I am no photographer, but I was looking back at a presentation that my lecturer had shown me earlier this year when I had some free time. I was drawn to them at this time because of how grippingly emotive they are, they show is something so true its beyond truth. If you’re told something you know to be true you well agree with it, but if you discover something to be true then you have ownership of that feeling. By discovering the fear and turmoil in these images you are feeling the grief and fear yourself and therefore there is no further truth. As photographs they dramatically contrast to the works of (for example) Rothko physically, yet they seem to strike this parallel. Rothko’s paintings call upon you to discover the meaning yourself, indeed it takes a greater amount of contemplation but I think Rothko wanted to portray this trust beyond truth.
Don McCullin – Shell-shocked Soldier, 1968
We can identify with this picture through the understanding of shell shock and the effects of it. That is what triggers part of our understanding of the photo. Had this photo been hypothetically presented to someone 100 years ago it would not fit into the same bracket of meaning.
The figure appears hunched over and clinging to the gun as a means of comfort, the contrast adds to the drama concealing his eyes and subsequently detracting from his ‘identity’ due to the intensity of the horror he is surrounded by. The image appears quiet. Like a deafening silence has occurred amidst the chaos yet the figure is filled with kenetic energy and could spring into life at any moment. In trust it is the ambiguity of the image that truly speaks to us, what happens next? Seems to be the most potent question.
Another piece that truly stood out to me was:
Robert Capa - American soldiers landing on Omaha Beach, D-Day, Normandy, France, June 6, 1944, 1944
The blurriness of the image seems to capture the chaos and horror beyond the static clear image depicting the true defined horror. It draws you to believe that you are in this situation running without a clear shot of the destination, in turn inducing a feeling of fear. But without the knowledge of the war would we apply this same reaction to it?
Art is not something separate from the social climate. Everything effects art, war is definitely no exception. In 2003 there was controversy at the UN just before there was a press conference detailing western involvement in the middle east, because a tapestry of Picaso’s Gurnicia was on the wall behind. It was concealed behind a blue curtain for the conference but it really begs you to wonder why a image depicting the horrors of the Spanish civil war and the massacre of Guernica remained so potent. Most people I know have never seen this painting and could not even tell what it was about, yet somehow it stuck some chord of guilt or fear? What is for certain to me is that it proves the power of art is still tremendous even today.
Some links that you might want to read about what happened in 2003
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