Charlotte Cotton's - the photograph as contemporary art.

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The main focal point for this weeks seminar was the photograph as contemporary art by Charlotte Cotton where the class explored the theme of narrative and what it means to have a narrative in one's work.

 What narratives are investigated by Cotton in the work discussed? What varied ideas are these works linked to? The narratives explored in Chapter two all connote this sense of a Journey, making references to documentary, fairy tales and tableaux imagery. Needless to say this is more conspicuous throughout the images rather the accompanying text where they all show to have similar links to a 'cinematic' approach.


Philip-Lorca diCorcia's Eddie Anderson, 1990-92. [42] was one of the many images that particularly caught my eye throughout the reading. What fascinated me was his 'cinematic' approach to the style of tableaux photography and the references that were made throughout. The titles to his series consisted the names of the men, their ages, birthplaces and how much diCorcia paid them to pose. diCorcia uses these details in the titles to kick start the viewers imagination as part of the storytelling, it's as if we the audience are  developing a relationship with the model as we discover more information about the man. The significance of this is that we begin to question what his motives are, his aspirations and hopes that has led him to Santa Monica Boulevard, Cotton (2009, p.52) and by doing this we feel compelled to show empathy. Alternatively, if the artist were to title the piece Untitled then the interpretation of the photograph would be entirely different, we might perhaps consider this figure to be a lone wonderer, one who lives freely and is following the American dream, a reference to Of Mice and Men perhaps? The 'cinematic' approach to this photograph somewhat highlights and emphasises what is trying to be conveyed. The combination of artificial and ambient light not to mention shooting in the 'twilight' hour suggests that the figure has a bleak future ahead, and that this fragment of the moment portrays his last thoughts...


Bibliography


Cotton, C., 2009. the photograph as contemporary art. New ed. London: Thames and Hudson.