Figure 1 (Murray, J. (2019) View from my Landing Window.)
I began the week by thinking and shooting the forum task, view from your window. Whilst it said not to labour on this task, my perfectionist tendencies striked and I spent a while peering through parts of the stained glass landing window until I found the composition I felt worked and explained my photographic habits. On the forums I wrote:
“The view from the landing window (or in this case a small portion of the stained glass landing window) is a view I’m quite familiar with as I see it at least twice a day on waking and on heading to sleep, however I suppose sunset and nighttime is the only time I walk past this window and see things with any clarity as I have a habit of walking around in the morning without my glasses so everything in the distance is but a haze (myopic vision for you).
I suppose this image says more about my photography habits than anything else – I tend to focus on the details and can be a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to the aesthetical compositional appearance of an image at the best of times. Using the stained glass as a bordering frame was in a wa a successful experimental outcome and again I suppose that sums up my photographic style, a constantly evolving prescence that explores new techniques that suit and enhance an image, adding and changing the narrative of the subject(s).”
Reflecting back on this task after hearing feedback on my peers, it made me realise the image says quite a bit more than I initially stated. Although at the time of posting I felt the image didn’t sit within my practice at all, mentions from peers that my image resembled an Instagram or retro film filter effect ties in, albeit loosely to a previous body of work where I make a Social Commentary on Internet aesthetics commonly found on early Tumblr. It was also mentioned that my image evoked a sense of reflectiveness and mirroring of feelings experienced when looking out through the window and again this perhaps ties back loosely to a body of work of mine called ‘Emotions’ or rather the research into the emotional theories of Plutchik, Aristotle and Darwin.
So how does my practice relate to the theme of the global image?
“…these discussions about the reach, benefits, advantages or disadvantages of globalism, the Internet is never far away from them as an issue. It would be an exaggeration to say that “everyone” has access to the Internet. However, even those who have no access to it are already affected by the way streams of photographic images and the values they carry pour into so many different cultural contexts.” (Bate, D. 2016; 189)
Figure 2 (Murray, J. (2019) Snap/Chat from the series Unsocial Media_)
My practice currently explores the genre of social commentary, which I consider to be a genre of contemporary photography that is critical of its subject. In terms of current professional contexts of contemporary photography, photography that examines and scrutinises social media commentary is relatively narrow focused and largely unexplored, even though social media and the rise of the Internet, has vastly impacted and changed the lives and society today, globally. The rise of smartphones means people are no longer limited to the location they’re physically in, they are in a sense globally connected all of the time. When I was researching for Living the _Aesthetic I came across the following quote which states:
“The matter in which individuals populate, surf, negotiate and share the contents of the web’s endless stream of information has radically changed over the last decade.” (Kholeif, O. 2014; 11)
This led to my conclusions from my research that the Internet opened the photographic gates of hell where ultra edited imagery and false realities were the norm, the unreality becoming reality, and the uncanny valley becoming the truth. Steyerl aptly theorises that the online and the offline are becoming indistinguishable and unseparable in Too Much World: Is the Internet Dead:
“The internet persists offline as a mode of life, surveilance, production, and organization – a form of intense voyeurism coupled with maximum nontransparency. Imagine an internet of things senselessly “liking” each other, reinforcing the rule of a few quasi-monopolies.” (Steyerl, H. 2015; 16-17)
Figure 3 (Murray, J. (2019) Mixed Signals)
People today put so much effort into this virtual reality, with grandoise online personas, being global celebrities; influencers. Yet it’s just code, it’s nothing more than that, it’s not physically there, you the person are not physically there. Is the person you represent online yourself, or just a curated persona? A manufactured image based on lies, to avoid the reality of the here and now.
Figure 4 (Murray, J. (2019) Inception)
The historic spread of photography shares parrallels with the transmission of digital imagery today, under the rise of social media. Early photography changed the very way society documented the world around them and how they shared the experiences to those not present at the time. Jurgenson in the Social Photo states that both historical photography and modern social photography have:
“…changed the possibilities of time and space, privacy and visibility, truth and falsity.” (Jurgenson, N. 2019; 2)
Whilst today’s output in photography is significantly higher as arguably anyone can take a photo, the images that matter today are probably no higher than the images that mattered in the dawn of photography.
The ‘Mirror/Window Analogy
“What a photograph is: is it a mirror, reflecting a portrait of the artist who made it, or a window, through which one might better know the world?” (Szarkowski, J. 1978; 4)
Whilst I have only become aware of Szarkowski’s (1978) Mirrors and Windows exhibition, his analysis on photography as a window and as a mirror aptly summarises my own views on photography in general, and of my practice. Whilst my practice predominately offers viewers with a view and a commentary of society today, at the same time it provides the viewer with my unique angle and vision. I suppose photography is to me a mirror and window at the same time.
Unity and Change
The power and influence of photography in bringing about change, is a questionable comment to make outright, as photography normally comes as a package with contexts such as writing or video footage, especially in regards to reportage. However the power of photography as a tool for advocacy is understated, as the saying goes a picture paints a 1000 words, yet a photograph still needs supporting contexts as evidence for that to work. An example that has inspired unity and change has to be images and footage regarding 1989 Tiananmen Square, in particular the Tank Man image by Jeff Widener. In my view the image has arguably become more iconic in recent months as Hong Kong have been using it in their protests knowing China itself has banned the image of Tank Man in Google Images.
References
Figures
Figure 1 Murray, J. (2019) View from my Landing Window.
Figure 2 Murray, J. (2019) Snap/Chat. From the series Unsocial Media_. [Online] Available from: https://jasmphoto.portfoliobox.net/unsocialmedia_ [Accessed 24/09/2019]
Figure 3 Murray, J. (2019) Mixed Signals.
Figure 4 Murray, J. (2019) Inception.
Bibliography
Bate, D. (2016) Photography; The Key Concepts (Global Photography). pg 189. Bloomsbury Academic.
Kholeif, O. (2014) You Are Here – Art After the Internet, pg 11. Manchester; Cornerhouse.
Jurgenson, N. (2019) The Social Photo: On Photography and Social Media, pg 2. London; Verso.
Murray, J. (2019) Living the _Aesthetic. [Online] Available from: https://www.livingtheaesthetic.pb.online/ [Accessed 25/09/2019]
Murray, J. (2019) Unsocial Media_. [Online] Available from: https://www.jasmphoto.portfoliobox.net/unsocialmedia_ [Accessed 24/09/2019]
Steyerl, H. (2015) E-flux Journal: The Internet Does Not Exist. Too Much World: Is the Internet Dead? pg 16-17. Berlin; Sternberg Press.
Szarkowski, J. (1978) MoMA Press Release: Mirror and Windows. [Online] Available from: https://www.moma.org/momaorg/shared/pdfs/docs/press_archives/5624/releases/MOMA_1978_0060_56.pdf?2010 [Accessed 26/09/2019]
Widener, J. (1989) Tiananmen Square. [Online] Available from: https://edition.cnn.com/2014/06/02/asia/gallery/jeff-widener-gallery/index.html [Accessed 26/09/2019]
Jasmine Murray Photography 