The cultural theory/photography blog, American Suburb X, has an interesting read on Richard Billingham's family photos.
Sam, I think an article like this should appeal to the obsessive reader in you!
To my ex-photo history peeps: I don't have my Cotton book at the moment, and I'm searching for the photographer who, with her sister, used a large-format camera to recreate old snapshots of her parents. If you can recall her name, please post it for Sam, OK?
Finally, to those who haven't posted new work: if you do, I'll always attempt to post a short response and a link to a photographer/article/idea that could potentially help...
July 21, 2010
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2 comments:
Sam,
The photographer Shane is referring to is Trish Morrissey. Hope this is helpful! She is the photographer who was part of my inspiration to capture old memories!
Thanks Andrea and Shane!
I thought this was interesting in the article:
"If Billingham's work encourages the spectator to consider one's relation to class and poverty, the spectator is giving the work deeper meaning than the artist originally intended. Billingham is more interested in themes of boredom and addiction, although he argues that he only realized this after finishing the series. (According to him, "While [he] was taking these photographs, [he] was only focusing on formal qualities." "
I think that is part of my struggle right now -- I'm going to write about it in my next post, but it is about artist's intention vs. what the viewer takes from it and how that creates both a struggle and an interesting dialogue.
I've also thought alot about the following passage:
"However, the relationship between the artist and the subject can be "exploitative, respectful, disempowering, empowering, cruel, loving, ethical [or] aesthetic," and sometimes it consists of more than one of these aspects. Billingham's work reflects the complexity of the relationship. For Billingham, seeing his family through a camera lens differs from seeing a family member face-to-face. Billingham is part of the family that he respects and cares for, but he is also aware of their limitations, and maintains a critical distance from his subjects, which allows him to also consider the formal elements within the frame."
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