20 February 2014
Well, I've bought my rail ticket which cost an arm and a leg to get up to Waterloo and on to Sloan Square for tomorrow's study day. Today there are no diversions or substitutions on the railway so should get there in the 2 hours 56 minutes they claim.
18 February 2014
OCA is putting on a study session at the Saatchi Gallery Body Language Exhibition on Friday, 21st February. I'm hoping to go but I'm hoping that there are no train delays or bad weather on the day. I'm leaving my ticket to the last minute as I really do want to go but don't want to forfeit the cost as it runs to about £50+.
I've always been interested in the subject of body language and hope to gain some interesting insights with this exhibition. I really enjoy the talk given by the gallery staff as it gives a great perception on the images that are featured.
Fingers crossed for good weather!
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Thoughts after the visit
The
Saatchi Gallery has 12 galleries over 3 floors with a mixture of images and sculpture. What I hadn't
realised was that the majority of exhibits were paintings rather than
photographs. In all there was one gallery (gallery 5) of prints and one
wall (gallery 1) with approximately a dozen prints mainly of transvestites.
Gallery
5 had a disturbing photographic exhibition, entitled the Essence Series, based
on a cemetery in the town of Yekaterinburg in Russia, otherwise known as Ekaterinburg which is notorious for being where the Romanov
royal family were murdered after the
Bolshevik takeover in July 1918.
This exhibition comprised of larger than life
photographs of intricately engraved tomb stones in the cemetery of various
Russian gangland leaders who had been murdered during the 1990s. Gang members were pictured beside their most
prized possessions and the more items that were included indicated their social
status in the gangs. These images
revealed an ideal remembrance in an attempt to control the memory of the future
from the past. Spooky!
We walked round separately and as a group discussing
each person’s favourite item. I found it
difficult to relate to some of the images, as they seemed rather on the naïve
side. Some of a group of huge canvases
by Helen Verhoeven seemed unfinished. Our tutor made the comment that the
artist had done this deliberately as it made your eye complete the image. Her larger than life canvases brought
together seemingly random groups of people.
I’m always amazed how much of the intent of the artist
I miss. What seems to be a simple,
painted picture has much significance in the various aspects of them but which
are more often than not completely missed unless given an explanation.
Tuesday, 18 February 2014
OCASA Study Day - Fiona Yaron Field
OCASA - An Audience with Fiona Yaron Field
An Audience with photographer Fiona Yaron Field
Recently I went to Thatcham, Berks, on a study day set up by OCASA to listen and watch Fiona Yaron Field talk about her various portfolios of work which she had taken since starting photography in her late teens. There were 11 of us of which three were women. The link above leads to the notes I took during the day.
I found Fiona's work eclectic as it ranged from simple groups of work, ie, her work on women getting married, to her life story of her daughter Ophie, a Down's Syndrome baby, from birth to aged 12 years old. This body of work, she felt, enabled her to see her daughter in a much clearer way rather than just looking at her.
I found her work entitled 'Beyond the Wall' very interesting and as she talked about setting up the subjects in both Israel and Palestine, how she was treated as a second class citizen. She explained how she was unable to take any pictures unless she had a male minder in attendance as a woman on her own was not acceptable.
I found Fiona's work interesting and allowed me to think further along the work she had created; hopefully allowing me to produce new work covering similar subjects.
Whilst I don't feel that I need a minder to take my images, I do feel it takes a lot to get male models to relax with a woman photographer whilst having their picture taken by a man was present no problems. This body of work ties in with my Progressing with Digital Photography module 4 as I am discussing the trials and tribulations of woman and women photographers in the 20th/21st Century.
An Audience with photographer Fiona Yaron Field
Recently I went to Thatcham, Berks, on a study day set up by OCASA to listen and watch Fiona Yaron Field talk about her various portfolios of work which she had taken since starting photography in her late teens. There were 11 of us of which three were women. The link above leads to the notes I took during the day.
I found Fiona's work eclectic as it ranged from simple groups of work, ie, her work on women getting married, to her life story of her daughter Ophie, a Down's Syndrome baby, from birth to aged 12 years old. This body of work, she felt, enabled her to see her daughter in a much clearer way rather than just looking at her.
I found her work entitled 'Beyond the Wall' very interesting and as she talked about setting up the subjects in both Israel and Palestine, how she was treated as a second class citizen. She explained how she was unable to take any pictures unless she had a male minder in attendance as a woman on her own was not acceptable.
I found Fiona's work interesting and allowed me to think further along the work she had created; hopefully allowing me to produce new work covering similar subjects.
Whilst I don't feel that I need a minder to take my images, I do feel it takes a lot to get male models to relax with a woman photographer whilst having their picture taken by a man was present no problems. This body of work ties in with my Progressing with Digital Photography module 4 as I am discussing the trials and tribulations of woman and women photographers in the 20th/21st Century.
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