A Photographer's Account

I came across this article today, and it is a must read! The piece is written by Michael Grieve on the death of Ian Tomlinson at the G20 protests and can be found online at the Foto8 Blog.

The text is powerful, compelling and quite shocking, as Grieve describes his experience of photographing at the protests and taking part in the IPCC Investigation into the tragic death of Mr Tomlinson. Below is a quote that shows just how important photography is, but how little it is understood.

"But photography did not fail that day. It recorded evidence as best it could from professionals, amateurs, to the unauthored CCTV. All photographers acted with total professionalism, doing their job, and not, as the police may these days accuse us, acting like potential terrorists or paedophiles, or whatever they decide to pull out of the hat." Michael Grieve

http://www.foto8.com/new/online/blog/1255-ian-tomlinson-decision

Image copyright Michael Grieve.

DMB Media Tweet

David Birkitt, (DMB Media) on twitter has tweeted my news about Foam Magazine! Look here, http://twitter.com/dmbmedia

Talent Issue 24

Exciting News! I have been selected as 1 of the 15 artists by Foam Magazine for this years Talent issue, out on the 9th September 2010. Check out the link here, and keep an key out on Foam's website for details, http://www.foammagazine.nl/talent

http://www.vandejongmailer.nl/webversion.php?mailing=114530&address=33474270&email=melindagibson%40tiscali.co.uk

New Montages

Here are some new montages that I have completed, titled left to right, "Photomontage XXVIII", "Photomontage XXIV" and "Photomontage XXVII". So far there are 27 photomontages in the series and counting!

All images copyright Melinda Gibson 2009-2010.

Dayanita Singh

This series above titled, “Sent a Letter” is by Dayanita Singh. I came across this work while researching artists for my project 90 Days. I have been thinking long and hard about what format would suit this work in progress and feel that this intimate, soft, tactile book format is well worth a try.

I have objects of great importance to me, from my dearest friend, some his, some of mine, some of ours, all very beautiful memories. A document of these objects, texts, and times sitting alongside the funeral text could work very well. I would want them to very small, precious and tactile, as if to act as a memorial to his life.

I will keep updating as and when I get closer to a resolution, but I feel that this will take some time, as my grief changes, so too will the project.

Photography is Easy, Photography is Hard

Another worthy read from Mr Graham, here is an exert from the text written for Yale University MFA Graduation book in 2009,

"But if it's everywhere and all the time, and so easy to make, then what’s of value? which pictures matter? Is it the hard won photograph, knowing, controlled, previsualised? Yes. Or are those contrived, dry and belabored? Sometimes. Is it the offhand snapshot made on a whim. For sure. Or is that just a lucky observation, some random moment caught by chance? Maybe. Is it an intuitive expression of liquid intelligence? Exactly. Or the distillation of years of looking seeing thinking photography. Definitely."

Read more here: http://www.paulgrahamarchive.com/writings_by.html

Fantastic Man

After far too long, I finally went to see the new Tillmans’ show at The Serpentine Gallery - I need to go back many more times, it’s an incredibly peaceful place. For anyone who has not yet seen the show, you must!

I feel that I cannot really explain what Wolfgang’s work does to me. All I can say is this is why I love Photography, this is what inspires me and I can’t live without it. Wolfgang Tillmans has revolutionised the medium and we should all be extremely grateful to his continuing wonder.

There is also a wonderful article in Fantastic Man, a magazine about this fantastic man. Here is a beautiful quote,

“My ultimate, ultimate truth is that ultimately I don’t know. People pretend that they do. My fundamental understanding is that I might always be wrong. I may be assured or confident, but I could always be wrong. I think that’s probably one of my biggest strengths, that I don’t fear failing. Or I know the fear of failing is a huge inhibitor. So many people don’t achieve what they want to achieve because they are too precious about losing face in the short term. And so, for example, with photography as a medium, you have to be embarrassed sometimes.”

Wolfgang Tillmans, pg 100, 11th issue, Fantastic Man, 2010.

Image Copyright Wolfgang Tillmans, 
Wald (Briol I), 2008
Courtesy of the artist and Maureen Paley, London.

The Unreasonable Apple

I came across this article by Paul Graham, through a question that was put to me. Graham made this presentation at the first MOMA Photography Forum in February 2010. He talks of the art world’s opinion to ‘straight’ photography as reminding him,

“of the parable of an isolated community who grew up eating potatoes all their life, and when presented with an apple, thought it unreasonable and useless, because it didn’t taste like a potato.”

The presentation in article form is incredible and well worth a read, I can only imagine the presentation itself would have been wondrous.

http://www.paulgrahamarchive.com/writings_by.html

Image copyright Paul Graham, from the series Paintings, 1997-1999.

90 days

Above is the start of my new project. At the moment the title is work in progress, 90 days is the number of days since I lost my dearest friend.

It is exactly three months now and I have had this piece of paper since then. What is inside is a speech, a piece of automatic writing that I wrote for and said at the funeral. As the days keep going by, the paper tires until one day there will be nothing left to read.

This piece is work in progress, so for now all I can show is the folded up piece of paper.

We are indebted to you

I saw this wonderful article in the Guardian today, posing the question, “Was John Szarkowski the most influential person in 20th-century photography?” The article, by Sean O’Hagan shows us the wondrous genius that was Szarkowski and explains how his brilliance, almost single handedly changed the perception of photography in our time.

Szarkowski suggested in his book, The Photographer's Eye (1964) that "Photography, and our understanding of it, has spread from a centre; it has, by infusion, penetrated our consciousness. Like an organism, photography was born whole. It is in our progressive discovery of it that its history lies."

This piece is an excellent read and I for one, would like to applaud Szarkowski for all that he has done for photography and photographers in our changing times.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2010/jul/20/john-szarkowski-photography-moma

John Szarkowski in 1975, copyright Richard Avedon/ Richard Avedon Foundation.

The Photograph as Contemporary Art

I feel that it is very important to show where this project started and above are photographs of the original book, sliced apart. Every image has been removed and what you are left with is a very fragile collection of textual pages that really becomes one.

The book carries a certain level of nostalgia, an archived version of contemporary photography with a sketch book of words. When holding the book, turning the pages, you start to gain an appreciation into the placement of images, it is if you are editing the text yourself, understanding the process and truly taking part. The book is a worthy exhibit alongside the photomontages, it shows you another way to view our somewhat certain realities.

A New Perspective

_{Dealing with grief is hard to bear, especially when a death is very shocking and unexpected. Having lost my dearest friend not even three months ago, the pain is very much still apart of who I am. Having stated this, something does ease the sorrow and that is exhibitions like that of Sally Mann’s. It might seem to others a rather bold choice to see an exhibition, which overtly shows decaying bodies, but what this brought to me was a new perspective.}

_{Sally Mann’s exhibition at The photographers’ Galley is a collection of projects including “What remains” which presents us with decaying bodies, decomposing into the land at the Tennessee research facility. Each image is titled with what seems to be a reference code and a date only. The images are beautiful, a stunning tonal range warms the cold tone of the work and the skin appears like stone or dirty, waxed leather. What becomes apparent is the sensitivity that has gone into these images. As I looked deep into each remains, I felt a sense of understanding, a comfort, that my loss was not separated from these, that his beauty was still tangible in the images I made before his death. It is difficult to explain, but having peered into Mann’s images, I gained a new perspective for my grief.}

_{The image above, titled “Was Ever Love, 2009” from the series Proud Flesh, is a stunning image that comforts and although not related to the previous series, links directly. This photograph, produced through the Wet-Collide process, like all the new work sings memento mori. The tilted head, the unfocused shoulders, the closed eyes, it is as if you are looking into an open casket. I want to take this opportunity to thank Sally Mann wholeheartly for showing the world a new way of looking, and reminding me the beauty of death.}

_{Image copyright Sally Mann 2009, courtersy Gagosian Gallery.}