Positions and Practice / Topic 1: Mirrors and Windows
Self Reflection
“those who believe that art is a mirror, reflecting a portrait of the artist who made it, and those who see it as a window, through which one may better know the world”
I'm really fascinated by the notion of having to look via another medium such as a camera, in order to see what we miss with our own eyes, seems strangely counter productive and yet highly effective. Looking back on when I worked in the fashion industry, the preferred method of taking model test shots would be using a polaroid camera. There is a truth to the way the photo develops that you cannot hide from or edit, and as a result you get a good sense of raw beauty even in the harshest of light. In real life our brain is constantly translating situations to fit the narrative at the time, so we miss details that we can see in the stillness of a photograph.
Miranda Kerr - Polaroid - Next Models
I think that a photographer will always imprint part of themselves in their work, whether it's their personality via the tone of the image, perceptions in how they see the world, or even themselves through direction, staging or even literally placing themselves in the shot. So to that effect I'd lean towards it being an art of reflection, and therefore a mirror. We also project our moods, personality and experiences through the camera, (subconsciously or not), and like a mirror, it can be dirty, distorted, clear or broken. Ralph Steadman’s work on Paranoid, demonstrated this perfectly, and quite graphically, by finding a way to integrate his illustrative style using a blunt pencil on polaroids when in a warm state. (Polaroid changed the chemical process soon after to prevent this from taking place).
Ralph Steadman - Paranoids
I find the camera for me is like wearing a mask. In the same way a shy actor gains confidence on stage when channelling a character, the camera takes my hand and transports me into a new world. It’s something I can use a form of communication when words often fail me. With the camera in hand I am able to drown out any distractions and allow new possibilities to arise.
Distortion in the rain
The images I chose to capture are a reflection in how I see the world. I like to capture the stillness and perhaps even the loneliness that can be experienced even when you are surrounded by people. I’m particularly draw to the work by Todd Hido. In his book entitled House Hunting, he would drive around at night and photograph American suburbs that would capture his imagination. The shots of the homes in particular, would feature the presence of life in the form of a light source. However, it was left to the imagination as was what was going on..
“I haven’t shown anything actually taking place in the windows. Anything you think is happening is happening in your own imagination. ”
Todd Hido - House Hunting
Todd Hido - House Hunting
“To photograph is to appropriate the thing photographed. It means putting oneself into a certain relation to the world that feels like knowledge –and therefore, like power.”
As Hido’s practice was very much in plain sight, there would be a degree of objection by the homeowners for fear of their privacy being violated. However, As Hido states. In the United States, it’s not a crime to take photos in public, yet people view their surrounds as inherently private. This certainly resonates with Susan Sontag’s point of view, (In her essay On Photography), in particular with the ‘taking of’ an image and the power it places in the photographers hands to communicate their version of the truth in the image.
In the same way Paparazzi are vilified for sharing imagery, when placed out of context, can be twisted and contorted to fit a more newsworthy angle. To that end, we are again provided with a window into another world, that of a celebrity whose life is usually airbrushed and carefully considered. All it takes is an unrequited snapshot in time to easily break the illusion they have work so hard to create.
“To photograph people is to violate them, by seeing them as they never see themselves, by having knowledge of them they can never have; it turns people into objects that can be symbolically possessed.”
I’ve never attempted to analyse my practice before, but the concept of using photography as either a window or mirror has been a real exercise into my own psyche. Firstly, I’ve struggled with the literal interpretations of mirrors and windows… It’s very easy to take a picture of a window and I must admit I was obsessed with it at on stage. Particularly during the lockdown in the UK, the window was a powerful communication tool. Children would draw rainbows and stick them on their windows at home as a thank you to the NHS workers. Loved ones would have conversations through closed windows so as not to catch the virus. Everything was shut, so shop windows would have dated displays still on show. When out walking the dogs during this time, you couldn’t help but look at windows… there was so much being communicated all around, and yet everything was so quiet.
“When I’m driving around the suburbs, I see them as if they were a set where dramas are unfolding all the time. I’m setting the stage for an imagined story.”
My motivation for photography is to gain a better understanding of my practice. At present it is quite impulsive and I will photograph when I feel the compulsion. To reference Hido once again, he notes he is in search of something — ‘insatiable’ in that search, he says, ‘even if I can’t name exactly what I’m looking for.’ A feeling that I too, share and perhaps we do know what it is but it’s not quantifiable in words.
