Research Methods
“Misogynist rhetoric has been increasing in frequency and violence, especially since 2016. It has also changed in tone and type. Back in 2011, men’s rights activists were focusing on issues like male mental health or a perceived bias against men in family law. Nowadays, they focus on feelings of deprivation (like being “kissless” or “involuntarily celebate”) and on flipping feminist narratives to suit their own interests (I’m not oppressing you, you’re oppressing me!).”
Grey Ellis, E. (2019)
As my on-going practice of social commentary intends to provide and explore commentary on society today, it has lead to me researching quite in depth contextually via a variety of means from personal observations, philosophical research, news articles to contemporary artists, throughout the duration of planning right through to production of a body of work. In previous modules, I have focused on providing commentary on and exploring my generation’s obsession with self-image, the portrayals of online personas and false realities, leading to recurring themes of The Uncanny, in my use of miniatures, dolls and mannequins, as well as its links to the rise in artificial intelligence and transhumanity, as well as who owns what we upload to the internet and social media.
My readings since starting the MA have made me question what social media monopolies do with our data, our very identity, and whether this data becomes an entity in its own right, an ‘immortal’ online self. Back in March, I stumbled upon a Guardian article which mentioned a new UN index report had found that 90% of people held at least one bias towards women, and that it had risen over the past decade in several countries, coinciding with the rise in access to the internet. More recently journalist Laura Bates, has released a book called Men Who Hate Women (September 2020) which provides commentary on the rise of misogyny on the internet and how it is largely ignored due to desensitisation of “low-level, ubiquitous misogyny“. (Bates, L. 2020; 6) This has tied into my own observations of misogyny on social media, from former school peers joking about me making them a sandwich to being told as a woman I don’t need a degree.
In light of relevance to the topic at hand, my instant thoughts turn to Laia Abril’s A History of Misogyny, particularly her series On Abortion (2016). Her practice is heavily rooted in research of both historical and contemporary comparitives, in the case of On Abortion she documents conceptually via visual, audio and textual evidence the dangers and damages caused to women by the lack of legal, free and safe access to abortion, and the erosion of reproductive rights in the present.
In 2019, during my BA, I came across the photographer Catrine Val, who at the time was exhibiting a body of work locally called The Changing Room. I was fortunate at the time to do an informal interview with her and this gave me insight into the amount of research behind her overarching practice. Her series Philosopher, the Female Wisdom best highlights the depth of her research, which depicts and celebrates visionary female philosophers through a selection of self-portraiture, through history, that deserve recognition rather than invisibility to the realms of dusty history books.
Both photographers methods look back historically at their subject, using the historical, philosphical, news articles, other artists and personal contexts to inform their practice and subsequent depiction of the topic at hand. I do feel however that Shirley Read best summarises my views on research, that the motivations behind even starting a project will have a personal connection or interest, she writes:
“…consciously or unconsciously, a photographer will usually have long-term preoccupations. These preoccupations may be in either abstract or quite material ideas or subject matter, an approach to the world or to making work.”
Read, S. (2016)
Webinar
Over the break I have largely been focusing on acquiring and building up miniature set pieces for this module (as seen in Figures 3 & 4), so far I have largely focused on building and modifying miniature kitchen pieces, but I have begun to build miniatures for other diorama rooms, using a combination of air drying clay, recycled straws, hot glue, lollipop sticks and an old book to do so. As I’ve yet to complete building a scene, I’ve yet to take any formal photographs in regards to my actual intentions, both Figures are in a sense sketchbook documentation of behind the scenes assembly and acquisition and not a visual representation of my current intentions.
This week I caught a webinar with Laura, which was very insightful to where I might be heading from here and how I might link to the current relationship we have with social media, in a historical context. Whether it might be an idea to look at old imagery and text for inspiration, in particular past advertising, that was aimed at women to feel bad about themselves, how the misogyny has become more subtle but still remains. It was also mentioned it might be worth looking into case studies on set design and the artist James Casebere. Although my current images are just sketchbook visual depictions of where I am at it was mentioned that my use of the wide angle and the sense of the bizarre in all the little details reminded them of the film works of Wes Anderson. I was also recommended the documentary The Social Dilemma.
James Casebere
So who is James Casebere as an artist? Casebere make large-scale sculptural installations but he has also built and photographed architecturally based models in his studio, a form of photographic tableaux, that explore the relationship betwen sculpture, photography, architecture and film. This recreation in model form of places and tiny rooms, an ultimately constructed scenario, questions the reality viewers hold towards photographs. Artnet appears to tie his work to the Pictures Generation of the 1980s, which includes artists I have previously looked at: Cindy Sherman, Laurie Simmons and Barbara Kruger, this is interesting as I have found their work resonates with my practice. His early work, an example of which is seen in Figure 3, depicted a series of surreal yet mundane domestic scenes, that are clearly constructed, a crude simulation of reality, usually through the use of card or paper stock. The tight crops into specific details within the space is almost claustrophobic, especially in the case of Figure 3 with the fork embedded in the fridge leading the viewer into the image yet at the same time feeling like an alien protrusion about to hit you in the face, providing the viewer with a further sense of the uncanny.
References
Figures
Figure 1 Abril, L. (2018) Pages from the On Abortion book. Dewi Lewis. [Online] Available from: https://www.dewilewis.com/products/on-abortion [Accessed 23/09/2020]
Figure 2 Val, C. (2013- 2019) from Philosopher, the Female Wisdom. [Online] Available from: http://www.catrineval.com/proj/philosopher-the-female-wisdom/ [Accessed 24/09/2020]
Figure 3 Murray, J. (2020) Set Building Kitchen.
Figure 4 Murray, J. (September 2020) Set Building Pieces.
Figure 5 Casebere, J. (1975) Fork In the Refrigerator. [Online] Available from: https://www.jamescasebere.com/19751976 [Accessed 25/09/2020]
Bibliography
Abril, L. (2016) On Abortion. [Online] Available from: https://www.laiaabril.com/project/on-abortion/ [Accessed 23/06/2020]
Bates, L. (2020) Men Who Hate Women. pg 6. London; Simon & Schuster UK Ltd.
Casebere, J. (2020-) Artnet: James Casebere. [Online] Available from: http://www.artnet.com/artists/james-casebere/ [Accessed 25/09/2020]
Ford, L. (2020) The Guardian: Nine out of 10 people found to be biased against women. [Online] Available from: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/mar/05/nine-out-of-10-people-found-to-be-biased-against-women [Accessed 22/09/2020]
Grey Ellis, E. (2019) Wired: Reddit’s ‘Manosphere’ and the Challenge of Quantifying Hate. [Online] Available from: https://www.wired.com/story/misogyny-reddit-research/ [Accessed 23/09/2020]
Read, S. (2016) ‘Shirley Read: Finding and Knowing – Thinking about Ideas’ [in] Photographers and Research. pg 218. London; Routledge.
Val, C. (2013- 2019)from Philosopher, the Female Wisdom. [Online] Available from: http://www.catrineval.com/proj/philosopher-the-female-wisdom/ [Accessed 24/09/2020]
Jasmine Murray Photography 
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