September 2020

1st September 2020

Had some free time over a coffee and decided to try and produce a series of mind maps for the ladies I has already photographed. The following show the results so far.  Frome these I will try and develop a still life that will sit along side the subject.  Thinking the still life will be a kind of introduction to the section of me ladies.

Mind Maps

AlisonJulieMelanieSueTrish

5th September 2020

Today saw the sixth photoshoot in my theme of the ladies of Ngawi.  I arrived early as usual and I was introduced to her granddaughter who she explained was not expected to be there but due to her son and his partner not being able to cope she was now having to look after her.  She seemed very unsettled so I offered to re-arrange the session but as she explained the situation was not going to change so we sat a chatted over coffee which I think helped her to vent and relax.

Donna has a total of seven children, some of her own and others from her partner.  They have spent their lives either in Golden Bay (South Island) or here in Ngawi.  She says her life is very boring but as I got to know her – well as best you can in two hours over a coffee and a photoshoot, it was clear that she didn’t have a boring life at all.  She has a very strong community spirit and works on a number of committees from golf and fishing to rate payers.  She also looks after the volunteer fire station and community hall (bar) ensuring its well-stocked for the regulars on a Saturday night.  Without that community the village will die.

She admits to being obsessed with cleaning (especially her windows) and her kitchen.  This was clearly the centre of the home and was one of the first things they renovated when the purchased the bach.  Her partner has a cray boat and they have part of the lease quota for the area.

As a family they have been through a lot and now having to take on more with her granddaughter life seems to be full on.  In a similar fashion to the other ladies she seems to be the rock and backbone of the family, coping with everything that life throws at her.

6th September 2020

Downloaded the images from yesterday and all the back images from the cray project – still not sure anything will come of it but will include as an idea.  I will try and process and up load some of the images for the Level 3 group on Thursday to show that I am doing some work.

Also produced a rough mind map for Donna, found her really difficult to read and so the still life may be a little difficult to develop.

Donna

8th September 2020

Spent some time today reviewing, selecting and then processing images from the photo shoot with Julie and the one with Donna last Saturday.

I have selected a few of my favourites from the Julie shoot to show below and the ones I processed from the shoot can be found here.

For me the images I have selected show Julie as she is, a caring passionate person who loves her animals, land, garden, crafts and isn’t prepared to let life get in her way.  She will turn her hand to anything.  She always seemed to have a smile and a warm and open character.  I think I have managed to capture her in all her happy places; garden, kitchen and sewing room where the sun just shone.

I didn’t want her to feel uncomfortable with me there so we chatted while I took the images, a number had movement and trying to not get my shadow in the image was a challenge, so a large number were rejected, but the main theme of her ability to turn her hand to most things (due to her husbands poor health) I think shows.  She’s a keen recycler and everything is re-used, including an old fridge to house all her plant pots.  Her sewing project was a series of bowl covers for the fridge so she didn’t have to use plastic wrap, simple but effective.

I had originally wanted to produce black and white images as I thought that for my theme of mental health/isolation that would work well, however, the more of these ladies I photograph the more I realise that they can’t be in black and white as they are the backbone of the community and Ngawi maybe isolated geographically but it isn’t in anyway isolated as a community.  They stick together and support each other.  They may have their ups and downs or ‘run ins’ as one person stated but I think on the whole they are a strong and supportive community at it’s heart are these ladies.

The images of Donna can be found here and the few I have included below I think have captured her as she is.  Out of all of them so far, she seemed to the one to struggle most with me being there and it was difficult to capture her relaxed until the end when her dog came into the room.  It probably didn’t help that she had a lot going on with issues with her son and now having to take on looking after her granddaughter, but as she explained she couldn’t leave her with him knowing that he was not in a good state of mental health, drinking and possibly taking drugs and not being able to hold down a job.

Donna’s life seems to revolve around her involvement with the large number of community boards she sits on, difficult to capture these and her home which she admits she is obsessed with cleaning.  She seemed happiest in her kitchen and at the end of the shoot with her dog, these I think are the strongest images:

10th September 2020

I had up-loaded a selection of my images from the photo shoots I had completed to date to the Level 3 shared drive for some peer review from my fellow students.  The group is small, friendly and supportive that I felt comfortable sharing, knowing that the reviews would be helpful, and considered.

I started with an overview of the theme (one of the many) and how I was trying to link it to my Contextual Studies of the use of photography in Mental Health in rural areas of New Zealand but had discovered that during photographing and talking with these ladies that they are the strength of the community.  They hold everything together.  They are the backbone to this community.

The feedback was very positive and in order to link with the theme of mental health the stronger images (and I may need to look at those that I didn’t include) would be the ones where the subject was not smiling but looking deeper in thought.  I also needed to set the scene for each subject – so I might look at my other sessions and images from the general sessions where I was trying to get a feeling for the location and exploring the location.

The group also suggested I look at the following photographers and sent me links:

https://www.bjp-online.com/2019/10/rhiannon-adam-pitcairn/

Over the next few days, I will review and provide write ups on my thoughts on these artists.

15th September 2020

I started with a review of the work by Jon Tonks – a British photographer who spent six years travelling to four of the most remote locations within the British Empire to document the lives of the communities there.  I have provided more information in my list of Photographers here.

I really like how he provides context to each of the locations, a mixture of landscapes, local articles from newspapers, portraits and maps, something that I think I will need to do with my Body of Work images.  He also includes the continued link back to the British Empire, in my case I need to consider how I can imply the connection between the subjects, the location and community and strength.

The final book is beautifully presented in its own wooden box, wrapped in the Union Jack flag. The result gives a feeling of wealth and regal grandeur.  My thoughts at the moment are to produce a book of the images for the volunteers that have allowed me into their lives.  These will be hand printed and as I’m attending a printing workshop with Stuart Clook in November, I would really like to use the platinum process that I saw in his exhibition (see Exhibition section).

 

Tonks 2

Final publication and presentation of photobook taken from Jon Tonks website

Rhiannon Adam is an Irish born photographer who is now based in London.  Her early years were spent travelling around the world with her parents and this she claims influences her work.  Her project work between art photography and documentary and according to her website the ‘subject matter is often focused on narratives relating to myth, loneliness, and the passage of time’.

Looking at her images she extensively uses ambient light which is something I use myself, but her images are film-based polaroid’s and colour negatives.  I’m currently using digital, mainly due to cost but have recently received a polaroid camera so intend to take this on my next photoshoot.  Her experiences are the polar opposite to mine (see Photographers section here for further information) at Ngawi.  Although the community is isolated and they have been known to take the law into their own hands its always done within the law.  Women are respected and form a strong core to the village.

As with the work by Tonks, Adam has found a link/theme and shows that within her exhibition, using text, legal documents, landscapes and letters.  This seems to give a more coherent narrative to the work and something I need to progress with in my Body of Work images.

Images from https://phmuseum.com/rhiannonadam/story/big-fence-a-portrait-of-pitcairn-island-efe7311ad8

16th September 2020

Took the day off work to complete my next photo shoot with Bea.  Bea works away from the village from Thursday through to Tuesday as a matron for one of the best all boys’ schools in New Zealand.  She manages one of the ‘houses’ where the boarders stay during each of the terms.  She works really long hours often doing 24 hours over the weekend, but she says she loves it.

Bea explained that her husband worked the land around the village of Ngawi as a shepherd before he retired and they purchased a property in the village.  Bea had worked at the school before and left when they moved full time to Ngawi, but when a vacancy arose decided she wasn’t ready to give up work and so travels to the school on a Thursday morning and returns home on a Tuesday for her weekend to start.

She explained that she is probably one of the luckiest women alive as she comes home from work and all the cleaning is done and she only has her washing to do.  I have to admit I think she is.  She explained that she usually spends her time cooking meals for while she’s away and for a neighbour who joins them on a Wednesday night who recently lost his wife to cancer – another aspect of this strong community.  Her passions are her garden, which she says was recently destroyed by sheep, so they now have two gates on the drive, and her fishing.  If she gets the chance to go out on the boats, she will otherwise she is happy to fish from the shoreline.  Blue cod is a local favourited.

As it was too windy for fishing, we decided to complete the shoot outside as she had a number of tasks to complete in the garden.  It was a relaxed and fun session as we interacted and she gave me lots of advice for my own garden – which is very much a work in progress.  At the end she kindly tried to get in touch with Pam, one of the ladies that I had emailed but had not received a reply.  Pam and her husband had left early for town so she gave me her phone number and I will try and contact her directly and set up a session with her as Bea said she has an amazing garden and has lived in Ngawi for over forty years.

22nd September 2020

Downloaded my images from the Bea photoshoot and selected the images I think look ok to process.  I also completed a mind map for Bea to match the others I have completed:

Bea

I also managed to get in touch with Pam, my final lady (unless I include Kelly’s nan) and arrange a session for next Thursday (1st October).  This will then allow me to complete the course work for Assignment three and submit some work for review.

I decided to also review the last two photographers suggested to me by the level 3 support group.  The first is that of Danny North (further detail here) who in 2016 embarked on the project ‘As I Found her’ which as he states in an interview for Refinery 29 with Tom Seymour was his ‘own desire to belong somewhere, and to discover community’.  This was a similar feeling to me when I moved to New Zealand in 2011. 

In this project North photographed the women that lived in this community.  Making four separate trips he finally exhibited the work to coincide with the anniversary of the island community buying the island.

The project focuses on a series of individual stories but the all link with a power that seems to focus on the island.  This kind of power and link is my aim for my Body of Work and the ladies I have photographed so far in Ngawi.  North states that his aim was to ‘to tell a much broader narrative about what it might mean to live on an island — any island — away from the mainland, and to be at the mercy of nature and perhaps even the community itself’.  In Ngawi there is this feeling of community but all the ability to be by yourself knowing that you have the support should you need it.

Eigg has less than 100 people living there, tourism is limited and they are completely off the grid with power being generated by wind, solar and hydro – very much like Ngawi.  The island and in the same way as Ngawi often gets’ cut off due to the weather, but behind both locations there are a core set of women that keep the community together.  Most like in the residents of Ngawi arrive for a short period of time and never leave.  You can leave your front door open and your children are safe to wonder – in the case of Ngawi the children are more likely to be sheep

In a similar way the work by the American photographer Matthew Genitempo (see here for more information), captures the people who want to leave society – reminds me of the work by Alec Soth in ‘Broken manual’ the project consists of landscapes to set the scene/context and then the portraits.  The mood is dark, showing the struggles these people have of being accepted into so called normal society.  The conditions are poor. The direct eye contact is cold, no emotion as they look straight at the camera.  Although I like series this is not the feel I want for my Body of Work.  The more I work with and interact with the people of Ngawi the more I find the friendly open acceptance.  The women I have photographed so far have all been strong even though life has thrown some curve balls they just bounce back.

27th September 2020

Managed to get some time to process the images from my shoot with Bea.  These I have only processed in colour and if I decide to work only in black and white I will re-work.  The following are the ones I feel are the most successful:

Others can be found here

 

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