Distortions and the Unfamiliar
Convulsive Beauty was for the surrealists a more violent and altered notion of beauty compared to the societies perception of beauty. They enjoyed tainting with what was expected of others, changing and allowing new ideas of beauty to be considered by challenging logic and moral constraints. The main idea of convulsive beauty in surrealism was to evoke feelings of attraction and disgust simultaneously. Common themes in convulsive beauty include hysteria, eroticism, poetic emotion and transformation. Breton believed finding a connection between these things was vital and poetry is the only language capable of expressing the emotions and being.
"Beauty is like a train that ceaselessly roars out of the Gare de Lyon and which I know will never leave, which has not left. It consists of jolts and shocks, many of which do not have much importance, but which we know are destined to produced on shock, which does. Which has all the importance I do not want to arrogate to myself. In every domain the mind appropriates certain rights which it does not possess. Beauty, neither static nor dynamic. The human heart, beautiful as a seismograph."
-From Andre Breton's 'Nadja'
"Beauty will be convulsive, or will not be at all." -From Andre Breton's 'Nadja'
The Unfamiliar Body
The uncanny is both the familiar and the unfamiliar which is portrayed as peculiar; the subject is both viewed as attractive and repulsive. The uncanny is more a psychological concept which in which something has a sense of familiarity more so than mystery. Sigmund Freud's theories were a large influence on the surrealists, and he published an essay titled Das Unheimliche in 1919. The surrealists produced many pieces exploring the 'uncanny'.
Jacques-André BoiffardThese images accompanied an article on the "Big Toe" by Surrealist Georges Bataille in his magazine "Documents"(1929). The toes have been cropped so that they seem separate from the rest of the body and are both enticing and disgusting. The images are also disorientating and make the viewer look and analyse the subject.
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Set 1- Distortions through water
As a starting point, I am taking inspiration from George Bataille and have taken a series distorting the body and parts of the face. The first style were taken looking through water. I feel that the photos through the water look the most effective as they are more distorted compared to the other sets of photographs. Also, as the photographer I had the power to expose the facial features or conceal them simply by changing the perspective of where the camera was looking through the water.
Refining my work
Taking these images further I decided to put them into Photoshop to distort the face even further. I used the adjustments and colour levels to create a larger contrast and create a two tone image. This disrupts the detail emerging in the photo and leaves an ambiguous subject. I like how different the original image looks compared to the new one, therefore I will experiment with this method further using new images. I found that once I had created the image on photoshop it was hard to tell what the original picture was. This could be interesting to explore, analysing how far I can adapt and manipulate one image so it is unrecognisable from its unedited version.
Experimenting and Adapting
I have decided that I can adapt and explore this concept of distorting the body even further. Using Photoshop I have created a series of photos from which I have previously taken (above) and used the adjustments tool to create photos where the subject is completely ambiguous and does not reflect the human form at all. This ties in with my idea further down the page about how I personally view the human body as an ever changing state which alters with each individual perception. I feel this series of photos reflects this view and could be displayed as a mini final piece.
Personally I feel this method has worked the best and I really like the end product of these images. This also links back to my earlier piece as I was looking at creating images which distorted the phrase of my poem. I have taken this distorting element and played around with it by taking the distortions to bodies instead of text.
As I was looking through my work there were a few photos which made me feel slightly uneasy and looked quite scary or abnormal. This interested me as although the original subject was a face or feature of the body, it has been distorted so much so that I myself was now put at unease by something so familiar to all of us. I am intrigued by this idea and want to see how much further I can create frightening images of the body which reflect the body as a disease or an illness, as these are often taboos of society we do not usually discuss and drawing a link and being forced to associate illness with the body will hopefully create a series of images which put the viewer in an uncomfortable position. This was also a key feature of some of the surrealists work, particularly Jacques-André Boiffard's "Big Toe" which is featured further up on this page.
These are my final images for this series and I may choose to display them physically at a later date.
Personally I feel this method has worked the best and I really like the end product of these images. This also links back to my earlier piece as I was looking at creating images which distorted the phrase of my poem. I have taken this distorting element and played around with it by taking the distortions to bodies instead of text.
As I was looking through my work there were a few photos which made me feel slightly uneasy and looked quite scary or abnormal. This interested me as although the original subject was a face or feature of the body, it has been distorted so much so that I myself was now put at unease by something so familiar to all of us. I am intrigued by this idea and want to see how much further I can create frightening images of the body which reflect the body as a disease or an illness, as these are often taboos of society we do not usually discuss and drawing a link and being forced to associate illness with the body will hopefully create a series of images which put the viewer in an uncomfortable position. This was also a key feature of some of the surrealists work, particularly Jacques-André Boiffard's "Big Toe" which is featured further up on this page.
These are my final images for this series and I may choose to display them physically at a later date.
I want to adapt and refine this style of image further, and so have decided to take another set of photographs in the same way but using a macro lens and a slow shutter speed. This disrupts the picture and creates a distortion in the motion of the image. This series of images is further down the page under the title 'Further Refinement'.
Set 2: Kaleidoscope
I then used various kaleidoscopes to create patterns and repeated sequences of the body and face. This did not work as well as it was hard to both use the kaleidoscope and focus the shot without one element not working as well. Overall I liked the patterned look and feel it has potential to be a good photo, however sometimes the camera could not focus through the kaleidoscope to the subject and would focus on the glass of the kaleidoscope instead. This was hard to fix and would often slow down the process. Despite this, the images that have worked well I feel look good and are aesthetically interesting. Although I feel this was an effective method if I was to do this on a larger scale it would be much harder to do, as I was pointing the camera through either a small hole on the kaleidoscope rather than a larger container of water.
Set 3: Transparent Film
For this group I used transparent film to put over the lens, giving a watery-effect and creating a distorted image. I feel it works better than the kaleidoscope, however is an interesting comparison with the water distorted images. I would prefer the images to be in black & white, but that will be an easy process to edit them. Again, if I opened up the photo to the space around and also focused on other parts of the body I feel this method could be just as successful as the water distortions.
Set 4: Salt, Vaseline & Food Colouring Slides
For this group I used food colouring, salt and vaseline as a filter over the lens, putting the slide over the camera disfiguring the face in the photo. I am pleased with how the majority of the images turned out, some look like a double exposure. Some became more blurry with the slide over the lens which I personally feel does not look as good as the sharper and more in focus photos. This method is effective yet can sometimes work better than other times. I feel like I need a more reliable method and I also only have a limited supply of different slides. Some of the slides were not effective at all and made no difference to the image looking through the lens. Therefore, I will most probably not return to this idea but I will consider it for future experiments.
Set 5: Close Ups
I decided to then not distort the photographs with another element, but used just the camera and the subject to see if I could get obscure images simply by taking close shots of the body. I went in a dark studio and only had one spotlight on the part of the body I wanted to focus on. I really liked this series and would like to explore more but at a later time. I feel like this is a more natural an aesthetic-based method and I personally believe working in black and white would expose the more natural side of the body, rather than letting the synthetic light highlight the red and green tones of the skin.
Refining my work
To take these images further I decided to do some editing to them to see if further distorting them gave a better effect. I decided to turn the images into negatives on Photoshop and print them out and then take them into the dark room to transfer to light-sensitive paper creating a photogram. The more I experimented I discovered I only needed a short time of 3 or 4 seconds of exposure to light to develop the most detail. I think the photograms worked well, although perhaps turned out slightly too dark yet it was a good process, however they look much the same as the original photos just slightly more obscure which was what I was aiming for. I feel like the photograms limit me to what I can further go on to develop, therefore I may return to this idea once I have taken more photographs so I can experiment with not just facial features but full body images as well.
Alec Soth & Dark Mirrors Exhibitions
As a class we had a great opportunity to visit the Alec Soth exhibition at the Science Museum and the Dark Mirrors exhibition at the V&A museum. In both exhibitions there were many photos of bodies both in the natural state and paired next to nature or architecture.
Alec Soth's work made me think about my own relationship with bodies and my attitude towards them. I asked myself the question whether I see them as shapes and formal things or more mental and physical or to do with illness and disorders. I personally feel that the human body is more then a shape; I see the body as an ever changing state and is different to each person depending on how they perceive it. I also observed from Alec Soth's work how he often juxtaposed bodies with buildings. Perhaps this may reveal something about the person, maybe a trait of their character or personality or is simply an aesthetic quality. Either way I feel this has inspired me to also juxtapose bodies and buildings but in a different way. I intend to ask each person which place has most significance to them or their earliest memory and either ask them to copy the shape of the building with their body or let them reflect their memory of the building with their body. I may use both techniques depending on each person. This is an idea and I may return to it once I have explored and developed my previous series of photographs. The Dark Mirrors exhibition was also interesting, including more natural and organic photos of the human body. At the beginning of the day this exhibition was the one I felt was more tailored to me and what I was looking into at the time, yet reflecting on the day I see both of equal importance. I am still intrigued by the simplicity of the human body on its own and still intend to do a series highlighting the awkward beauty of the naked body. |
Reflections and ideas so far
At the beginning of this unit I began thinking of combining text and the idea of 'Convulsive Beauty'. Using my English A-Level as inspiration, I was planning to look at the comparisons of how literature and photography both mimic and inspire each other, using Henry Miller's Tropic of Cancer to inspire my own set of photographs at how the female body is painted and eroticised by Miller. This idea has not been abandoned and I hope to return to it or even incorporate it into my work either about the juxtaposition of bodies and buildings or the more aesthetic series of looking at distortions.
I have been exploring artistic connections between literature and photography by observing how the human body is presented. I have been focusing on the distortions of the body and how I personally view the body as an ever changing state of disorder which alters for each person. My study will now focus on states of disorder using not only the body but bodies of communities, people and other forms. I aim to challenge and disrupt the rules of order and exploit the chaos element in things. I will move away from physical bodies and look at representations instead.
I have been exploring artistic connections between literature and photography by observing how the human body is presented. I have been focusing on the distortions of the body and how I personally view the body as an ever changing state of disorder which alters for each person. My study will now focus on states of disorder using not only the body but bodies of communities, people and other forms. I aim to challenge and disrupt the rules of order and exploit the chaos element in things. I will move away from physical bodies and look at representations instead.
Further Refinements
These are a series of refined images which I have altered from my previous distortions series. These photos have been taken using a macro lens and a slow shutter speed. This disrupts the picture and creates a distortion in the motion of the image. I attempted to use the container of water, but the macro lens did not work as well as focusing on the face through the water as the 58mm was. Therefore, to get the effect of distortion I moved the camera during the time of the slow shutter speed. I used the zoom lens to zoom in and also rotated the camera upside down for a hazy and blurred effect.
I then wanted to edit my favourite selection of the photos on Photoshop to give the same harsh contrast effect as I had experimented with earlier. I wanted to make the images more two-tone which further made the face unrecognisable.
Using my idea of involving other art forms, what I might do is add an audio clip to the presentation of these images. I could record people saying unsettling words which would played over the photos. These words are just an idea that needs experimenting with and I will experiment with what could be recorded.
I want to move away slightly from the restriction of distortions and open up my practice to changing the familiar into the unknown. Furthering this idea of the unfamiliar and the uncanny, I have realised how I have been using the camera to distort and transition the body, so now I will change this and experiment with documenting the unfamiliar with the camera. I will take a photo of the unfamiliar, but the photo will be the documentation of the transition. I will move away from the two-tone distorted faces and enable myself to experiment with how else I can create the body and the face as an unfamiliar being.
I want to move away slightly from the restriction of distortions and open up my practice to changing the familiar into the unknown. Furthering this idea of the unfamiliar and the uncanny, I have realised how I have been using the camera to distort and transition the body, so now I will change this and experiment with documenting the unfamiliar with the camera. I will take a photo of the unfamiliar, but the photo will be the documentation of the transition. I will move away from the two-tone distorted faces and enable myself to experiment with how else I can create the body and the face as an unfamiliar being.
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With these audio recordings I wanted to keep the content quite minimal and bleak so as to give an ominous effect and allow the viewer's attention to not be drawn away from the photos. The words spoken are a collection of the speakers own thoughts of the photos and a few of my own words which I gave as a prompt for the speaker. If I were to display this piece I would put the photos in a geometric way or simply in a straight line and play the recording on a loop next to the photographs. If I had access to the right equipment, ideally I would have surround sound to give the effect as though the audio is enveloping the viewer and to further enforce the feeling of discomfort.
Refining Further
I decided to further explore the face and how I can distort or alter the image. I decided to change how I took the photos to help create a contrast with the previous photos so I used a Nikon F-301 to switch from a digital method to film. The photos came out slightly dark, however I feel that when there was enough light, the photographs came out well. In some of the photos, I attempted to disrupt the face in the actual photo. This included blocking out the subject's eyes or face with my own hand and getting the subject to move their face whilst I was taking the photo. I intended to adjust the photos once they were printed, however I feel as a series of faces they stand well on their own without adjustment. I will explore the idea of disrupting and adjusting further with either a new set of images or by further refining a previous set. Many of the faces are just straight on without any adjustment or distortion, this is because I wanted something to compare the distorted images with so as they appear more drastically distorted when compared to something more normal. I asked a few of the subjects to make faces or act in a way that was not normal, so some of the images can be seen as different interpretations of how the subject views 'abnormal' and 'distorted'.
Research and influences
As research I am looking at how culturally people have changed the appearance of others to be more 'beautiful'. Examples of this are the foot binding in China which I have shown further below and the amazon tribes that elongate the heads of babies. These are interesting ideas as to a western audience they are absurd and distressing images, yet to specific cultures it is viewed as normal or beautiful. I have researched both Western ideas of beauty and other cultural body modifications to show a contrast between different parts of the world.
Western representations of the unfamiliar body
Cultural body modifications
Although shocking and unfamiliar to the western culture, these practices are thought of as a way to achieve beauty and progress to adulthood. The majority of these photos have been taken of the Mangbetu tribe and The Apatani tribe. It is interesting to notice how the Western modifications are all digital or adjustments that have happened after the photo has been taken; whereas the tribes and Chinese foot binding are modifications that have physically happened to the subjects within the photos. This creates a division between reality and invention and emphasises the different and distinct ideas that can be found across the world.
My response to the body modifications
As a response, I want to experiment with recreating the above body modifications, using both the western 'fashion' ways and the more traditional cultural methods. I have taken a selection of images of parts of the body and printed them out and am going to use western materials to recreate the modifications and perhaps merge both the western and cultural methods together to form a photo. To help me achieve these modified images I have used acrylic paint to drip down the face, and thread to give the impression of a distorted photo and create a slight sense of uneasiness.
As a way of taking this experiment further, I am going to alter the way in which I stitch perhaps stitching on the front of the photo and not pulling the thread leaving it loose on the surface. This all adds to the modification of the body and further adding to a sense of disgust and uneasiness. Below I have left the thread loose and and turned the photo over so I cannot see which part of the face I am stitching. This gave an abstract effect and created a much more different type of product compared to the more decorative style of the previous experiments. I think the overall effect of the images has not worked as well as I had hoped, I prefer the smaller black thread and will perhaps use this kind of stitching when working on a larger scale.
As a follow on from this, I will use a selection of images that I have printed from a film camera and continue the same kind of process but with alterations and a more in depth way of accumulating the final product. I was originally looking at modifying the body so I will bring this back and the element of disgust that I was trying to create. I may attempt to do this by getting fruit skin or animals meat and stitching together different parts of this so as to disguise whether or not it is animal or human parts. Hopefully this will evoke feelings of revulsion in the viewer and reinforce the idea of different body modifications across the world. Furthering my idea of modification, I am also looking at deconstructing an image and then piecing it back together but in a new and unfamiliar way. Below I have experimented with this by using a photo and also to draw links between my ideas I have also began to experiment on fruit skin.
Developing & Refining
Thinking of ways to develop this idea I have decided to alter the scale and size of the piece and create it on a much larger scale. Instead of using A3 size I have printed the same photo off in A0 size and will use a similar method to achieve the idea of deconstructing and piecing back together. The idea of working on such a large scale will hopefully give the viewer an overwhelming sense when observing the photo and requires them to stand back to see the whole picture. Although not necessarily the element of disgust is created like I had been experimenting with earlier, this large scale tied in with the content of the photo will hopefully generate feelings of wonder and interest.
Using the book "Through the Looking Glass- Photographic Art in Britain 1945-1989" as research, I have also been inspired by Helen Chadwick's "Ego Geometria Sum (1983)" and how she printed life size images of women onto sculptures that represent key aspects of her upbringing. I have decided to take this idea of printing life size images and instead of representing key features of their life, I have deconstructed their identity and their face to incorporate my them of modification and reconstruction. My print is A0 size and is of a male's face- one of my photographs previously taken. Instead of completely destroying the image, like I have experimented with previously, I will take small sections of print and modify it gradually over time. For example, I may begin by simply cutting the print in half and adding a photo of a body in between. I will experiment with different methods using the same print. On top of this, I have decided to treat the photo like a person to incorporate my own feminist viewpoint into my work. As a female photographer I want to change the perception of women in photography, not by simply photographing them but instead by altering the male's position in photography. Therefore, I will sleep with the print, perhaps even talk to it and throw bleach on it- this gives the effect as treating the print how women have been treated in history and seen as sexual desirable objects. The idea of treating it in a passive aggressive way reflects the idea of how women are liked when they are needed and shamed for when they are not- this would be more present in a 1950's society rather than today but it is still present.
Using the book "Through the Looking Glass- Photographic Art in Britain 1945-1989" as research, I have also been inspired by Helen Chadwick's "Ego Geometria Sum (1983)" and how she printed life size images of women onto sculptures that represent key aspects of her upbringing. I have decided to take this idea of printing life size images and instead of representing key features of their life, I have deconstructed their identity and their face to incorporate my them of modification and reconstruction. My print is A0 size and is of a male's face- one of my photographs previously taken. Instead of completely destroying the image, like I have experimented with previously, I will take small sections of print and modify it gradually over time. For example, I may begin by simply cutting the print in half and adding a photo of a body in between. I will experiment with different methods using the same print. On top of this, I have decided to treat the photo like a person to incorporate my own feminist viewpoint into my work. As a female photographer I want to change the perception of women in photography, not by simply photographing them but instead by altering the male's position in photography. Therefore, I will sleep with the print, perhaps even talk to it and throw bleach on it- this gives the effect as treating the print how women have been treated in history and seen as sexual desirable objects. The idea of treating it in a passive aggressive way reflects the idea of how women are liked when they are needed and shamed for when they are not- this would be more present in a 1950's society rather than today but it is still present.
My work is now developing to be more performance based than the content of the final product as it is how I get to the product that matters in this. Another way of putting this is an idea taken from screenwriter Ben Maddow:
"On current taste has veered once more toward the pattern and away from the character. Maybe, in our particular decades, humanity has become slightly unbearable." -Ben Maddow, 1977
Much like Maddow says, I want to bring the focus back to character and contextual ideas in photography rather than the 'pattern' or look of photographs. This is key in the process of my own work. To further highlight this, I am bringing in my own feminist viewpoint by subverting the idea of the male gaze. I am now using the male as the subject. I do not want to create the 'female gaze' so to speak, as I do not want to oppress one to raise another; however the viewers of the portrait will observe it in its deconstructed form. The subject of the image is unconsciously being 'gazed' upon and objectified. I am tying all my ideas together by using an image from my earlier work, but also adapting the modification to represent a reconstruction of the face/body. Taking all this into consideration I have decided an apt title might be: "A Kind and Passive Objectification" or "Talk. Sleep. Abuse."
Photographer's Gallery
To further my knowledge of photography and see how I can incorporate other artist's ideas into my work, I visited the Photographer's Gallery to look at the new Saul Leiter exhibition. I think his approach to the composition of photography is interesting and although not a direct link to my idea of defacing and piecing back together, his work incorporates ideas of concealing and mystery of the subject. Often some of his photos contain people not facing the camera or with their face covered by items of clothing to perhaps arouse an element of curiosity within the viewer, or to perhaps reflect Leiter's own ideas and feelings on the subject. His black & white images have a delicate softness to the film, expressing the person in the photo in a beautiful and ethereal way. His coloured photographs also have a softness to the coour, this is due to the fact he bought film that was out of date to save money. Although not necessarily linking to my most recent ideas, this use of film is relevant to the work I did on faces with a Nikon F-301 with black & white film. My prints also produced a softness to the tone when using the film and gave the faces a grainy but defined edge.
Gustav Metzger
Gustav Metzger was born in Germany in 1926 and came to Britain in 1939 as a refugee. He is known for developing the concept of auto-destructive art where destruction was part of the process of creating the work. Often, themes of political activism and engagement appear regularly in his work. In 1959 he published the first auto-destructive manifesto Auto-Destructive Art. He has worked with a range of materials including rubbish, old newspapers, liquid crystals, industrial materials and acid.
I have used Metzger's 'Acid Action Painting' as inspiration for my final piece. Where Metzger 'paints, flings and sprays' acid onto his canvas, I have adapted this and will throw and spray bleach into my work to represent the oppressive treatment towards women in the world of art and to also show how ideas are temporary and can be corroded by other ideas- whether this be in art, metaphorically or literally. |
"Acid is painted, flung and sprayed onto the nylon which corrodes at point of contact within 15 seconds."
-Gustav Metzger
Auto-destructive art is art which contains within itself an agent which automatically leads to its destruction within a period of time not to exceed twenty years. Other forms of auto-destructive art involve manual manipulation. There are forms of auto-destructive art where the artist has a tight control over the nature and timing of the disintegrative process, and there are other forms where the artist's control is slight.
-Manifesto Auto-Destructive Art 1960
I was very aggressive putting the acid onto that nylon... it was partly me attacking the system of capitalism, but inevitably also the systems of war, the warmongers, and destroying them in a sense symbolically.
-Gustav Metzger on his 'Acid Action Painting'
Final Piece- (Coursework)
For my final piece, I have settled on the idea of my A0 print of one of my previous images. The image has been edited on Photoshop to still keep in my original theme of evoking the feeling of repulsion/unease/awe. I am also tying in my own feminist ideas of how I believe women should be viewed in the art world, and in doing this have taken Gustav Metzger's notion of 'Auto-Destructive Art' and his work featuring acid and replicated this by using bleach on my A0 print of the male's face. The idea is to reflect how women have been treated throughout history but in a way which creates curiosity and grabs the attention of the viewer, not necessarily in the same way but portraying internally or physically how women have felt as a result of this oppression. The print will not be the final piece, however I will document the results of my altering of the print after each time I do something new. These documents will be printed 4x6 and they will be displayed next to each other in a line to show how over time, the treatment towards women has not progressed but instead society has found just new ways to oppress females. The size of the documentation photos (4x6) is simply to juxtapose the large A0 size of the male face and add a sense of sarcasm to show how irrelevant a women's work may appear next to that of a man's. I will treat the print as a person, therefore I will sleep next to it, talk to it, spray bleach onto it and physically scrunch it up.
The Process
I documented the process I took to achieve the results. Firstly, I talked and shouted at the print which of course made no physical damage but was done to complete the process and give meaning to what I did that followed. Secondly, I slept and laid on the print to first get the crumpled look which was the second stage of the defacing. This made a physical alteration and prepared for the next stage of the process. I then used the bleach and both dripped, brushed and sprayed it onto the face. I put a considerable larger amount on the mouth of the print to emphasis the lack of vocal power females have had in comparison to men.
The Final Images
Below are the final images I will print out and display next to each other in this order. The order is chronological to the process I completed in order to reach these images. As a final thought, I have decided I will use the audio recordings I have previously recorded of someone looking at this original image and play the audio as a loop as the viewers look at the photographs. Hopefully this reinforces the original idea of discomfort and evokes these feelings within the viewer.