Concept
Entropy is deinfed by order descending into chaos. Much like entropy, mental health can get worse and worse to a point of a chaos in someones life. Throughout my life i have experienced bouts of seasonal affective disorder and anxiety, so for my project i wanted to show a simple way of explaining these disorders in the hope of making them easier to understand to an audience as there is much stigma around mental health disorders, for example people that suffer from depression are told to just “cheer up” and by magic they should be fine, obviously it is not that simple. Through the use of still life i will show a common disorder, each disorder having a different object to represent it.
Influences
To start of my independent research I wanted to look into still life practitioners as i enjoyed the workshops and project and want to further my understanding and skill in still life photography while trying to link it to entropy.
To start my research i went to the university library to find still life practitioners. I came across a Irving Penn, a famous photographer who is adept in still life photography.
Irving Penn
Irving Penn is an american photographer who stands out with his careful attention to detail in his still life compositions. The most notable features of an Irving Penn still life photograph is the shape,texture and colour.
In the book Still Life, by Irving Penn i looked for compositions that related to my word of entropy. Bone Landscape shows how Penn has transformed assorted scattered bones into a scene much like a forest. The white backdrop contrasts with the shadows against the bones making them stand out in the foreground. I love the simplicity of the image, no bone stands out than another, and the black and white colour scheme lets us appreciate the detail in the bones. I would like to achieve a similar simplicity in my final images.
Camel Pack is another photograph that i think links to entropy, the original packaging of the box has been through a transformation, once square and white is now flattened and misshaped. The head of the camel has weathered away and merged with the foliage to become something new, a more abstract piece of art. Perhaps looking into decayed products could be an avenue i could explore in my final project.
The Photograph As Contemporary Art by Charlotte Cotton
I saw this book on the module reading list and decided to hunt it down. Charlotte Cotton has collected many different photographers in this book and in my hunt to find photographs that relate to entropy i came across Anne Hardy, a photographer that actually transforms old discarded objects and abandoned rooms to create something new is exactly what i was looking for.
Lumber, a very interesting piece of work by Hardy shows a large desolate room filled to the brim with scattered Christmas tress. This relates to the found object task we did as Hardy collected thrown away tress from the new year around the streets of London and used them in this piece. The atmosphere of the photo is quite overbearing and mysterious, Cotton describes it ” the menacing shape of the mound of greenery and the thought of what might lie beneath it make for a compelling hovering of what this place might actually be and the unsettling atmosphere within it.” (Cotton,2004)
The Physical Impossibility of Death In the Mind of Someone Living, 1991, Damien Hirst
Damien Hirst is quite infamous for his formaldehyde shark which is completely frozen in place. This piece of artwork is meant to spark fear in the audience, due to it being so lifelike yet so still its approachable. I think this artwork links really well with entropy as a shark is a chaotic creature which never stops and is always on the move. Hirst has brought order to the creature making it appear almost symmetrical yet still terrifying.
Alternatives
I was happy with all of my images as they didn’t have much complexity to them for me to re shoot them. However i did try different amounts of flowers in the jar for the depression image as i was unsure if one rose in the jar was too bland and didn’t have much too it. I realised i prefered the one rose as the flowers made the jar more like a bouquet of flowers which seemed too happy for the disorder of depression.
I also rewrote over some of the post it notes for anxiety as they did not show up clear enough on the camera which was crucial for the image to make sense.
Reflection
I have never done still life in this much depth before and i have to say i really enjoyed it. Researching into different practitioners who where experts into still life was really refreshing as i usually research enviornment or abstract photographers/artists.
One thing i have learnt is when i am doing a photoshoot with coloured backdrops and lighting i need to pay more attention to the finer details like if the lighting is too harsh on a white object making it too bright or making sure that the backdrop is fully smooth before shooting to avoid creasing which is hard to erase in post production.
I think i successfully showed each mental illness in a simple and effective way that an audience can easily understand which i am proud of. If i were to do another project linked to mental image i would take the next step to use models to create a porject that had more emotion and depth to it as i think its easier to sympathise with a human then an object.
Overall i am really happy with how the project went and i have learnt some new skills that will take me forward in my photographic journey.
References
Cotten C, The Photograph As Contemporary Art, 2004
Hirst D, The Physical Impossibility of Death In the Mind of Someone Living, 1991
http://www.damienhirst.com/the-physical-impossibility-of
Penn I, Still Life, 2001
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