Tuesday 25 October 2011
Final Idea
After researching different artist, toys and stories. My final idea is using the objects: China doll, Bottle of Red wine and a glass. The three objects are to represent the child and the reason behind the abuse. I want to image to have an eerie haunting feel about it yet also for the viewer to feel sympathetic towards the doll. In order to create the theme of child abuse, I want the image to include the glass broken and the doll cracked and dirty, as if portraying the child. I want the background to be matte black, to create a dark effect and also so that the only focus is on the objects. During the shoot I will experiment with composition to try and find the best way for the doll to look child like and dependant on the bottle of wine, maybe leaning or laying on it. I want the broken glass to represent 'a broken home' and the china doll to represent 'the china doll of the family.'
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Alex,
ReplyDeleteInteresting. How many images did you make? Are you allowed to make digital images as experiments before doing the analogue photograph? I'd like to see the others if you've not posted them. I must admit, without your text, I would read the photographs as a doll that got drunk, or the loss of innocence or something relating to the booze, the smashed glass and the doll. I might not have much sympathy for the doll. I would not see an abused child due to an alcoholic mother. I wouldn't see the glass as representing a broken home as you want me to. You say you want the doll to look dependent on the wine, surely the doll is dependent on the mother/father who drinks the wine? And come to think of it, wine sounds sort of middle class and safe. My mother was a secret drinker and she hid bottles of sherry and gin about the house. The booze lurked in the background/shadows - I never saw her drink the stuff. You can see how the composition of objects would be changed with that kind of narrative. How would the composition be changed it it was a tin of lager and a cigarette but?
I also feel tempted to argue against your comments of the inherent innocence of the doll. I think it depends on such things as context and position (look at what Hans Belmer did with dolls http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Bellmer).
I very much liked the references you found. The Louise Daddona image of the cracked doll face is as you pointed out powerful stuff and like you I ask myself why. Is is because the face fills the frame? Or is it, most importantly, the eyes? I feel they engage and challenge my own gaze: they dominate the space. I liked your abandoned spaces references. In your studio photos you put the three elements of bottle, glass and dolls close together (for intimacy and needfulness I guess) - For future shoots you could experiment with space placing the objects far apart, in a line, hidden behind each other, putting in a wider space? Doing close ups with the dolls face and the shadow of the bottle on the face? Perhaps experimenting with more subtle relationships and placements, using depth of field, partial views etc.
Is there any reason you chose that particular doll - it looks very cute, perhaps too cute. Can you get access to different types? Experiment with a range of dolls, is there such a thing as a mother doll? Rearranging their clothing? Getting a doll with a broken face or even smashing one? A dismembered doll might be interesting. Perhaps concentrating on parts of dolls, hands, hair, eyes etc.
You may want to experiment with light in more radical ways, perhaps something less intimate and contrasty, just to see how it looks. I notice in the Brian McCarty images the light is cold and diffuse. Colour is important in his images. The dominant colour in your test shots is red which is intimate and warm but what about other hues and colour combinations. It would be interesting to try desaturated colour - it could represent tiredness or a past that can not fixed. I think my strategy would be to reduce the colour to a minimum and then add colour to see what happens.
Lots of ideas and permutations to experiment with. You might like to try another experiment. You mentioned before the difficulties of trying to imagine how it feels to be abused and your friend's experience has been helpful in that respect. Have you thought about trying a creative writing process? For example an imaginary exchange of letters between parent and abused child? A parent how feels different emotions, guilt, love, fear? A child who hates? A sequence of poetry? It does not have to be good writing, it's just a way of getting into a mindset and making discoveries and insights.
If you feel I'm talking a load of drivel, tell me and argue back. Have fun with with your project!
Best wishes,
Chris