The course notes pose the question – is it possible to produce an objective depiction of a place or will the outcome always be influenced by the artist? My immediate response is why would anyone want to produce an objective work of art? Certainly I do not. It could be argued that any attempt to produce something which appears objective is a stylistic/artistic choice in itself. An example of artists using an objective style as a means of expression in itself that immediately springs to mind is the work of the Dusseldorf School
of photographers (see my thoughts on Thomas Ruff here.)
Although I am not a fan of the label psychogeography, I am attracted to many of the strategies that could fall under the term such as wandering, exploration and chance. Increasingly my choices about what to photograph are informed by my personal engagement with a particular place and my selection choices follow this. Anyone encountering a particular image brings their own thoughts and experiences to it and there is no way to judge how they will react and respond – the only choice we have is to make personal judgements and hope that others will share them.
In my level 3 transition meeting, the work of the photography collective Inside the Outside was signposted for me to look at. On their website, the group describe their aims as “mediating the liminal space between the world before us and within.” To my mind, this quote succinctly sums up and defines psychogeography. As I struggle to find the direction I want to pursue with BoW, and more broadly, as a photographer; walking, looking and thinking remain the cornerstone of my practice.
Chapman’s Well:
I started BoW with psychogeography firmly placed as a strategy to employ which I hoped would yield results – I hoped that the process of walking and photographing would lead to a theme emerging. For previous projects where I have employed this approach, I have found exploring the same area over and over to be important – the familiarity with the same route has often helped with the editing process as I instinctively understand what is important to photograph. As an initial exercise for BoW, I began exploring an area close to home called Chapman’s Well. This is somewhere I have already walked extensively and one that I find fascinating – it is a mixture of rural, wild, cultivated and post industrial. Much if the site was formerly an open cast mine which was turned into a nature reserve following closure. The deep coal mines that make up much of the area also run beneath the site and there are strange metal structures above ground which are used to monitor landfill gas and ground water levels below ground and act as a reminder of the industrial history of the area. The woodland area that was planted following the closure of the open cast is well established and pretty wild, yet on closer inspection a uniformity can be noted in the planting which contrasts with the more established trees nearby.
Nothing so far has come from the exploration of this area, although I did feature part of the site for A1: Hidden Stanley. I still walk the area and perhaps a body of work will form in the future, if nothing else I find the familiarity of walking the same paths and noting the subtle changes of the seasons or in lighting conditions endlessly inspiring and a stimulus for thinking through other problems I might face.
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