It may be a helpful exercise to attend a major exhibition and a smaller one to note the presentation styles. Write a reflective commentary on your experiences of these exhibitions. How do they differ? How does the presentation suit the work? Does it enhance or detract from it?
Due the changes in work style following the global pandemic I work mainly from home now which has been great for a work / life balance and study but probably not from a cultural one. The ability to visit any exhibitions during lockdown was impossible and now we are out of lockdown the spaces are busy reallocating time and space to those that missed out, so the selection of photography exhibitions is very limited. There was however one exhibition at my local museum of art: Aratoi, by photographer Catherine Russ entitled ‘Park Up’.
The Exhibition opened on the 9th April and will run until the 20th June 2021.
This project spans over twenty years and consists of a series of documentary style images from a single location known as ‘Pork Chop Hill’ or it’s correct name – Anzac Park Te Motu o Poutoa. The location gives amazing views over the Manawatu River and central plateau. The car park from which the images are taken provides a steady stream of visitors at all times of the day and night. The printed series is in colour and spread across two rooms, the smaller or more like a hall way holds the smaller framed images were as the larger room holds the large full-size prints which are simply pinned to the wall. The approach to the space and the way they have been hung seems to fit well with the images. There’s no mistaking the roughness of the location in an area with such beauty. The exhibition included a video of aerial images and I assume Russ driving to the location, images of the native trees, bush and river, quite a contrast to those she photographed and the items to be found there.
Bibliography and Websites
[Accessed 17/04/2021]
https://www.aratoi.org.nz/exhibitions/2021-03/park-photographs-catherine-russ
https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/love-sex/300121355/love-and-lessons-from-a-teenage-pash-spot
https://www.art-newzealand.com/Issue96/russ.htm
Writing introductions
Introducing Miranda | The Open College of the Arts (oca.ac.uk)
Accessed this video from the OCA website on 21st February 2021. I had to listen a few times and formed the following notes:
- Produce a series of images that show a consistent approach/standard. You need to demonstrate that you can reproduce images to a high enough standard for publication or exhibition, not just a one-off event;
- The artist statement needs to express a possible complex situation/project in a simple way;
- Take your time over the production of this statement, don’t just throw it together;
- Know your audience, research and review;
- Don’t name drop just because that is the current trend. If you want to include another artist that has influenced your work, demonstrate that you understand their work and how it works with your project and compliments it. You need to show how the two are linked;
- The majority of people will look at the images first and then read the statement. Your work must be strong enough and be able to standalone, however your concept may not come across in the images and people may form their own opinion/understanding of your work first – are you happy with that?
- Don’t assume that the audience will know everything about your project; don’t use jargon unless you know your audience.
The course material highlighted the importance of the tone of the introduction to your project, that it should be ‘thorough, thoughtful, contextual’ and firmly based in the arts. A number of questions were raised as a guide and my answers are as follows:
What was the starting point for this work and where has it ended up?
My interest in Documentary photography as a genre started when I completed the Level 2 course through OCA. This was an area of photography that I had never considered before, thinking that it was just about conflict and human disasters and chasing the latest celebrity around the streets. The course opened my eyes and my interest to consider this form in Level 3.
In the early stage of the project I tried to keep the brief as open as possible, looking at a small isolated community, how they lived, coped with the conditions, the space, the reason it became a small village and the growing issues of mental health within New Zealand. There had to be a crack in the glowing image of 100% pure that was the cause of the growing suicide rates.
Assignment 1 was very much a scene setting exercise, exploring the space/environment and trying to make connections as my research had already highlighted a limited number of permanent residents, so I had assumed they would be reluctant to volunteer so I needed a number of contingency plans.
My initial visit struck gold and resulted in my first contact and so the ball started to roll – or so I thought. This session produced images of a couple who had lived in Ngawi for over 40 years and so I knew that I wanted to include the human element even though I was outside my comfort zone doing portrait work. I didn’t want posed or staged images, in fact I didn’t want the residents to know I was there.
COVID and a lockdown slowed progress and the need to think of alternative ideas just in case I couldn’t continue. This resulted in a range of experiments. The first based on the work by Paul Hill meant the purchase of a crayfish. This was set up in my garage and photographed every day. Unlike the badger in the work of Hill, the only thing that seemed to decay were the insides (helped by a resident rat!), the hard-outer shell remaining. Other ideas included Solargrams and panoramas of the location both would not involve human contact which was important at the time.
With lockdown over I was able to continue, and a letter drop in mail boxes resulted in two more contacts. The first involved a trip out for the day on a local cray boat. This resulted in a lot of images and a view on the life and conditions the locals worked in, but I didn’t think it was enough for a major project. It wasn’t until I returned to photograph the wife (Alison) of the fisherman did the real project form. Through our conversation over a coffee that she made whilst working she highlighted that only eight women lived in the village. Total permanent residence equates to 39. With Alison’s help I was able to contact and photograph the remain women.
What are the main areas of research?
The main areas of research were based around isolation, voice, community and mental health. It also made me realise the importance of research, preparation and to never accept things or situations on face value. Yes, New Zealand has a major problem with mental health in rural communities, but this particular community was held together by these eight very strong and independent women.
I explored photographers that used their own mental health issues to highlight and give a voice to those that were not strong enough to do so. It was also important for me to give a sense of the place and how the very male environment was there but not really seen. The representation and voice of these women linked with my Contextual Studies essay. I didn’t want to be part of the image but to be an observer, to help give a voice and show how even in a world pandemic these communities pulled together to get through.
What does it explore?
The project explores aspects of a community that people often don’t see. How the strength in the community holds things together. I hope to have shown that in this very small part New Zealand the negative media headlines are not true. Nowhere is perfect but there is strength in the communities we live in, you just need to take the time to explore them.
New Zealand due to its very nature is isolated and its people are raised to make do and don’t talk about things/issues, but we need to give a voice to these issues and to those holding things together and I hope through this project I have shown that beneath that very hard shell there is a strength.
What does it ask the audience to bring? (Don’t tell them, just ask them!)
An open mind and to understand that everyone has a voice regardless of how loud they shout. My research for Contextual Studies has shown how the subject of the photograph has the right to be heard, to know what is happening to the image and how they are represented. In a lot of cases, they don’t have that opportunity. I hope that I have represented the community and the women of Ngawi in a respectful way, given them a voice without handing them the camera.
I hope the project encourages people to stop and consider their actions when they snap and post. To consider the effect it has when that image is shared, judged and re-posted. Context is everything and knowing the facts in paramount.
Who is my audience?
Anyone who has an interest in documentary, place, relationships, isolation, life and coping with mental health and a sense of community. The images aim to document the interrelationships between people in a close-knit community often cut off due to weather and damage to infrastructure. How they cope with isolation and the strength they have by working together, by fixing things, making do and looking out for one another. This is a very special place in New Zealand one that is often over looked by tourists that transit through. I wanted to give a voice to the residents, highlight the situations and the strengths these people have and celebrate the Kiwi ‘can-do’ approach to life.
How is my specific practice situated within wider philosophical concerns?
The project aims to highlight the issues faced by many in New Zealand. Rural life is not easy and often over looked by the government who directs money and support to the larger cities to show quick wins to the media. The project asks you to stop and look, see how within the community there is strength. That strength is not just physical but mental. The pulling together and the making do keeps those community bonds together and by documenting that we give a voice.
Was the technique of particular importance to the outcome?
It was important that the project portrayed the voice of the residents of Ngawi and not mine. I needed to ensure that it was their voice heard and seen in these images. Their feelings and to honour those. I wanted to show facts, raw emotions and the hardness of life. To give a truth behind the media image of 100% Pure New Zealand. The grass may seem greener but that isn’t always the case. I wasn’t trying to paint any rose-coloured glasses on this project. It was important to provide a true representation.
Due to the limitations of time and cost, it wasn’t possible to each woman a camera and to be honest they wouldn’t have had the interest or time to do that, so by spending time with each, getting to know them, listening and talking I gained a glimpse into their lives. For me it was important to observe, to not intrude or influence as they went about their daily lives. These candid images I believe give a true representation – although brief, into a life not experienced by most. Asking each to stop and pose would have disturbed that and resulted in a very different feel to the images.
Michele Usher 