Artist Talk

On Tuesday, May 3, I attended the latter portion of Tara Hutton’s SMP presentation. I found her use of avatars, particularly in online settings, to be very interesting. As a psychology major, I was really interested in the personalization aspects of using an avatar online, and how one uses different artistic choices in order to be expressive of oneself in a very anonymous online community.

Tara used examples from websites such as World of Warcraft, in which one’s avatar is entirely self-created and animated, which makes one’s avatar a digital, cartoonized representation of a person. This reminded me of our discussion in class of how a photograph is a representation of an object or person, of how it/they once was/were at a particular moment. Although Tara was not using photography, I still felt like there was a connection. In addition, online avatars can be edited at that time and in the future, and the same is true of photography. Photography is never necessarily an accurate representation of what we once saw, as we can easily put our own spin on it, through filtering, exposure, aperture, burning and dodging, and any number of other techniques.

I found Tara’s subject and presentation to be extremely relevant to today’s online forms of social media, an area I’ve chosen to examine in my psychology courses and will look at more in-depth in graduate school. I find it really interesting to look at how we choose to represent ourselves in an online situation that is truly anonymous. We can choose how we portray different aspects of our personality, our hobbies, our interests, and who we truly feel we are. Tara seemed to explore some of these ideas, and how we represent these aspects of ourselves through dolls and through other forms of artistic expression. Personally, I think it would be really interesting to combine these ideas of artistic expression through online forms of media like avatars and these aspects of the self in some sort of study, but that may also be the social psychology nerd in me talking. Ultimately, I found her presentation to be very interesting, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

ARTIST TALK - Gabriella Bulisova

ARTIST TALK

Gabriella Bulisova

On March 23^rd I attended the ‘Women in War: Object/Subject’ talk by Gabriella Bulisova. Gabriella’s photography provides a succinct perspective of areas devastated by war in the strict sense of the word, effects of armed conflict, but also presents war torn areas in the sense of loss, ruin, and devastation such as Chernobyl and post-Katrina New Orleans. Her socially concerned documentary photography is meant to influence and inform to promote positive change.

I found it hard to fathom how she could experience and document such grief and form a personal interaction with the victims of a case only to move onto other seemingly endless cases. It must be incredibly difficult to be exposed to such destitute conditions knowing it is not possible to directly help everyone she comes into contact with. It is obvious that with her photography and writing she is helping in a way that is of potentially greater positive impact to the issues as a whole rather than providing isolated and limited assistance to a few.

It is rather easy to go on living and not be aware of the innumerous social issues around the world, but also here in the United States. It’s good to know people, such as Gabriela Bulisova, exist that present topics not covered in the daily world news summary. Although not all that surprising, it was remarkable learning of the US abandonment of Iraqi refugees that risked their lives and families to help this country. Gabriella also brought to light the ever-present effects of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. ‘Chernobyl: Life on the Edge’ resurfaced the impact of the event and presented its lasting and seemingly ceaseless detrimental effects on the people and on the environment from which they must find sustenance.

Lecture Response

I attended the lecture of Gabriela Bulisova talk “Collateral Image: Portraits of Iraqi Refugees” on Wednesday, March 23. Ms. Bulisova, a former SMCM visiting proessor, outlined her history of documenting various refugee scenarios, including Iraq, Chernobyl, Iran, Azerbaijan, Lebanon, and also of other disasters such as New Orleans after Katrina or the AIDS plight in D.C. She specifically described the story of almost 5 million Iraqis displaced either internally or forced to flee international borders. Some have fled to the United States, working to build a better Iraq. As such, they have become hated and have been targeted.

The talk was illustrated through a series of pictures. As Bulisova claimed, her “lens is not dispassionate. I am an activist”. Bulisova took a personal interest in her work, going so far as to visiting foreign countries and travelling with a translator through scenarios others would consider too perilous in order to pursue. She wanted to deliver the refugees stories to the world, even when the refugees themselves requested to not be photographed directly to avoid identification. Her pictures show the essence of the human soul when it is pushed to the extreme by an oppressive government. Her pictures show their strength.

Most of her pictures were taken in a non-traditional format. Some pictures showed only bodies and no heads, while others utilized properties of light and shadow to evoke certain emotions from the observer. Her pictures showed no image that was even flattering, but raw emotion and determination to survive.

In one part, she showed the story of three Iraqi women at the beach. Her translator was able to identify the women as Iraqi by “the sorrow in their faces”. This phrase struck me as very telling as to the struggle of the displaced Iraqi population as a whole, and makes me feel that their stories should be better known throughout the world. I am unsure if the plight will be ended soon, but the work of people such as Ms. Bulisova will hopefully bring the Iraqi displacement to the attention of those who can begin to make a significant difference.

Gabriela Bulisova

I attended the talk by Gabriela Bulisova on Wednesday, March 23. Her talk was in Cole cinema and her photos where up in Monty outside of the gallery for quite some time. Gabriela’s photos where very dramatic and really poked a subliminal vein which has the potential to wake up Americans that are out of touch with war stricken countries.

Gabriela’s photojournalism was to reveal the reality of being an Iraqi refugee in the supposed wonderful United States of America. Most Americans are self assure and proud to think of the USA as the best nation in the world because of capitalism, freedom, and equality, however Gabriela shows the loneliness and unfamiliarity of the Iraqi refugees. These refugees are forced to deal with the realities of a war stricken homeland and relatives and loved ones lost because of it.

Photography, as we have discussed in class is able to evoke emotions that were present when the photo was taken. It is a representation of a true event but can stimulate a like feeling by which allowed Gabriela to create representations of the like and dislike relationships of these Iraqi people. For example reflections off glass and mirrors were used and created an interesting presence of the subject. Most of the refugees feel as though they are nonexistent within the States. She used this technique several times.

Another technique used to convey a similar feeling is the obstruct the subjects face within the frame. So the outline of the head was present but the face was hidden to reveal a person but take away that which we identify each other by. Both of these strategies were used to convey her message.

Gabriela’s photographs were very interesting and stopped me over and over again in the hall on the way to class. Americans have been hearing about unrest in the Middle East for so long resulting in a dulling of perception. Her photographs really made me contemplate those past events and brought to light the aftermath of the war which is the refugee’s current situation within the United States.

Artist talk

Artist Talk

On Wednesday, April 20 I attended the SMP presentation of Kathleen Overman. Her work included the motif of death, and coming to terms with the past. She gave a short power point presentation about their year's work, and how her chosen medium of photography was significant to the project at hand.

Kathleen's photography focused on the death of her parents, and coming to terms with the past. She began the talk by introducing her influences, and ideas pioneered by photographers Sudek and Frencesca Woodman. With Sudek, Kathleen sited his in his work the effective use of light. Light could be used as an element in a photograph to not only illuminate a subject or place, but to reveal a new perspective and view on the subject/ place. She also mentioned how connected Sudek was with his photographs, and how she came to realize how powerful and connected her photographers are to her. Woodman's influence on Kathleen is evident with Kathleen's subject matter in her pictures, as she mentioned that woodman could make anything beautiful. Kathleen manages to do the same with seemingly mundane objects and places with the help of her eye for composition and technical detail.

With her SMP Kathleen mentioned how she wanted to five a reverence and respect to her mothers things, and ultimately her mother, in the her film and digital prints. When taking her pictures she says that the camera became something like a friend, sharing with it her memories that were connected with her mother's things. This is exemplified in the series of pictures that she took where she is front of the camera showing it items she found in her mother’s drawers. She did this by positioning the camera mounted on a tripod in front of the drawers, as she stood in front and waved objects at in excitedly. This excitement is highlighted by the blurriness of her motion, which is done by setting the camera at a lower shutter speed. She most likely had to set it to a low shutter speed any way because of being inside a dimly lit room, but nonetheless this motion is effective in portraying to the viewer a sense of excitement while also producing a anxious and ghost like effect.

This friend that she found in the camera acts as an animator of inanimate objects in her photographs. She also stated that with her SMP she attempted to become apart of her home, and to let the thoughts of her family that are left in her house become apart of her.

After her presentation Kathleen answered a few questions from the audience. When asked whether she preferred digital or dark room photography, she immediately replied with dark room. She enjoys the tactile nature of the dark room, and appreciates the long and patience process and care that it takes to develop a photograph from start canister to fiber print. Technology is too easy for her, as it provides instant gratification. She is more interested in how the dark room reveals a picture to the photographer, and the amount of time spent with a single photograph.

Art Event Posts (because I cannot remember whether I posted or not...)

Reflection #1

Gabriela Bulisova, War Photographer and Social Advocate

Gabriela Bulisova is a war time photographer. She has photographed in Iraq, Iran, Syria and Lebanon. Her work strives to reveal the side of war often unseen. In a way the same concept lies behind her work as behind Horn’s work. She captures time and holds it still and in such a context that the reader is forced to consider the subject in a new and different light. To listen to her talk about her work was to hear a woman deeply impassioned about the wellbeing and rights of others. She strives and strove to show the world the reality of war. She put herself in harmful, dangerous scenarios and often asks her subjects to do the same.

She shows the parts of the war that we know exist but do not think about. The orphan children without parents, the parents who cannot afford to feed their children anymore. She shows the little boy with a scar stretching the length and width of his abdomen, wrapping his small body in signs of an embrace he will always have to remember. He was a victim of an explosion and suffered physical harm from the blast. As Gabriela travels, she interviews those in the area working for social justice. She sees those living in the shadow of war, in poverty and disease, in some of the worst conditions imaginable by humankind, and she responds in the only way possible: through photography.

Gabriela works for social justice but through the lens of this class, I wondered how her work would be accepted in other countries. Iraq and Iran, and the middle-east in general, are a sore topic for our country. Our population is sensitive to news of the people. We have heard about the war for so long, heard how many of our troops have died and how many of the insurgents we have killed that we forget. We often completely overlook the fact that the civilians living in the country are heavily impacted by the war we have brought to their country. Her photos bring us visual information about a concept that is universally known and understood. This is what makes my question relevant. If war is a common denominator, what meaning does her work bring to individual viewers? There are certain human emotions that are common and recognizable among all human faces. War is a common, understandable force and the basest of human emotions in response to such a force, are captured in an image. With so many elements connected to events and emotions easily recognized, what elements would make the work subjective?

I think that Gabriela’s work evokes emotion from all of us in some way because of the common elements it includes. The subjectivity of the work comes in when considering the exact emotional response which, of course, will vary from person to person. Perhaps someone will respond to her photo of the young boy because he is a boy, or because he is young or perhaps he is a child in war, or maybe because he has a massive scar on his belly. Each of these emotions could illicit responses of indignant anger (how could that happen to him?!), sympathy (poor child!), revulsion (oh my god!) or appreciate (for the composition). The subjectivity in the photo comes in each personal response to the actual subject and that response is impacted by the formal composition of the piece.

http://gabrielabulisova.photoshelter.com/gallery-image/Iraqi-Refugees-Damascus-Syria/G0000jD.o.Xs92ho/I0000_RhtO80_grY

Reflection #2

Digital Studio,  Lights-in-the-Night Project

            I went to the Digital Studio class’ projection project. I was able to witness the members of the class projected the work they had recorded onto various surfaces of the school and campus. While I found it difficult to find some of the projections (some were projected in very odd places) the ones that I did find were spectacular. Two in particular struck me as powerful.

One projection was of a woman putting on makeup. It was on the campus center patio wall right before the outside set of stairs. It was probably a one to two minute clip. The woman leaned in to the mirror and applied bright red lipstick. She then leaned away and looked toward the camera. I liked this projection because of the dichotomy between the projection and the place on which it was projected. Here was a clip of a woman, dressed to the nines, applying makeup and wearing jewelry...projected on a dirty brick wall. The juxtaposition between the projection and the place on which it was projected made it more interesting then if it had just been the clip playing by itself. It gave it a sense of hardness and made it less fragile. The woman projected did not seem as feminine or gentle as she could have, had she been projected on a screen of some kind.

The other projection that struck me as interesting, simply because of its oddness, was a pair of eyes projected on the roof of the library facing the pond. The eyes would blink and shift back and forth at random intervals for about a two minute loop and then it would repeat. It was hilarious to see the reaction of the people that were not expecting to see something on the roof. It was even funnier to see the reactions of the people headed the other direction, looking at the reactions of the people headed toward the projection. They would look at the people and be confused, then turn and be completely shocked and/or startled by the huge pair of eyes on the roof. It brought to mind questions about sight and vision. How do we see things and from where?

This entire exhibit brought to mind questions concerning the importance of context and material. Obviously the material for this project was light and the surface projected on. I think that the context of the pieces were what made them art to me. Had they been projected in the classroom on a screen, I would not have considered them to be art and would have brushed them off as just recordings of life. Nothing about the taped segments was particularly artsy (at least not the ones I saw) and what made them artistic and interesting was the actual surface they were projected on to.

When looking at a project like this, it is interesting to consider how the meaning of the work would have changed if the context also changed. How would have the work been different if projected on a ceiling or printed and hung or mounted and displayed in a hallway? How different would it had been if it had been played and explained in the privacy of a class? How did the public-ness of the venue impact the meaning of the work and what new meaning did it bring? It is my belief that through the asking of these questions, one’s understanding of the piece deepens, especially as one gets a better feel for the impact of the context on the meaning of the work as in relation to the meaning it could have in other contexts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbIYtg8PK7A&feature=player_embedded

Kai Barrow Artist Lecture

Kai Barrow’s lecture entitled “Liberating the Imagination: Art and Social Change” on April 11^th was extremely interesting. I had already gotten a change to speak with Kai and her partner Shirlette Ammons in another one of my classes, so I was excited to hear more in depth information about Kai’s artistic influences and her own artwork. She said that art for her needs to incorporate three criteria: 1) dialogue which encourages participation, 2) opposition to embrace contradictions, and 3) desire and passion in quest to transform how we see the world. She gave examples of artists that follow each of these categories, although she said that most include all three. I enjoyed when she talked about the Africobra “Wall of Respect” mural because she told a story about how she painted a few strokes of the mural, which furthered the message of a grassroots, community arts mural.

I was mostly excited to hear about her own artworks. Kai discusses her “Hottentot” collection where she interprets and discusses the story of the Venus Hot n Tot or the South African Dancing Queen. She was put on display in Piccadilly Circus and other places in Europe because she has a big bottom and long labia. I really enjoyed the fact that Kai gave herself “poetic license” and tried to look at the story from a different perspective- she was not a victim, she instead felt in control of the men like a dominatrix. I also enjoyed that she talked about agency and how it is messy, so she depicts messy in her paintings by scratching them or splattering paint.

In general, it is easy to tell the Kai Barrow is extremely passionate about art as a tool for social change. I am happy to know that her and Shirlette will be around the campus for the next few weeks and I am looking forward to hearing more about their collaborative visual opera.