THE BODY AND THE OBJECT: SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT

CONOR GALLOWAY

INTRODUCTION THE BODY

'According to Organ Donation statistics by the NHS more than 10,000 people in the UK currently need a transplant and of these 1000 each year (three a day) die waiting as only 30% of the British population have signed up to the Organ Donor register to allow the transplant of their organs upon their death, either to those who need one, or in aid of medical science to help prevent the diseases that affect these individuals suffering from organ shut-down.

CONCEPT: PORTRAITS OF DIALYSIS

My aim for this project was to create work from an emotional source matter that has played a large part in my life, I chose to explore the subject of dialysis over the three tasks, primarily because of relative easy access to sitters and the limited time available to us to explore the subject and complete the unit. My inspiration to explore the subject of dialysis and main source of sitters came from my amazingly brave close friend who has been suffering from severe renal failure since she was fifteen, an outpatient at Medway Hospital's Dialysis Unit, a journey both of us have shared together. Aiming to make the three tasks appear visually separate from one another to explore a more overall look into the dialysis and renal failure, I captured different sitters all connected by the subject . I captured dialysis nurses, a patient who treats herself at home and a more intimate and personal portrait of my close friend who inspired the project . I wanted to put a personalised face to organ transplant and renal failure in direct contrast to the dramatic imagery now advertised in hospitals to persuade organ donation, I wanted the viewer to be able to connect with the individuals depicted in my images. I kept a similar and consistent method of image-making throughout the three tasks, primarily (especially Task 1 and 2) employing a focus on eye contact with the sitter and the employment of large apertures to create a small depth-of-field that focuses on certain areas of the individual (either face for tasks one and two or scars in regards to task three), talking to the sitter throughout to lower their apprehension and put them at ease to allow their individuality to shine through the image.

My initial research was primarily focused on sourcing information on organ donation statistics, how dialysis works, the current state of the NHS and the demanding roles of a nurse, in order to give more of a contextual background to my work. Visual references were vital for the development of how I wished to compose this imagery and the reaction I wanted from the viewer. My visual research was split into two: overall influences for the development of the entire project and the source of separate individual reference images for the development and completion of each task.

RESEARCH AND OVERALL VISUAL REFERENCES

Marc Garanger's unintentional creation of art, a series titled 'Femmes Algeriennes' of identification images of shamed and angry Algerian women forced to leave their homes was influential in not just their straight composition but how the individual's facial expression tells all, a vivid story.

RESEARCH AND OVERALL VISUAL REFERENCES

Diane Arbus' intimate portraits of mentally handicapped individuals gave a voice to individuals that society tries to hide, encouraging me to continue my exploration of dialysis patients and other subjects beyond the completion of this unit

Donna Ferrato's exploration of the impact of domestic violence in 'Sleeping with the Enemy was very influential, I love how she used her life-long practice to help the most vulnerable in society by infiltrating and documenting difficult subjects to encourage the viewer to connect with the emotions and hardship of the individuals depicted.

RESEARCH AND VISUAL OVERAL REFERENCES

Rineke Dijkstra's unique, straight forward, and beautiful composition style against minimal backgrounds exploring identity as one transitions through stages in life was influential in how I wished to capture my task one portraits and use the camera as a way to gain emotional insight into an individual in relation to all the tasks of this project.

Richard Avedon's very sharp but simple intimate imagery of Marilyn Monroe and everyday suffering Americans captured in the series 'In the American West'.

SPECIFIC VISUAL REFERENCES FOR TASK ONE

Original intention for task one was to produce a black and white photographic survey of the nurses, patients and family members of Medway Dialysis Unit and demonstrate how renal failure can affect anyone of any age, race or sex, celebrating their strength. However due to difficulty in obtaining the permission to capture the patients in the time I had left to complete the images I decided to focus on capturing four of the nurses of the unit and celebrate them as well as their occupation in direct contrast to the negative news stories currently circulating about their chosen occupation. I captured the four nurses against a white sheet set up outside the dialysis unit for maximum available natural light, keeping a continuity between the sitters by using the same lens, camera height and aperture between sitters and using Ilford XP2 Super for the best quality available to me at the time.

SPECIFIC VISUAL REFERENCES FOR TASK TWO

I wanted to demonstrate how dialysis and kidney failure can encroach on all aspects of life away from the hospital but how patients do their best to continue with normal daily life, capturing the portrait of an individual undergoing hemodialysis . Unlike with the previous task, I wanted more of an intimate and personal documentation seeing that it was taking place within the sitter's natural environment, taking a long time to capture the roll of a film to allow Marie to relax fully in front of the camera, experimenting with various body positions as she underwent dialysis. The two reference images below were very useful in developing the image's composition within my mind based on the use of natural daylight and focus on intimacy.

SPECIFIC VISUAL REFERENCES FOR TASK THREE decided that this would only be possible I wanted to further increase the intimacy of my portraits and
by using the individual who inspired me to explore this subject, creating a portrait of an individual suffering from renal failure in the context of the studio. I used a large aperture to focus on her scars, displaying her vulnerability and on going battle with the disease and difficulty to adapt to renal failure and live a normal life. In order for the focus of the viewer to be on the scars, I wanted to keep the setup and composition of the image very simple with no 'gimmicks' to expose her vulnerability and fragility, creating a more conceptual/metaphorical approach to capturing a portrait of an individual on dialysis, using a blow up mattress to act as a bed and muted colours to further express feelings of vulnerability, struggle and intimacy.

CHOSEN IMAGES FOR TASK ONE

I had such a fun time photographing the nurses; my intention was to celebrate their role as a nurse and visualise their different personalities in the images. I am so happy with the portraits I captured because as well as vividly celebrating the subject's employment, I feel they are very well shot and that the viewer can really connect with each individual, both combined the images can be used as visual contrasts to the news stories I researched. Although I would have loved to print all the portraits I captured, due to time restrains I decided to use Annabelle's portraits as I felt that they were the best shot in terms of exposure and focus and provoked more of an emotional response to the viewer in her naturally friendly, heart-warming and relaxed mid-laugh expression. Like with all the portraits, but especially Annabelle's, her individuality really does shine through.

CHOSEN IMAGE FOR TASK TWO

I had such fun capturing Marie, a sitter sourced through my friend. She was bubbly and heart-warming even through her daily difficulties; I wanted to create an image that demonstrates both her lively personality and her dialysis worries simply through her facial expression . Although I did have difficulty with the flash I feel that it brings a more hospitalised effect to Marie's room, and when discussing about her feelings towards dialysis, the light works well in making it appear as if she is trapped, a visual representation of these feelings. I love her direct gaze at the camera and the difficulty the viewer has in interrogating her expression and the way the dialysis machine takes an equal proportion and presence of the image as her; also how her left arm clings onto the lines of the machine as her blood travels in and out of it, she knows it is what keeps her alive, connected to the machine.

CHOSEN IMAGES FOR TASK THREE

Easier to shoot than I imagined, I think that most of the images from the constructed studio shoot were well composed, even if the focusing was slightly off in a few of the images; this reflected the difficulty I had on that day accurately focusing the lens. Although initially pleased with the images from my constructed studio shoot, it was whilst printing them this week that my thoughts changed slightly, I realised how poor of a condition the negatives were in which can unfortunately can be seen on the prints, this influenced the final way the images were cropped and hence there are three final prints instead of one. My model was perfectly lit but I had difficulty in keeping the colorama's colour constant throughout the image, I think a polyboard in front of the main source of lighting influenced this inconsistent shade of grey.

I don't think the images are as vulnerable as I imagined they would be, but they do look very natural and not as staged as they could have been. I wish the images were colder in a similar way to the work of Learoyd with the use of more softer/natural daylight and the largest aperture possible to create the smallest depth of field on the model's scars. Even through all this I do feel that the images express what I wanted, I like the muted colours and softness courtesy of the studio lighting, Xolile's vulnerability and struggle is noticeable in not just the focus of the camera lens on the scars of her lower back but also her body position and facial expression, something that is heightened further through her lack of clothes. I experimented over the course of the two rolls with a variation of different body positions to relax Xolile and to try and gain an image that expressed these feelings of intimacy, vulnerability, struggle and fragility.

CHOSEN IMAGES FOR TASK THREE

 I have worked consistently to the best of my ability over the duration of this unit, I think this shows in the unique, interesting and deeply personal subject explored. As this was the first of the four projects developed and completed, I feel that the images may be slightly weaker on a technical level when compared to some of the other images from each project as I have learnt so much as the unit has progressed, but I feel that the level of research, both contextual and visual, makes up for this. Accurate representation of the individual was crucial in the development of my images and something that was at the forefront of my mind when I captured the portraits, I wanted the viewer to feel like they could connect with the sitter depicted in my portraits and almost feel as if they knew them. I feel I achieved this when I used tactics to make the sitter feel at ease and captured their natural expressions by deliberately taking my time focusing the camera and continuing a sustained conversation with them.

SELF-EVALUATION

I initially found time management very difficult as I have never had to complete so much work for differing subjects in such a small space of time, my ideas were initially large and I was frustrated that I was restricted in what I could explore. On a conceptual development level and the way I handled production of the images I feel that there is nothing I could improve, as I said previously my images do suffer on a technical level but I am aware of this and this knowledge will come gradually as I capture more images and continue to learn, for the stage of the course I currently am at I think they are more than acceptable imagery.

INTRODUCTION THE OBJECT

Western society is becoming increasingly sexualised; children are bombarded with sexual imagery in both multi-media formats and products directly aimed at them to purchase. 'Corporate paedophilia' is rife, companies use experts to know girls lives intimately and which buttons to press in order to create anxiety that keeps girls purchasing. This sexualisation creates sexual interest in children where none existed, lowering social norms to child sexual abuse and create new desires and expectations. Boys are exposed to violent pornographic imagery at a very young age that dehumanises women into a sum of their body parts; both girls and boys assume that such behaviour and imagery is the norm as they have no life experience and as such do not question what they witness.

CONCEPT: THE SEXUALISATION AND ADULTIFICATION OF CHILDREN I was becoming fed-up with the overbearing restrictions of academia and used The Object as
a way of overcoming these restrictions, creating a very conceptual image based on a powerful thought-provoking and increasingly relevant subject matter with an aim to be liberated carefully, using symbolism and violence to get across my concept as vividly as possible.

Visual artistic references were very important in the development of my constructed studio image as well as symbolic imagery that represented innocence and its loss, wanting to produce a conceptual visualisation of my chosen subject rather than literal visualisation of the sexualisation of girls. I wanted to produce a very dark performance-like installation, something that wouldn't be out of place if set-up within a contemporary gallery. I captured a suspended lamb carcass with barbed wire emerging from its skin, held in place by meat hooks and chain hanging from scaffolding set up within the studio, projecting a pornographic image of a female adult onto the carcass that solely lit the meat and the entire shot. Symbolism was key in the production of this image and learning techniques from the lecture series throughout the semester, I meticulously planned the constructed image down to the last detail and interrogated these small details based on what I wanted them to represent.

CONCEPT: THE SEXUALISATION AND ADULTIFICATION OF CHILDREN

'My idea concentrates on the use of barbed wire and a lamb carcass. I have thought of using both as they are visually powerful objects to help captivate the audience and portray my theme easily and powerfully, the lamb is a traditional religious symbol for purity, innocence and sacrifice, the portrayal of it as just a carcass shows how this innocence has been lost at the hands of an external force as well as the idea of how pornography dehumanises women into a sum of their body parts, 'a slab of meat'. The barbed wire symbolises once again the control and power of an external force, together with the lamb how companies use experts to know what buttons to press to keep people purchasing, how children, especially girls, are at their mercy. The lamb carcass has no face, no personality, it is a lonely victim; children are becoming victims of increasing sexualisation spurred on by corporations intoxicated by greed and money-making. As well as barbed wire and a lamb carcass, the raw bloody nature of the lamb is symbolic of another religious symbol of the story of Adam and Eve, once again intended to symbolise the loss of innocence and the progression of girls into women when girls first began to loose blood monthly from their uterus. It also symbolises the pain and difficult emotions that girls suffer during this time in their lives as they adapt to the adult world. When a girl receives her first period, she instantly has become sexualised and corporations cash in on this. She is now in demand. Hanging a lamb carcass upside down rather than laying it flat further increases the points raised in the above, placing it within a perspex box as if within a butchers objectifies it, people can stand and scrutiny it, whether they 'want it', whether it is suitable for them, whether they are attracted to it - a metaphor for feminist ideas on the objectification of girls and women by men that is now commonplace because of pornography and sometimes explicit magazines aimed at a young male audience.

Research and visual references were vital for the development of my eventual constructed studio image with a large emphasis on contextual research in order to develop visual ideas, gained from both online articles and a very helpful series of essays in 'Getting Real Challenging the Sexulisation of Girls' edited by Melinda Tankard Reist. I really wanted to take my work to the next level and felt this was only possible with detailed research. This book, although very feminist in nature when I didn't want my final image to be so, provided me with a wealth of valuable quotes and ideas based on the sexualisation of children in today's modern western society and the impact it is having on their development, using these ideas as the basis for the visual development of my image.

RESEARCH AND VISUAL REFERENCES

I really wanted a contemporary and performance twist to my images and turn the concept of still-life on its head; using both this twist and notions of violence as a tool to captivate the attention of the viewer, producing an image that would cause a viewer to stop, stare and remember after viewing. My photographic and artist references for object were a focus on contemporary photographers who use performance in some description to provoke certain reactions from the viewer through interrogation.

RESEARCH AND VISUAL REFERENCES

I was inspired by Tara Sellios's captivating and conceptual use of symbolism draped in violence.

Damien Hirst was influential for his focus on large still-life installations presented in a way that exhibits the chosen subject, it is through his uses of this practice that the viewer can engage with his work by perceiving it in all three dimensions.

RESEARCH AND VISUAL REFERENCES

The composition of Shirana Shahbazi's vivid still life against a black background devoid of colour and life.

A notorious and violent group of artists known as the 'Viennese Actionists' have always been a source of inspiration for me since I first decided to pick up a camera and their influence hasn't been more obvious than it is with the construction of the still-life image, both in its violent nature and its intention to liberate me creatively and act as a catharsis.

STUDIO SET-UP AND TEST SHOTS

Studio set-up and test shots of object, lamb lit by projection and constant tungsten lighting, by both projection and side tungsten flash and the lamb lit solely by projection. The shot of the lamb lit just by the projection meant detail of the meat was lost whilst the use of flash made the meat appear too much like a blow up doll with the projection placed upon it; the constant side lighting highlighted the natural quality of the meat as well as making the composition look both more raw and violent; it looked as if the meat was hanging in a slaughterhouse.

IMAGES FROM FINAL SHOOT NOT USED

Two further shots from the shoot, an image of the carcass without barbed wire wrapped around it and a close up 'portrait' shot of the projection. I didn't choose the first image of the lamb without the wire as I felt the inclusion of barbed wire made the image more powerful in relation to my subject matter, whilst I decided against the second 'portrait' image as it's difficult to see what the object is and thus my subject matter (this image was captured solely as an experiment).

FINAL IMAGE
I think the final print is one of my best pieces of work, this is the type of work I love to create and I am so glad that I have finally been able to take it to the next level; violent, destructive, raw, performance and thought-provoking imagery to get a specific concept across powerfully, for so long I have wanted to use projection as well as meat. The link between this work and the destructive and violent work of the Viennese Actionists, Damien Hirst's use of animals, Tara Sellios's simple but violent gestures and Shirana Shahbazi well lit still-life objects shroud in darkness is obvious. I'm glad that the detail of the lamb hasn't been lost in the projection and its sides defined (the projection kept within them) as well as the way the projected image was positioned in line with the way the lamb hung and so that the hole at the base of the lamb's spine exists on her left eye, increasing the violent nature of the image. The image is very dark in nature, the appearance of the lamb shroud in darkness makes for a very atmospheric image and makes it easier for viewers to understand my concept.

 I am so happy with the final shot and I think it is one of my best pieces of work, I have finally been able to take it my work the next level, using violence, destructive, raw, performance and thoughtprovoking imagery to get a specific concept across powerfully. The link between this work and the destructive and violent work of the Viennese Actionists, Damien Hirst's use of animals, Tara Sellios's simple but violent gestures and Shirana Shahbazi well lit still-life objects shroud in darkness is obvious. I think the image works very well in portraying to the viewer my concept with the symbolism very apparent. The image is very dark in nature, the appearance of the lamb shroud in darkness makes for a very atmospheric image and makes it easier for viewers to understand my concept. I do like the pornographic projection I chose for the way it sits nicely on the meat, it's retro unpolished style and the way the model's mouth has been gagged, highlighting her significance and her submissive role as a toy which increases my concept further. However I wish that I made the ball gag in the model's mouth black instead of red; a brief look at the image and one may confuse it with a clown. I feel no need to re-shoot this particular image but think it could be elaborated upon as part of a series. In my opinion I think the set-up captured would be more interesting as well as impressive if it was presented as an installation that viewers can interact with rather than image. Time management was difficult and the restrictions this placed on the development of elaborate ideas which required technical assistant in order to get the image from my head into reality;I learnt so much through their help on working within the studio. I am glad that on both a technical level and conceptual level my progression and development as a practitioner from body to object and landscape to city can be seen, and I plan to continue this development at a heightened pace next semester.

SELF-EVALUATION