Gevers talks about the problems encountered when photographs are exhibited in gallery spaces – they are immediately elevated to the level of aesthetic artefact, no matter how brutal or harrowing their subject matter (as has been demonstrated when I looked at the work of Nachtwey, Meiselas and even Salgado). Continue reading “The Tuol Sleng photographic archive”
Month: December 2016
Assignment 3 Tutor report
Overall Comments
Great progress is being made, and your extensive work behind the scenes is paying dividends, this can be seen through the nearly complete work on your first two subjects3
Continue reading “Assignment 3 Tutor report”
Amanat – Fourth visit
Amanat lives on campus during the week, since that way he gets peace and quiet – enough to be able to do his homework. I thought it would be a good idea to show him cramming into the night with his roommate, Rakhman. Continue reading “Amanat – Fourth visit”
Amanat – Third visit
On this particular day, Amanat and his group mates were scheduled to make a presentation, and he thought it would be interesting for me to attend, so we agreed with his lecturer and all was settled. Continue reading “Amanat – Third visit”
Amanat – Second visit
On the day we had arranged to meet, Amanat’s lecture was cancelled, but we decided to use the time productively and shoot some images where he is negotiating the university building. Continue reading “Amanat – Second visit”
Amanat Musin – First visit
Amanat is currently studying at KIMEP, which is one of the nation’s top universities, delivering most of the subject seminars in English. He is also married with 2 children. Since he is no stranger to being filmed or photographed for documentaries, I found Amanat amenable to my project, not least of all since he’d have some final say over the images used and the content of the interview material – as he pointed out to me, most journalists tend to focus on the fact that he has an able-bodied wife and children, so being given the opportunity to effectively write his own script was something he viewed very positively. Continue reading “Amanat Musin – First visit”
Photography versus film
The idea of putting photographs together into a presentation format, or photofilm, has the advantage of the editor being able to dictate or impose the reading time (Wollen 1984) Continue reading “Photography versus film”
Tony Mendoza, identity work
“I’m strictly a black-and-white photographer. . . . I photograph what I see. . . . I just photograph my cats, my kids, and my wife whenever she lets me.” Continue reading “Tony Mendoza, identity work”
T.J. Demos, Kutluğ Ataman: The Art of Storytelling
(Taken from the catalogue of Kutluğ Ataman’s ‘The Enemy Inside Me’ exhibition at İstanbul Modern between 10 November, 2010 and 6 March, 2011)
Available on Ataman’s website here, this article is a true analysis of the filmmaker’s work and not obfuscated with high-brow terminology and hyperbole. The author first of all points out that Ataman’s films are part of a vogue that has been ongoing since the mid 90s, where artists have been engaged in challenging accepted parameters of documentary (objectivity, truthfulness) while simultaneously “…refusing to surrender film’s capacity to represent and construct meaningful social reality“; Continue reading “T.J. Demos, Kutluğ Ataman: The Art of Storytelling”
Ana Finel Honigman, What the Structure Defines: An Interview with Kutlug Ataman
This interview first appeared in Art Journal, Vol. 63, No. 1 (Spring, 2004), pp 79-86, and is available on Ataman’s website. As always, I prefer to read the artist’s own words since they generally give greater insight into what their work is about rather than reading critics and curators, who have a tendency for over-interpretation and hyperbole. Continue reading “Ana Finel Honigman, What the Structure Defines: An Interview with Kutlug Ataman”
Carl Whetham photography 