Contextual Influences BTEC and UAL level 3 Art and Design

Contextual Influences

If you're looking to attain good grades in your Art and Design course, one area that you need to demonstrate that you've investigated and learned about is the contextual aspects. This is one of the aspects of your research that you normally have to read more to grasp and make sense of and therefore will gain you additional points as such. More importantly it leads you to looking at wider subjects and therefore accelerates your learning.

Currently for what I teach (Photography) I break it down into 3 sections...

• Operational context.
• Historical context.
• Zeitgeist context.

(1). Operational Context – This is where you identify and explain the working context; is the work you’re looking at art photography/personal work where the photographer/artist has full control over every aspect of the process, chooses the subject and Materials, Techniques and Processes and the work is usually produced over months and years. Or is it Commissioned Photography/Art where the work is done to a brief set by someone else (Client/ad agency) using MTP’s that they stipulate and is produced within a time scale and you’re paid a set wage for producing the work for them. Or is it Amateur work – where it’s done for pleasure and isn’t usually sold to provide a living wage for the artists/photographer?

(2). Historical Context – This is where you read about the photographer – interviews or critical reviews and discover who the photographer is influenced by. Using the images of the artist/photographer that they are influenced by, you have to identify connections and look to see if this is a re-occurring theme within the art/photography world.  Is it being used in similar ways historically? Ideally you should make direct connections with other forms of art especially paintings.

For an example in practice see here (Note the inclusion of the older images alongside the main Testino images) http://southendasphoto.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/how-to-put-together-your-research-for.html

 

See this example below...

The most recent image (A) is a Mario Testino image from Vogue 2011. (B) Is a David Bailey image from the mid 1960's and (C) Is a Jan Van Eyck painting from 1434 "Arnolfini Wedding".

You can see that there is potential to refer to all of the images if you're looking at any of them because of their similarities. The Testino image no doubt refers to Van Eyck as they not only reference the pose, but also the clothing and the whole 'Dutch Old Masters' theme. Whether Bailey referenced Van Eyck is speculation, but as a student, if you're making these speculative comparisons, what it demonstrates is a very broad knowledge of both art and photography showing how one can influence another. Not only that, it also demonstrates you're looking at important historical art and photography as opposed to images and photographers of no consequence whatsoever.

The key point here is that if you were to research any of these artists/photographers you would find endless research material from which you would potentially learn a great deal. By delving a little deeper for instance into David Bailey, you might then start to learn about the things that were happening around him at the time in wider society...

 

(3). Zeitgeist Context – This is where you examine the photography/photographer and look to evidence that the work has been produced in response to something that is happening now as opposed to events happening at the time when the work was being produced (Historical). You might look specifically at political, social, environmental or cultural events that may have shaping or inspiring the photography in some way.

As an example when writing Donald Trump rescinded on some of the measures that Obama had started to implement with regards to oil exploration in Alaska and Dakota. There were concerns about the rights of Indigenous North American Indians and the fact that a pipeline was due to be built within their homelands. Oil as you’re probably aware is one of Ed Burtynsky’s main themes in his photography, so there’s the potential to look into this further and make connections between Ed Burtynsky’s concerns and work and the events unfolding off the back of Trumps presidency and seeming disregard for the environment.

https://www.adn.com/politics/2016/12/09/obama-offers-parting-protections-for-alaska-waters-and-tribes/

This may then lead you into delving into what was the trigger for Burtynsky – what inspired him to produce the Oil project? Is Burtynsky still working with the theme Oil, or has someone else taken up the challenge, or is this a theme that you might like to explore more locally?

 

Conclusion - The conclusion you need to draw from this is the more you know about contemporary and historic photography of consequence e.g. the work that is written about, reviewed, critiqued and analysed by experts, the easier you'll be able to make such contextual connections. This involves reading and studying - primarily books as a starting point finding the names of the relevant photographers and artists. At the start of our courses we advise you to buy a book to help with your studies "Photography the Whole Story". Once you have the names of the photographers and artists that are worthy of your time, you can then add internet research.

 

 

 photographers/artists. 

 

Note When you write this material up in your book

The Prompts - Responding to and writing about images "Influence and connections".

Identifying the influence of the work your researching is another of the really important parts of your research process.

Probably the most effective way of finding this information is to search using interviews. Once you've found the photographer or the work that you are going to use as a part of your research initially using journals or books (Remember to compile your bibliography as you go), then use the internet once you have the photographers name. In your search pre-fix the photographers name with 'Interview'...

We would always advise you to find a minimum of two different interviews or articles in conjunction with your research. Usually, irrespective of who asks the questions this important aspect is covered, almost every interviewer will ask "Who are you inspired by" or "Who are you influenced by"?

Check Youtube, Vimeo, Dailymotion and other video websites for video interviews.

Once you've found the information...

Find images of the work the that photographer has been inspired by. If for instance you had researched Hans Van Der Meer in one of his interviews he gives a specific example of who inspires his Football pitch series...
Hendrich Avercamps Skaters

Making these connections and doing this additional layer of research is absolutely essential if you're looking to attain higher grades. This secondary layer only really requires that you include images and then annotate the additional 'Historic' image in terms of what you recognise as being similar in the work.

This broadens your knowledge beyond photography and identifies the historical context. Furthermore it demonstrates that photographers use historic images as key reference points for their own work.

The Prompts - Responding to and writing about images "Socio-economics".

This is one of the more complex aspects of photographs that you should aim to address when making sense of them and being that bit more complex increases the chances of you attaining higher grades.

Ways to address this are numerous...

One of the first things you should look at is the relationship between the photographer and the people/situation that they are photographing. Look at all of the clues you have and make a judgement on what you know of the photographer about their socio-economic status or background. Then look at who is being photographed and again make a judgement of their socio-economic status and then look to see if there is a difference and ask yourself if this is relevant or significant?

It may be useful to identify and compare your own socio-economic status and make connections with either the subject or the photographer themselves?

As an example if you look at the work of Joni Sternbach here think about what you know of Surfing already and look at the visual clues in the images.

Think about your own ideas and own life experiences, living conditions and financial status. Are the people in the images the same or similar to you - what things do you share with the people? The very basic questions you should look at, might include questions such as...

Are the people Western or Non-Western?
Are they poor?
Are they comfortable (Financially)?
Are they wealthy?
Are they working class, under-class, middle class or upper-class?

Whatever assumptions you make, you then need to discuss in your work what leads you to believe these assumptions - the visual clues?

Then ask yourself does the photographer share the same lifestyle or values as the people in the images and does this then affect your feelings towards the photographers work or not - does it matter?

In many instances, photography because of the nature of it ... cost/access to equipment and resources is conducted by people that are predominantly middle-class. One of the defining features of being middle class is to be in control of your life to some extent, having excess capital (money) that allows you to be involved in activities such as photography and travel. You might want to discuss how photographers interact and relate to different people from differing socio-economic backgrounds? Looking at the image/s your writing about - how are they are shot and used, are there any observations you can make with regards to whether you feel the subjects in the images are being exploited? Or does the photographer go about their work with a sense of empathy, making the images in such a way that they imbue their subjects with dignity?

Returning to the Joni Sternbach images, with only a few minutes of researching on-line we can establish a number of facts about Sternbach's work ...

1. She is a white middle class American. Things that connote that she is so include the fact that she has a degree and an MA, she makes a comfortable living through making art photographs, which allows her to travel all around the world pursuing this career.

2. The people she photographs for the most part are similarly white middle-class Americans, Australians and English. How do we know they're middle class even though they're almost without clothes on the edge of a beach? Surfing is for the most part a middle-class past time, the surfboards for instance are expensive luxury goods. All of the people in the images look fit and healthy and they live near the beach and again that is a reasonably good indication of wealth combined with all of the other factors.

You therefore have to look at the images used in your research and ask these types of questions and offer responses to them by way of trying to establish what the images are really about. You only need a few lines (As above in italics) or a paragraph that demonstrates that you've considered this aspect of the images in your image analysis.

If that doesn't make sense - what about this...

One way of approaching it is to look at who is being photographed and who the photographer is. Look at the subjects and ascertain what their socio-economic background/status is… Are they from a certain background e.g. Under-class, working class, middle class, upper-middle class or upper-class? Look at the visual clues that might suggest the people’s status. Read the articles that you’ve researched and get some sense if this is an important aspect of the images. Explain how you might have arrived at this assumption or fact.

Then ascertain the photographers background and status, does he/she share their status in anyway, historically did the photographer come from a similar background? Are they the same nationality or ethnicity? Do you think this matters or through your research can you ascertain whether this does matter?

The relationship between the photographer and their subject potentially matters a lot as it may mean the images are shot with a bias? Are the images supportive, derogatory, neutral or condescending explain how and why?

Is it possible for a rich western, middle class white photographers to take images of ethnic, third world, indigenous people and do so in a neutral non-colonial manner? Similar issues can be discussed in terms of men taking pictures of Women, Women taking pictures of men. ­