RESEARCH

The Assignment. 

The idea and the goal of the given assignment is to introduce and engage us with the concept of photographic circular narrative. Hence several stages along with a list of practitioners was given in order to fulfill the goal and come to the final point through research and exercises where we will be engaged with the concept. 

Stage 0:

At this stage i will make a research about the narrative concept and some practitioners in order to get familiar with the basic idea.  

My idea of the Narrative Concept .

According to the definition given in the Oxford dictionary, narrative is a spoken or written account of connected events; a story. Base on the above this concept may be expressed in many different ways and by many different means. Accordingly, there is a phonographic narrative where photographers are capturing a story through their photographs. A single or a series of images may intentionally or not by the photographer tell a story to the viewer . What i mean is that when i am taking a photo i may want to tell a story to the viewer i may think of a story but let the viewer to make up a story by viewing my photos. Either way, the way that i capture it and the way that would tell a story, will depend upon several elements such the light the point of view and etc. On the other hand, i am thinking about a the difference between a single photo and a series of related photos. a single photo, can tell a story but on the other hand a series of photos has the pose to guide the story and give a more clear narrative. 

Photographic circular narrative

As mentioned above a series of photos can tell a story. Accordingly, if there is a series of 3 images, the result of presenting them the one after the other will be a store. However if the series of watching them is not specified there would be many combinations to see them and to have a different story.

The difference of the above and the photographic circular narrative is that a story will be form as a circle. as a never ending story with no specified end or beginning. For example, i take 4 images of doors. Image 1 is an open door image 2 is a close door image 3 is an open garden door and the image 4 is a close garden door. So if i start from 1-4 then i open the door closed it then opened the garden door then closed the garden door and left the house. however if i start from 3 to 4 to 1 and then to 2, then the story would be that i opened the garden door then closed it and maybe i went somewhere else of or came home. My point is that their is not a single story, a begging or an end, however there is a continuing movement and story with the same images. 

All of the above, was my idea of the Narrative concept. At this point i will show u my little research on some photographers that were introduced to me by the given list of referenced practitioners. 

Jeff Wall

Jeff wall, is a Canadian artist best known for his photography and writing on art history. He has a a reputation of creating strong narratives through his pictures. however after watching the following video of an interview of him, i saw that in his opinion, a picture cannot create a narrative but it creates a feeling that you are present in a narrative. Moreover, i learned that his pictures are creation of thoughts of things that he saw and liked. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwJUp_wxXfg

Jeff Wall A Sudden Gust of Wind (after Hokusai), 1993

in order to take a photograph, Jeff has to see an event. After seeing something, he reconstruct it. He don't captures the moment, he let it go and then he has the freedom to make it as he likes. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6Y63_EHU1Q

Jeff Wall "Milk" 1988

Wall describes his images as ‘prose poems'. thus there is a narrative which was once a real event and is now redone by Wall using actors that helps him realizing his vision. 

Jeff Wall ‘The Destroyed Room’ 1978

Gregory Crewdson

Gregory Crewsdon was born in 1962 and is globally most known for his photographs. Through my research i saw his interest to the narratives of several aspects of life which are captured in different series of photographs. For example,between 1992-1997, he introduced his second photographic series named Natural Wonder. In this work he used insects, animals and body parts in small-town settings both mundane and menacing in order to give life to a frozen and mute image. Though his work, he shows a deeper meaning in the seance that there is a story telling which is based on a visual dictionary. In order to provide a narrative which open to be explained differently by each viewer. in relation to the above, he stated that:

"Since a photograph is frozen and mute, since there is no before and after, I don’t want there to be a conscious awareness of any kind of literal narrative. And that’s why I really try not to pump up motivation or plot or anything like that. I want to privilege the moment.That way, the viewer is more likely to project their own narrative onto the picture...What the viewer brings to it is almost more important than what I bring to it. I’m very moved by the fact that people are drawn into the pictures and that they do bring their own history and their own interpretation to the photograph" Interview by the American Reader.

Untitled

'Natural Wonder'

1997

The following video, shows the way that Gregory Crewdson works and how he choose and explains the the process and the reason of capturing his photos. It should be noted that the video is about his work 'Beneath the Roses'

In his latest work, Sanctuary, the photographer prepared a work different from his previous ones. He went to Cinecitta in Rome and captured in black and white the abandoned outdoor environment of the place. Watching his work made me feel melancholic and alone. As seen in the videos above, his techniques and process of preparing his series depends to many elements and specially the point of view the light the angle and the perspective. Base on that, i see that the buildings and their architecture are the protagonists in the pictures where the photographic narrative is derived by them.

Gregory Crewdson, Untitled (08), 2009

Gregory Crewdson, Untitled (17), 2009

"The negative is that it’s you—you have to make it all up. You’re not responding to anything in the outside world. The positive is that you can control it. I like the deep space—windows, doors, mirrors, a place going to another place." Gregory Crewdson in Magic Hour: An Interview with Gregory Crewdson September 27, 2012 by Elisabeth Donnelly  Paris Interview.

Red Saunders

Red Saunders, is a British photographer whose work is about important and characteristic moments of the British history. Therefore, his pictures are the visualization of a historical event and the photographic evidence for the history where there was no technological development. In order to capture those historical moments, he is looking for aspects that were generally overlooked and then he recreates it using models.

The Swing Riots, 1830

His work was recently part of the People's History Museum and i had the chance to visit it.  His exhibition named Hidden, includes by large scale re-imagined photographic tableaux. The name is infueneced by the hidden history of Britain and a viewer can see the  scenes involving the dissenters, revolutionaries, radicals and non-conformists. 

Wat Tyler and the Peasant's Revolt, 1381

As a viewer i could see a 'darkness' and mystery arising from the pictures. Moreover, the narrative was clear both for an individual picture, as well as the general narrative of the series. In order to understand the story, all the elements of the photographs played an important role. The light, the point of view, the models the structure and the background were well chosen by Red Saunders and thus as a visitor and especially as a Cypriot, i could see the history and the secrecy behind those events. I was touched by the work of Red Saunders as he accomplished to create a clear photographic narrative with a subject that was previously not as much revealed as now, and that was an aspect of history where people of the working class was not of great importance. 

Photographic recreation of Mary Wollstonecraft by Red Saunders

NOEMIE GOUDAL

Naemie is a French photographer who captures objects that are fabricated in order to create a place no existing in reality or in fiction. Therefore she gives the viewer a chance to develop their imagination and a narrative of a make- believe environment. 

The following video introduces Naoemie's portfolio "Foam Talent Call 2013" including two series. "Les Amants Heaven" and "Her Body Was". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKhZupSzzfk


According to her.  "I want the image to offer multiple understandings, therefore, I keep the playfulness open. Some could see an image as dark and fatalist and some others can see it childish and innocent. I like to play with this duality. For example, the waterfall can be seen as a political image and see the plastic waterfall as the human’s power over nature. It can also be seen as a game of illusion, a playful exercise."Pstitive Magazine, An interview with Noemie Goudal, By Chiara Nuzzi. http://www.positive-magazine.com/art/an-interview-with-noemie-goudal/

" I am very interested in the duality between fiction and reality and the human s power to escape in fiction while living in his reality. My images are making a parallel between both. Their draw the viewer into a form of fiction (the fake waterfall, the fake backdrop) but they also remind the viewer that it is all set in his reality" Noemie Goudal

                                                                                               Les Amants (Promenade)

" All images have something ‘disturbed’. They propose a form of ‘dream’ but they challenge the viewer with his own reality"

In relation to her series Escapade, Noemie explains to the following video how she worked in order to capture the photos. Her actions, led to the creation of a fantastic narrative to the images. 

Richard Vantielcke

According to him. 

"A successful photograph tells a story.

With digital cameras and photo editing, it is now easier to produce beautiful images, but it is much harder creating meaningful images within a personal and coherent universe.

A successful photograph must get a visceral impact on the viewer, it must catch his eyes, it must inspire him...

The aesthetic choices of composition, framing and lighting are involved in the development of what we want to show / tell / share : they are not the final goal of photography, just tools to achieve a "visual message."

I prefer an imperfect photograph which illustrates nicely its subject, rather than a perfectly executed photograph, which has nothing to show but its technical qualities." http://www.ludimaginary.net/french-photographer-richard-vantielcke.html

 Richard Vantielcke has repeatedly tried a unique approach to narrative photography through "conceptual photo novels", mixing narrative cinema and meaningful photographic framing construction to serve a story". http://www.ludimaginary.net/french-photographer-richard-vantielcke.html