BA (Hons) Photography
Research Blog/Reflective Journal Overview
Student Name: Emily Ryder
Tutor: Sylvia Waltering
Date: 4th May 2021
1. What are the main written resources you have used to help you develop your work and ideas? List and give a brief summary of their relevance (publications/writers/articles/theories you have focused on over the past year):
The Ontology of the Photographic Image – This is a useful text to refer to, reminding me of my practice and why it is so important to understand how it remains influential and useful to create artwork today.
Social media photography: construing subjectivity in Instagram images. By Michele Zappavigna.
The article helped me to connect my ideas of social media influence to the relationship with self. It discussed social media dominance, audience, subjectivity, image and visual choices.
From Snapshots to Social Media – The Changing Picture of Domestic Photography. Written by Risto Sarvas and David M. Frohlich.
This text helped me to understand the change in domestic photography in recent years. It gave me context to the origins of domestic and snapshot photography, helping inform my research. It discusses how the aesthetic has transformed into oversharing on apps such as Facebook.
‘Old and New: Working With and Responding to the Photographic Archive.’
Magnum Photos. Theory and Practice. Written by Sophie Wright.
This text helped to inform me on how archive images can be used today to inspire new work. This helped me when I revisited the idea of using archive images in my project to construct a narrative which better suited my project.
How To Write About Contemporary Art, by Gilda Williams
This text helped me write my artist statement. It was informative on what to avoid and what to include, sharing common mistakes artists use when writing about their art.
2. What are the most important other sources you have used for your research? List key exhibitions/videos/talks/events etc and give a brief summary of their relevance:
When researching, I often look for videos from artists I am researching to help me get a better idea of them and their work. I also look for interviews and other texts to help inform my research.
https://www.photolocale.co.uk/features/nickwaplington – Artist Nick Waplington discusses his time growing up and attending art school, to his work alongside Alexander McQueen. He details the changes in society and what it means to be an artist today. This interview gave an understanding of his range as an artist and what continues to inspire him.
My Mothers’ Cupboards and My Fathers’ Words – Anna Fox
The video helps bring understanding to the intricacies of the project and allows Fox to discuss it in depth. This helped inform my research as it spoke of all details in the project, discussing the use of text and image in a personal project.
Sophie Calle on becoming an artist / Sophie Calle’s voyeuristic portraits of hotel rooms
These videos allow an insight into Calle’s life, detailing how she became interested in the use of text and image work, conducting invasive projects and travelling. Her work inspired me to go further in depth with my projects and push past what makes me uncomfortable.
Photographers in Focus: Richard Billingham / Richard Billingham ray’s a laugh
These YouTube videos from Billingham allow an insight into his working methods creating his work and the meaning behind the work. It was interesting for me to see how documentary images can have such a profound outcome. It was a remaining factor for me to document relationships of all kinds through my work, including the ones we have with ourselves.
https://www.vogue.co.uk/article/jack-davison-photographer-interview-2019
This article from Jack Davidson discusses his time growing up and discovering photography. It also discusses how one of his main sources of inspiration is found imagery. This use of archive imagery as inspiration helped to keep me inspired when looking at my own archive work and fitting it into my project.
Sorry Not Sorry, Women Have Body Hair: Petra Collins / Photographers in Focus: Petra Collins
These videos were a huge source of inspiration from Petra Collins as she helped to uncover issues with social media, beauty standards for women today and the relationships we have with ourselves and our bodies, which gave a deep insight into the issues I was tackling with my work. She details puberty, sexualization of women in the media, body hair, the negativity social media has on our lives and the female experience.
3. From the research developed on your blog/in your journal and through your practice, outline the key areas (the concepts/themes/theories) of interest have emerged this year? How has this helped with the development of your practice?
My project title was: The relationship with self in the age of social media. Over the course of the project, I referred to my previous work this year to help push me into a new direction. My work had been based around the female gaze, relationships and documenting life. I took all this with me into my new work and began looking for a new angle to work with. I focused on documenting the relationships we have with ourselves, from a female perspective, growing up in the age of social media and constant changing beauty standards from society. The project allowed me to reflect on my own experiences and difficulties, making personal work which therapeutically helped me heal alongside the project. Completing the project has allowed me to reflect on my own experiences and look at how all my work this year has been interlinked with an overall meaning which I wasn’t able to reflect on until now.
My practice has been made more interesting, I allowed myself to experiment and experience my work in a different way, not focused on the end goal but the journey of getting there. It was a project which allowed me to share in ways I previously was unable to do so. Also, I was able to begin creating physically again which I haven’t been able to do for a long while.
Emily Ryder 