“Letting a thing come, rather than creating it … in order to gain access to all that is genuine, richer, more alive: to what is beyond my understanding.” (Gerhard Richter 1985, cited in Iversen (ed.), 2010:158). Trusting that not having a fixed plan can lead to greater discoveries.
The course work took me through street photography again but having learned much about this previously, I took the signposting to the “chance involved” but moved on.
Likewise, the course manual represented found photography which I have already research a few times so used it as an opportunity to refresh myself, and the highlighted point that mistakes can lead you forwards.
I was most interested in the section on accidental slips, in particular the work of David Bate “Bungled Memories”. Here using still life Bate captures broken domestic items, he signposts the unconscious messages given in the work through his captions:
The wrong idea A badly handled thought (Bate, 2022)
His work Broken society similarly uses the captions to anchor meaning in his work:
A selfishness of a cooking dish An glass without discipline glass (Bate, 2022)
As I am using text to signpost my current work I took a good look at his work and found that sometimes he signposts the unobvious representation in his work and sometimes just captions the obvious.
Questions are posed in the coursebook:
Are the artists using their creativity to make art out of worst-case scenarios? In many cases we won’t know if it was a worst-case scenario or simply a chance scenario. Paul Graham in his series American night admitted that his first image was overexposed was a mistake and he then reconceptualised it this is a positive use of a” mistake”. But mistakes are often just a by-product of experimentation. Alec Soth in an interview for the release of his online course Photographic Storytelling, talks about the importance of learning through experience and, acknowledging and overcoming the mistakes, that inevitably occur when photographing career. He shares specific examples of technical errors with Schuman:
Soth says “Sometimes imperfections make something even better – which is one of the reasons why I still enjoy shooting on film”
Of this photo he says “This is my favourite photo from the last five years. The way the subject and the reflections work together felt like magic”. He is honest in reflecting on the difficulties of accepting making mistakes, as well the positive aspects that this may bring.
Are they cheating? No just using opportunity and creativity if the chance outcome is not hidden from the viewers.
If these works are based on manipulations, do you think that conceptualisation happens to the same extent when the artists are upfront about the ‘mistakes’? Again, I take issue with the term mistakes, which I think is a “red herring”. But yes conceptualisation does take place when artists are deliberate and signpost them. Stephen Gill is a photographer adept at letting your curiosity lead you and finding ways of allowing chance and intention to work together- relinquishing authorship in some way. His work Buried (2005-6) was a collaboration between himself and the place and stepping back as the author. Gill took photographs of Hackney Wick and then buried them beneath the ground:
- Would you be comfortable with covering up a technical fault in order to make the work have more impact or to give it more conceptual rigour? Yes, as other artists have shown the best work is often made from something that was not produced to plan or didn’t have a plan.
As I move into assignment 3 I will ask myself as suggested:
- Is my work taking on a direction of its own? Am I ready to go with it?
- Is the strategy I am currently developing the kind which is most suitable for the work?
- Am I resisting a certain direction due to effort, a closed mind, or another reason?
- Has chance intervened in your work to date and how might you allow for it a bit more?
References:
Bate, D. (2022) Bungled Memories. At: https://www.davidbate.net/bungled-memories (Accessed 08/09/2022).
Bate, D. (2022) Broken Society. At: https://www.davidbate.net/broken-society (Accessed 08/09/2022).
Boothroyd, S (2020) Body of Work. Barnsley: Open College of the Arts.
Gill, S. (2022) portfolio » Portfolio. At: https://www.stephengill.co.uk/portfolio/portfolio/nggallery/album-1-2/buried (Accessed 08/09/2022).
Schuman, A. (2019) Alec Soth on Learning From Failure • Magnum Photos. At: https://www.magnumphotos.com/theory-and-practice/alec-soth-learning-from-failure/ (Accessed 08/09/2022)
NIKI SOUTH 