' in a world where everything is 'spinning out of control'. The website has six drop down sections: 'Creativity', 'Being Human', 'Futures', 'Outside', 'Sciences' and 'Systems'. All these subjects are very topical and that's why i'm really drawn to this website- It's finding a creative way to approach and address world issues. I feel like that's something i want to do more in my own work.
'WHAT IS WORTH THINKING ABOUT, worth knowing about, and worth sharing with others? We want to publish what matters to us and you'
(extracted from 'The Journal of Wild Culture')
This photograph looks almost tribal in the way it's been composed and with the use of a low shutter speed to blur the subjects. Again, we are unsure of their identity so feel disconnected. This isn't necessarily a bad thing however, as it opens up more questions waiting to be answered. It adds a sense of intrigue to his work making it, in my eyes, more desirable. They are also both turned away from the torso in the locker which i find interesting. It's got that dominance over the entire photo and they seem intimidated by that.
What I've also noticed in his work is that it's very male orientated. In this portrait you can see a man cradling a chicken that i assume is meant to represent an infant. This type of image is very similar to a classic mother and child portrait (as shown below):
Yet, the roles are reversed and a male is shown in the photo. Typically, especially across social media and advertising, women are depicted in any photography relating to child birth or maternity. Maybe Bajew is trying to make a statement that not only females can be a 'motherly' figure to a child? I can't quite make out what is in the subject's mouth in the photo but, it looks like some sort of food he's trying to give to the chicken/baby. Like something a bird would feed it's chicks. The entire image is very raw, very natural and extremely maternal. Because of the way he is positioned you almost forget that you're looking at a chicken and begin to think that he's holding a child. I feel like this photo is out there to make you question your immediate assumptions.
'Paweł Bajew est un photographe et illustrateur polonais basé à Pulawy. Parmi ses nombreux projets, l’artiste a réalisé une série de portraits étranges mettant en scène différents personnages à la fois drôles et dérangeants. Une collection intrigante à découvrir dans la suite de l’article.'
Nan Goldin
I went up to the Tate Modern and stumbled upon Nan Goldin. I was immediately drawn in by the honest, raw reality of her photos. I realised that i hadn't done any book research for this project and so i thought i'd take a deeper look into Goldin's work, especially as i hadn't been able to uncover much about Pawel Bajew. I came across one of her books 'The Beautiful Smile' in the library- this won itself 'The Hasselblad Award' in 2007. Not only is the book itself beautifully put together but, the images inside tell so many stories, you'd be stupid not to look through. It's a free pass into the lives of so many different people, although it's not invasive. It's just people in their natural state and it's so refreshing to see. Some images are distressing, as they depict the less wonderful moments of a person's life, but then these moments are ones we can't ignore. Goldin presents them in the most necessary way possible. I wanted to include her work in this blog because i think it nicely links with Bajew's work. This is because there's a contrast between the way they approach their images. Bajew is trying to send a political message through his work by capturing surreal and almost fictional portraits that are, at the same time, showing people in a vulnerable state. His portraits are rather humorous yes, but there is rawness and meaning behind the comedy of the man with a kettle on his head, for example. They tell a story, like Goldin's compositions. Goldin's images aren't strictly portraits however. Goldin's photos are more direct- they tell it how it is, whereas Bajew's images need more analysis before you begin to understand what they're trying to imply.
'Her work often explores LGBT bodies, moments of intimacy, the HIV crisis, and the opioid epidemic.'
Tate Modern
A beautifully composed image from 'The Beautiful Smile'. The blurred background draws your attention to the subject and makes her seem closer to the camera than she actually is. This makes the image feel intimate. The fact that she's been crying also involves the audience because it leaves you wondering why. You're left looking at the rest of the image, trying to put some context to the composition:
Nan Goldin (pictured below) featured a lot of self-portraits in her work:
Pawel Bajew experimented with some self-portraits also:
(As said previously, these are almost satirical, which is a very different approach to Goldin. However, i still feel that they hold similarities. Bajew is just making the realities of life a spoof to draw attention to issues, whereas Goldin is presenting issues as they are, to expose people to raw reality).
Pawel Bajew
Pawel Bajew
Pawel Bajew
Like this image, for example. Bajew is showing qualities of the human body that most portrait artists wouldn't want to show- sweat patches, as it's deemed unattractive. He's turning his back on social norms. But he's doing this in a comedic way.
'Her unflinching honesty and appetite for authenticity.'
Highsnobiety.com
'She has also opened our eyes to the way the camera can be used to preserve and portray the most intimate moments.'
Gunilla Knape, 'The Beautiful Smile'
Nan Goldin
PORTRAITS
'A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expression is predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the person.'
- Wikipedia
Annie Leibovitz
'Nature is so powerful, so strong. Capturing its essence is not easy - your work becomes a dance with light and the weather. It takes you to a place within yourself.'
'When I say I want to photograph someone, what it really means is that I'd like to know them. Anyone I know I photograph.'
I thought it would be interesting to look up the actual definition of the word 'Portrait'. I have several reasons for doing so. The first is that, even though i know surface level what a portrait is, i feel like there will always be more to know. I want to strip it right back and start from the beginning so i can gain a deeper understanding and therefore come out with more interesting images. I also wanted to find the classic Wikipedia definition so i could compare it with something that originated from an actual portrait artist. I extracted two quotes from Annie Leibovitz because i think she describes portraiture perfectly. She links it to nature which i really like. She describes photography as 'a dance with light and the weather'. This implies that your main aim, when capturing a portrait, is to become one with your subject and let yourself be swayed simply by what feels right and natural. She then goes on to talk about the relationship needed between you and your subject when taking a photograph. We touched on this briefly in a lecture the other day. You need to create a sense of comfort for this type of photography. Connection is everything, unless that's not the feeling you're going for. But more times than not it's good to get to know who you're photographing before actually committing to a shoot. They are relying on you to show them in their best light and you need to know them to do this. It's also genuinely interesting to get to know different people and their history. I guess each person you encounter and learn about prepares you more for the next.
We were shown a very thought provoking clip in a lecture on 'Cinematography' where a group of completely different portrait photographers (6 of them) each took a photo of the same man. However, this man was an actor and little did they know, he lied to each one of them about his history and profession. Each photographer started conversation with him and found out what he did for a living to try and capture him best. His professions varied from a fisherman to a prison inmate. Each image was so different which was very interesting to see. THE LAB: DECOY- A portrait session with a twist.
If you're interested to see just how important getting to know your subject is then i highly recommend giving this video a watch. It completely changes your perspective and also says a little something about how people act around others that have a varying life to theirs. For example, the lady that photographed the supposed 'inmate' had to be very careful with the way she approached her subject as to not upset him. This fragility and fear then came across in her image. Whereas, with the 'Fisherman', the photographer seemed very relaxed and went onto position him in a recliner chair with his feet up- Feelings resonate in the images taken.
PAWEL BAJEW'S 'WILD NATURE'
Artist Research
The brief was to choose a portrait artist who's work was previously unknown to you. As soon as i read the words 'unknown to you', i immediately wanted to try and find someone who is almost completely unknown to everyone. The only problem with this however, is that it's very difficult to find information on someone who no one has outwardly analysed. Artists without a massive recognition and following are unlikely to have a Wikipedia page or even a website displaying information about their work. And if they don't have this then they're even more unlikely to be publicised or be included in articles- which is where one would typically go for research. I thought i'd just have a look around the internet to start with, as even though it sometimes isn't the most accurate source of secondary information, it is still a plethora of interesting resources. It's also a good starting point just to gain inspiration, if nothing else.
I knew i wanted to find someone out of the ordinary who approached portraits with a completely different energy. A classic portrait is quite literally what it's defined as- 'an artistic representation of a person'. the simplest form of a portrait would be a photograph of someone, showing their face predominantly, sat in front of a plain background. This is to avoid having anything to distract from the main subject of the image- the person. However, there are countless ways one could represent a person, it just depends how far you want to take it. I wanted to see what was out there. My starting point was quite literally searching 'odd portrait photography'. I wanted to try and make my search as bland as possible, so google would give me as many options as possible. This turned out to be more difficult than first intended because it was hard tracing an image back to a legitimate artist. It would always direct me to Pinterest, which was not where i wanted to end up. After scrolling through countless images, research starts to seem tedious, but that's just because i was only using one medium. Research should be interesting but the mediocrity of staring at copies of images on a screen takes away the magic a little. I was going to give up with internet research and scan the library for books until i came across Pawel Bajew. Not only did his images catch my attention but i was also directed back to an article that gave me information on him and his work. Something i had, up until this point, been unsuccessful in. I was directed to a website called 'The Journal of Wild Nature':
At first glance i wasn't sure if this was his own website or just something he was featured on. I also had absolutely no idea where Bajew was from, what his past work was like (if there was any), the meanings behind his images, the motives behind composing them? I rather liked this however, as it allowed me to make my own interpretations before digging a little deeper. It made the images seem that little more ominous. It almost felt as if these photos belonged to no one, which made finding them even more intriguing and mysterious. Could you imagine coming across images with no story or origin? It would be like uncovering something ancient and sought after. The difference with this is that i knew that these images belonged to someone and i knew that someone was Bajew. I just didn't know anything about the artist. Hopefully this website would change that!
I looked up 'The Journal of Wild Nature' separately to Bajew to see what type of site is actually was. It directed me straight to an 'About us' page which was perfect. It came across as a very curatorial space when reading through the introduction- definitely an eager website wanting to bring people together to help change certain aspects of our planet. I got all this through a section that i really liked:
'there is much that can be seen through the wild culture bifocal lens where wild and culture appear together — contradictorily and harmoniously — at the same moment. That's where you come in. Much is spinning out of control, and it's often the job of humans to see if what is getting too wild can be brought back into balance. The Journal of Wild Culture wants to be part of the discussions and stories that are at the center of this rebalancing work. For us, one aspect of it is what we call ‘new future practice’: how we can live today for a future that is morally and physically sustainable.'
I've highlighted key words/sentences that i thought stood out. This isn't directly to do with the work of Bajew but it gives some context as to what purpose his art serves and why it's on a website such as this. Through the sentence 'new future practice' we can understand that this is obviously a site that wants to make a difference. And their way of doing this is bringing varying voices of artists and collaborators together to create a platform for change. They want this website to invite people in to become 'part of the discussions' in a world where everything is 'spinning out of control'. The website has six drop down sections: 'Creativity', 'Being Human', 'Futures', 'Outside', 'Sciences' and 'Systems'. All these subjects are very topical and that's why i'm really drawn to this website- It's finding a creative way to approach and address world issues. I feel like that's something i want to do more in my own work.
'WHAT IS WORTH THINKING ABOUT, worth knowing about, and worth sharing with others? We want to publish what matters to us and you'
(extracted from 'The Journal of Wild Culture')
Pawel Bajew is a thirty four year old Polish photographer who plays with both dark subject matter, humour and the thin line that is strung between them.
'Many Eastern European artists whose brutal experiences under political oppressors forged a bleakly eloquent sense of the human comedy'
'Bajew’s view through a lens darkly is almost always accompanied by a smirk.'
After reading this quote, I wanted to find out more to be able to contextualise his work. I found a website called Open Democracy that I feel sums up Poland's political state perfectly: 'Poland was governed by two coffins'. I have no connection to polish politics because i'm not directly affected by the decisions that the polish democracy make, but it's interesting to see how it affects a certain artists work. He hasn't directly linked his images to this topic. For example, you wouldn't look at his photography and think 'POLITICS'- I certainly didn't. It's just that Poland's political state is the reason his images are so dark. Because of oppression, Bajew has developed a dark sense of humour that shows through his work. This humour has enabled him to come out with these extraordinary portraits, making his work more personal, as it's completely moulded by his experiences. The only problem is that, having scoured the internet, I can't find any more information on Bajew's portraits than what I've already found on 'The Journal of Wild Nature'. I've come across archives of his work but there are no descriptions around his images, no context behind them so i'm left not knowing what he's experienced to create these. It's frustrating because they are all so different and so odd that they could honestly mean anything. From what I've seen and can uncover for myself, is that most of them depict men in very memorable and striking poses. You can tell that so much thought has obviously gone into each photo as each subject has a strong theme. Each image is also completely unique. But why just men? Is this intentional?
Like this portrait for example: His eyes are covered by an object that isn't usually associated with the eyes- toothpaste. Yet he's still holding a toothbrush like it's completely normal. This could be done to create a sense of uncertainty? But again, i'm just going by my own interpretation. The covering of the eyes disconnects the audience. Connection is in the eyes a lot of the time, so people looking at this image will feel distanced. It's also quite an uncomfortable photo as what's being depicted isn't normal. Looking at this image, you immediately know something isn't quite right. I definitely want to know more about the motive behind it. Maybe there isn't one?
This photograph looks almost tribal in the way it's been composed and with the use of a low shutter speed to blur the subjects. Again, we are unsure of their identity so feel disconnected. This isn't necessarily a bad thing however, as it opens up more questions waiting to be answered. It adds a sense of intrigue to his work making it, in my eyes, more desirable. They are also both turned away from the torso in the locker which i find interesting. It's got that dominance over the entire photo and they seem intimidated by that.
What I've also noticed in his work is that it's very male orientated. In this portrait you can see a man cradling a chicken that i assume is meant to represent an infant. This type of image is very similar to a classic mother and child portrait (as shown below):
Yet, the roles are reversed and a male is shown in the photo. Typically, especially across social media and advertising, women are depicted in any photography relating to child birth or maternity. Maybe Bajew is trying to make a statement that not only females can be a 'motherly' figure to a child? I can't quite make out what is in the subject's mouth in the photo but, it looks like some sort of food he's trying to give to the chicken/baby. Like something a bird would feed it's chicks. The entire image is very raw, very natural and extremely maternal. Because of the way he is positioned you almost forget that you're looking at a chicken and begin to think that he's holding a child. I feel like this photo is out there to make you question your immediate assumptions.
The first thing i associated this photo with when i saw it was prison, or rather, a prisoner. The best example i can give is 'Prison Break', where the protagonist Michael gets a blueprint tattoo of the entire map of the prison on his chest (as seen below):
It's also like a way of keep track- a record. I like the fact that the crossword is in the photo. It could have easily been left without it, opening up more questions. It's actually a similar concept to the first portrait with the toothpaste eyes. This is because the pen shouldn't be on his face, it should be on the crossword- like the toothpaste shouldn't be in his eyes. I also like the fact that there are no distinctive words on his face, it's just scribbles. However, they could have some meaning to the subject- that's just a piece of information we will never know.
I still wanted to try and find more on Pawel Bajew, as his portraits are so distinctive and it was frustrating me that i couldn't find anything on the inspiration behind these photo's. I came across a website that actually gave a title to Bajew's series of images- progress. His series was title 'Strange Portraits'. Again, i can't rely on this as it's not a direct source from Bajew, so someone could've easily manipulated the title. But i'll go along with it for now and dig a little deeper. I found what looked like a description on this site but it was in French so, wanting to know what it said, i turned to google translate.
TRANSLATION
'Paweł Bajew is a Polish photographer and illustrator based in Pulawy. Among his many projects, the artist has made a series of strange portraits featuring different characters both funny and disturbing. An intriguing collection to discover in the rest of the article.'
The line 'discover in the rest of the article' gave me hope that i could find more on this mysterious man. So, i kept looking. The site took me through a collection of his portraits, a lot that i hadn't seen before but, information wise, it kept taking me in circles. I decided to try and actually see if Bajew had a social media page. All i ended up finding was his Behance account. Behance is a social media platform which aims to showcase and discover creative work. It hosts almost all of his strange and wonderful portraits and again, more that i hadn't seen. However, there are still no descriptions linked to any of them! I didn't want to give up and i wouldn't say that's what i did. I think i just felt satisfied that i'd found his actual page and, knowing that he himself wasn't very well know, i knew i wouldn't be able to find anymore. I spent time looking through the portraits displayed on his Behance page to try and unpick them.
Also, on finding all these other portraits i realised that his work was not at all male focused but indeed very varied. So, even if this was the extent to which i uncovered, I've still found many things through his work like 'The Journal of Wild Culture' where i can hopefully find more interesting curators.
I went up to the Tate Modern and stumbled upon Nan Goldin. I was immediately drawn in by the honest, raw reality of her photos. I realised that i hadn't done any book research for this project and so i thought i'd take a deeper look into Goldin's work, especially as i hadn't been able to uncover much about Pawel Bajew. I came across one of her books 'The Beautiful Smile' in the library- this won itself 'The Hasselblad Award' in 2007. Not only is the book itself beautifully put together but, the images inside tell so many stories, you'd be stupid not to look through. It's a free pass into the lives of so many different people, although it's not invasive. It's just people in their natural state and it's so refreshing to see. Some images are distressing, as they depict the less wonderful moments of a person's life, but then these moments are ones we can't ignore. Goldin presents them in the most necessary way possible. I wanted to include her work in this blog because i think it nicely links with Bajew's work. This is because there's a contrast between the way they approach their images. Bajew is trying to send a political message through his work by capturing surreal and almost fictional portraits that are, at the same time, showing people in a vulnerable state. His portraits are rather humorous yes, but there is rawness and meaning behind the comedy of the man with a kettle on his head, for example. They tell a story, like Goldin's compositions. Goldin's images aren't strictly portraits however. Goldin's photos are more direct- they tell it how it is, whereas Bajew's images need more analysis before you begin to understand what they're trying to imply.
'Her work often explores LGBT bodies, moments of intimacy, the HIV crisis, and the opioid epidemic.'
Tate Modern
'The Beautiful Smile'- Nan Goldin
A beautifully composed image from 'The Beautiful Smile'. The blurred background draws your attention to the subject and makes her seem closer to the camera than she actually is. This makes the image feel intimate. The fact that she's been crying also involves the audience because it leaves you wondering why. You're left looking at the rest of the image, trying to put some context to the composition:
Nan Goldin (pictured below) featured a lot of self-portraits in her work:
Pawel Bajew experimented with some self-portraits also:
(As said previously, these are almost satirical, which is a very different approach to Goldin. However, i still feel that they hold similarities. Bajew is just making the realities of life a spoof to draw attention to issues, whereas Goldin is presenting issues as they are, to expose people to raw reality).
Pawel Bajew
Pawel Bajew
Pawel Bajew
Like this image, for example. Bajew is showing qualities of the human body that most portrait artists wouldn't want to show- sweat patches, as it's deemed unattractive. He's turning his back on social norms. But he's doing this in a comedic way.
Back to Nan Goldin:
'Her unflinching honesty and appetite for authenticity.'
Highsnobiety.com
'She has also opened our eyes to the way the camera can be used to preserve and portray the most intimate moments.'
Gunilla Knape, 'The Beautiful Smile'
Nan Goldin
Nan Goldin
Nan goldin
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