done and dusted...let's move on...

In Semester 2 we had a task for our Photography in Context module which involved research about given topics, using a given resource, e.g e-resource, book, journal or web. The four resources and weekly topics always alternated and each of us had a different area to search for. Blogs submitted weekly on our joined site and presented during seminars in class. With only one exception, we always had areas to research and the task was to find artists who we think produced their work in that particular area.

Some of them were easier and others are more difficult, or just more time consuming(?), or I just wasn't in the mood(?), after all I think each topic and task had its own challenge...and all had something!

By now we should have 8 completed blogs, each relates to different context and, as much as we could, we should have used critical reflection. The term I never even heard before...but after a few blogs and explanation, I'm slowly getting grasp of it. Personally I also loved the challenge or writing. Thinking back of the not long ago times, when I wouldn't have been able to write even a letter in English, always gives me a strange feeling and just makes me smile. Oh, I'm still unsure of many things, commas and the rest but I can live with it for now. I'm really enjoying this, right now, and that I'm constantly pushed to write, think, read, and while I'm doing these I always imagine I can write, think and read. Funny!

Now, the next writing challenge ahead of me, right in my face actually, is an essay.  Again...between us...I can't actually write essays, but trust me I will do it somehow...even if it takes me a week or more!


One thing....quietly - referencing sucks!

Links to my 8 blogs:

wk 1: The Body as Object of Medical Research (e-resources)      

wk 2: The Mugshot (books)  

wk 3: Installation Art - Dan Flavin (journals)

wk 4: Photography and Identity (web)

wk 5: Still Life and Documentary (e-resources)

wk 6: Truth and Credibility (web)

wk 7: Landscape - The Sublime (journals)

wk 8: Families Photographed (books)

The sublime landscape - course work

Research using journals

This week’s seminar broadened my knowledge about how I look at landscape images, particularly when we talked about the meaning and representation of the sublime.  Now I understand that sublime is something impressive and magnificent, also frightening. Nature’s power, both physical and spiritual, have been pictured by artists who want to convey these feelings and the expression of the sublime. What can be greater and more frightening than the uncertainty that lies in nature and the constant changes of nature?

As I more think about the sublime I start to believe that it is actually a relation between nature and humans. We can describe a snowstorm, a hurricane or the most dangerous mountains as sublime but this is only our perception and it reflects our own fears, vulnerability and fragility as humans and how we perceive these natural phenomenons.

During my research my aim was to find a photographer whose body of work or project can describe this subjectivity and my understanding of sublime as described above.

Rinko Kawauchi’s photography has resonated with me since the first time I saw her images. She usually captures the beauty of ordinary moments in life that we often ignore. Her 6x6 medium format photographs are serene and poetic and very calming. 

In her project, called Murmuration, she shows us a bit more unnerving moments with the photos of the spectacle of flocking starlings at Brighton. At certain times, birds gather in tens of thousands and fly above the sea in a large group, creating a dark cloud. This natural behavior of these birds called murmuration, and although it is harmless, the strength of their unity, the dynamic of their flight and strong connection of them can be definitely chilling as well as very impressive.

“Panic is just around the corner, as it is in Brighton where the birds form a fancy figure on the sky before filling the frame with their terrifying noise and inexplicable urgency.

Those starlings along the coast at Brighton manoeuvre en masse with such dexterity that we can hardly keep track of them.  Something has always happened or is about to happen. We exist in a perpetual state of alertness and expectation.”

When we look at these images we can also sense the “high-pitched squealing of the birds”, “suddenness of their flight” and the “crashing of waves” and all these induce fear on their own.

Jeffrey, I. Rinko Kawauchi: Murmuration, Photoworks Autumn / Winter October – April 2010/11.  pg 26

I feel these images, the landscapes of the sea and the vast amount of birds, grasp the feeling of sublime and nature’s relation to human beings and humans place within nature. The structured flight of these birds is natural to them and with no intention to frighten us.