Sunday 29 September 2013

Photography Year 3

This is the first post for my photography blog for third year.In this project, I have to create a process book, concept, project etc etc.
I have already had an initial concept which I would like to work on. This concept is slightly stolen from the work of a previous photographer who gave disposable cameras to the street children of Rio De Janerio and made an exhibition with thousands of photos, and you could look at the ones you wanted- or see them all. I as mostly impressed by this because it gave a group of people who do not usually have a voice, the chance to be creative and show others their world. I had always felt fraudulent taking documentary photographs of things that were not in "my world"- feeling that I was imposing my own perspectives on them, and I was aware that these perspectives are influenced and created by hegemonic ideologies, which automatically assume a set of ideas about people depending on who they are/how they act/how they look etc etc. Though, this is something you cannot avoid, I liked the idea that a group of people habitability represented by the media as "Victims" or as a poor and worrying part of the globe, and to focus on poor, ill or diseased children- were allowed to represent themselves- and that these photos do NOT always show their poorness, but rather a richness of life and childhood. I also liked that as a viewer, we are not given a limit of photos on a wall, but we must investigate in boxes, search those snaps to get an idea of how these kids look- and so that every viewer went away with a different portrait made by hundreds of children.
I wanted to use a similar concept- I want to give disposable cameras to a set group of people (was thinking all children, or homeless people, or people encompassing a particular street or places- St James Street, Covered Market etc) and then to make an instillation or computer simulated website which produces a similar experience. These ideas are very up in the air, and I will need to research what I want to show, and how to create an interactive way to view, however I feel this is a good way to combat the problems of ethical representational, and get something original and interesting as an ending point.

Here is another example of a similar project:
http://the100.thinkplaymake.co/

They gave disposable cameras to 100 people aged 1-100, and each person took 36 photos documenting their lives. I liked this project because it not only shows the people, but gives them a profile, asking them questions about their lives and dreams, as well as letting them quote and caption their photos. This makes it a really personal and interesting expereince, and I would like to do something similar, because you get to know them. (This is more interactive documentary, but whatever)

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