Core Topic Modernism/Postmodernism

MODERNISM/ POSTMODERISM

Sand Dunes, Sunrise, Death valley 1948 Ansel Adams

http://pictify.com/105002/sand-dunes-sunrise-death-valley-1948-ansel-adams

Moonrise over Henandez New Mexico 1941 Ansel Adams

http://www.pxleyes.com/blog/2011/09/ten-of-ansels-adams-best-landscape-photographs-analyzed/

An example of Modernism photography is Ansel Adams a landscape photographer, he was an advocate of straight photography and went against the more pictorial style of the 1920s.  His photographs are filled with passion and warmth and he abides by the rules.  Ansel Adam developed a method of exposure and development which he called the zone system. To quote Ansel Adams 

"Landscape photography is the supreme test of the photographer-and often the supreme disappointment"

"You don't take a photography, you make it" Ansel Adams

http://www.expertphotography.com/top-10-ansel-adams-quotes/

Modernism dates back as early as the 17th century, with the French Revolution which brought  with it upheaval, changes in the personal and private life, social and political of the modern world.  Modernism is about technical progress and production, also the power of science.  It peaked in the 19th century with the change from rural communities to the urban cities and the advancement of industrialisation.  Modernism is based upon a tradition of the self, together and complete, which began with Rene' Descartes philosophy which states "I think therefore I am." (Sturken & Cartwright 2001)

Marx believed if your modern your part of the universe and said "all that is solid melts into air" (Harper, D., Handout)

Postmodernism is a term used to describe modern images of the 21st century and the styles, approaches and ideologies which are associated with it.  Postmodernism is from the late 1970s to the present, it challenges modern concepts, concerns and issues.

An example of a Postmodernist photographer is Sherrie Levine, she rephotographed canonical 20th century photographs taken by male photographers like Edward Western (1886 - 1958), Alexander Rodchenko (1891 - 1956) and Walker Evans (1903-75 )

Sherrine Levine series after Walker Evans (1981) was direct copies of the originals from an exhibition catalogue of Evans photographs of the 1930s rural America.  Her images questions originality, subjectivity, authenticity and authorship, as well as the status which is given to the male photographer.   She criticises Walker Evans individual and personal style from the modernist 'production to the postmodernist 'reproduction.'

Sherrine Levine 'After Walker Evans' 1981

http://www.medienkunstnetz.de/works/after-walker-evans/

Sherrine Levine: 'After Walker Evans 1980' - Re-Photographed pictures [5]

http://gianfrancomirizzi.wordpress.com/writings/appropriation-in-art/

Postmodernism rejects modernism belief in truth, the belief in reason, self meaning and purpose.  Postmodern photography is cold and disconnected and follows no fixed rules or moral codes.  It can be anything we want it to be or perceived by the viewer, this questions authority and ownership.  Is postmodernism and infringement of copy right in our rapidly changing world of visual Art?

References

Hacking, J., (2012) 'Postmodernism' Photography the whole story. London Thames & Hudson

Harveys, D., (No Date) Introduction Modernity - Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow [Leaflet Obtained in lecture] 3, May 2013

L & Sturken, M., (2001) Practises of Looking: An Introduction to Visual Culture, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

William, V., (2013) ' What makes Great Photography' London, Mark Fletcher.

http://mylens1.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/modernismpostmodernism.html

Education

EDUCATION

Poetry

Listen and let Langston Hughes begin.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpjFS3CQkKE

The Negro Speaks of Rivers mjlauria·4 videos

Langston Hughes a Black Poet from Joplin Missouri who helped shape modernism in America, he was born on February 1st in 1902.  Langston Hughes was an important figure in the literary world in 1920, the period known as "The Harlem Renaissance" a time when black writers were emerging.  His first book in poetry titled 'The Weary Blues' publicised in 1926, in 1903 he won the Harmon Gold Medal for literature with his first novel 'Not without Laughter.'

Du Bose Heyward wrote in the New York Herald Tribune in 1926: "Langston Hughes, although only twenty-four years old, is already conspicuous in the group of Negro intellectuals who are dignifying Harlem with a genuine art life. . . . It is, however, as an individual poet, not as a member of a new and interesting literary group, or as a spokesman for a race that Langston Hughes must stand or fall. . . . (Heyward, DB., 1926)

I love this quote by Langston Hughes, its simple and to the point "I have discovered in life that there are ways of getting almost anywhere you want to go, if you really want to go."

– Langston Hughes

Clear your mind and begin press PLAY:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_ZmM7zPLyI

www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-eVF_G_p-Y

My 16 year old son Lorenz introduced me this poet Suli-Breaks maybe in order for me to think outside the box and chill.  Stop talking about revision with his GCSEs approaching this summer 2013.

This video blew me away, I was seriously impressed.  His words and how he puts his point across confidently, but effectively.  He explains the unexplainable and goes deep and makes you the viewer question the system of education and beyond.  How it's all interconnected to life, growing up, school, college, university and the real world of work. A local boy from Walthamstow in East London, where I'm from.

"My emphasis is on people changing their attitude towards education - whether they're students or teachers," he explains. "You don't have to reform the whole structure of the curriculum but people need an understanding that just because you're not good at a subject doesn't mean you're not going to succeed"

Suli Breaks with one of his inspirational mottos

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/04/24/suli-breaks-spoken-word-poet-hate-school-love-education_n_3145169.html

Suli Breaks is the visual spoken word poet takingYoutube by storm, his words touch young people and provokes a reaction, it makes them think and ask questions about the system of education.  He started uses poetry while at university, it was not until his final year that he decided to pursue his spoken word as he enjoyed it.  His work 'Why I hate school but love education' poem has had over 2 MILLION hits on Youtube, this success has surprised him.  He is in no way encouraging students to drop out of school, college or university, but he knows what they are going through, there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Suli Breaks poetry works visually with his use of text in bold colours of red, white and black as he speaks.  His use of language and how he asks questions and answers, as well as providing factual information about important people in society. It's interesting how he turns the camera on the viewer watching him through the lens as he speaks, it works.

"At the end of the day I'm an artist who just likes expressing myself and if someone;s enjoying my work that's enough of a satisfaction." (Breaks, S., 2013)

Langston Hughes a Modernist thought for educational freedom for all and unity.  He believed in equality and a fairer system for all one day, and to be part of the system.  Whereas Suli Breaks a Post-modernist questions education and is fighting for individuality, creativity, freedom of expression.  He questions the systems, the rules  and he is asking the question How do you define education?  Both men use their artistic skills in a positive, progressive and visual way with the power of the spoken word. 

References

Harper, D, A, S., 'Langston Hughes' 'Black History Month' [Online] Available at: http://www.gale.cengage.com/free_resources/bhm/bio/hughes_l.htm (Accessed 28/04/13)

The poetry Foundation (2013) 'Biography' 'Langston Hughes 1902-1967' [Online] Available at http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/langston-hughes (Accessed 28/04/13)

Sherriff, L., (2013) ' Suli Breaks, spoken world poet, On Success Of Why I hate School, but Love Education' (video) 'Huffpost Young Talent' 24 April [Online] Available at ttp://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/04/24/suli-breaks-spoken-word-poet-hate-school-love-education_n_3145169.htm (Accessed 29/0413)

YouTube videos

Langston Hughes

www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpjFS3CQkKE

The Negro Speaks of Rivers mjlauria·4 videos

Suli Breaks

www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_ZmM7zPLyI

www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-eVF_G_p-Y

http://mylens1.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/modernismpost-modernism.html

Core Topic Identity

IDENTITY RACE & GENDER

Rebellious Silence 1994

The words POWERFUL, DARK, BOLD, INTENSE, DEEP, SENUAL, SUBMISSIVE EROTIC and  IN YOUR FACE come to my mind when I first came across these images.

Allegiance with wakefulness 1994

Shirin Neshat is a Iranian visual Artist, born on March 26^th 1957 in Qazvin, but now lives in New York in exile.  She is a film marker,  Photographer and her work is known internationally.

The objects in the image which stand out are the Gaze, the Text, the Gun and the Veil.  These four elements symbolise her identity.  My eyes are immediately drawn to the centre of the portrait and what stands out for me is the text and the eyes.  She is a proud religious women wearing her uniform as part of her culture.  It identifies who she is, what she stands for and what she is willing to do to protect herself,  even if by the use of violence.

Shirin Neshat says: “Despite the Western representation of the veil as a symbol of Muslim women’s oppression, the subjects of these images look strong and imposing.  In fact, the use of the black veil as a uniform has transformed the feminine body into that of a warrior, determined and even heroic”. (Hacking, J., 2012)

 Shirin Neshat has used text as a medium in her series ‘Women of Allah’ (1993-97) but Farsi test which is written by contemporary Iranian women poems and pose.  She uses body parts to display her text on the only part of the body which is visual, expressing identity.  However the use of the Farsi text is relevant in that it is a language which places the West as the ‘Other’ or ‘Outsider ‘ and not the Iranian women.  It is a reversal of the stereotypes.

Neshat challenges the stereotypes of middle eastern women by the western world.  According to her “Being political is and integral part of being Iranian” she adds “We are not just making work that demands the judgement of critics at an international level, but also the judgement of the Islamic Republic of Iran.  I love that-that people’s imaginations can positively affect a society rather than just being collected and put in a museum” (Khaleeli, H., 2010)

Current issues on identity include the anniversary of Stephen Lawrence death on Monday 22^nd April, its' been 20years since his death.  In 1993 in Eltham Stephen Lawrence was stabbed to death at a bus stop by a gang of white youths, only two men have been brought to justice.

In 1998 the McPherson inquiry highlighted the police failing as institutionally racist.  Now current police chiefs say the service has changed in its treatment towards ethnic minorities in Britain, however Doreen Lawrence has a difference of opinion she says:

“I cant say they have definitely changed.  I don’t think anybody knows apart from those who are working inside” (Dodd, V., 2013)

The prime minster says: “We know that more still needs to be done”  Professor Brain Cathcart an author agree with David Cameron.  He wrote a book about Stephen Lawrence he adds: “It was the first time the British public engaged with a black family which had a grievance and shared, in a way, in their anger and their grief “  (BBC News London 2013)   

I watched the Wright Stuff on Channel Five on Monday 22^nd April presented by Matthew Wright with a panel and an audience.  The discussion was Britain 20years on from Stephen Lawrence, they all agreed the police are still racist and black men are more likely to be stopped and searched than white men.  The panel also talked about a shift from colour prejudice to Eastern European prejudice and how institutional racism is alive still in Britain today.

A caller called in to the show and described a person of dark musty skin as a foreigner, Matthew response was 'How do you know he was a foreigner? just be looking at him, he could have been born here in Britain'.  (Wright. M,. 2013) Matthew swiftly ended the call saying the caller could not understand he was being racist.  I was very surprised by the response from the general public.  It is 2013 and still people are ignorant and have no understanding of people of other cultures. 

Racists only see skin colour first and make judgements and assumptions based on that.  IT IS SO WRONG.  According to the Black scholar W. E. B. Dubois he identified an 'unasked question'
which creates a barrier between society and those who live within  the veil of colour, 'How does it feel to be a problem.'  As Enoch Powell said 'the West Indian does not by being born in England, become an Enghishman.  In law, he becomes a United Kingdom citzen by birth; in fact he is a West Indian or Asian still.' (Gilroy, P., 1987)

References

BBC, (2013) 'Stephen Lawrence Murder: we will catch those involved' News London, 22 April [Online] Available at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-22244598. Accessed 27/04/13)

Dodd, V., (2013) 'Stephen Lawrence's mother attends service to mark 20years since murder' The Guardian 22 April [Online] Available at http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/apr/22/stephen-lawrence-mother-service-anniversary. (27/04/13)

Gilroy, P (1987) There Ain't No Black in the Union jack: The Cultural Politics of Race and Nation.

Hacking, J., (2012) 'Identity' Photography the whole story London, Thames & Hudson.

khaleeli, H., (2010) 'Shirin Neshat A long way from home' 'The Guardian, 13 June [Online Available at http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2010/jun/13/shirin-neshat-women-without-men. (Accessed 26/04/13)

Wright, M., (2013) 'Britain 20years From Stephen Lawrence' 'The Wright Stuff 22 April [Online] Available at http://www.channel5.com/shows/the-wright-stuff/episodes/episode-76-51. (Accessed 27/04/13)


http://mylens1.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/identity.html