Subversive Portraits

Looking back at a death mask that I took a the Huntarian Museum in Glasgow, I experimented by blending it with a layer of a multi-facetted meat image.

I moved the top image around until the pattern was central on the face but did not obscure too much of its detail. I like the effect of a painted or even tattooed face. This is in fact the surgeon, Hunter himself.

I think he would approve of this post mortem manipulation. It is a subversion of the macabre death mask; decorating it-but with a pattern made from meat, blood and a rosary-referencing face painting which has fun childlike connotations. This fits into the uncomfortable, difficult,  area of disgust often presented by contemporary artists.

Using further portraits of my 83 year old mother, I applied chosen layers from my images made from meat and waste bodily products.

Once again, by rotating the patterned layer, I could line it up with the face. I like the way the golden hair sits on top of her head like a parody of youth. I used a black and white portrait on the bottom layer which creates more contrast when the brightly coloured image is overlaid. 

The finished image comments on the culture of beauty in Western society; how the signs of ageing which are seen as disgusting, are masked with beauty products or plastic surgery. She looks very much like ORLAN, who has undertaken a 6 year performance art project to transform her face with implanted horns and cheeks.

This one does not work so well as there are perhaps too many other connotations here. I cannot stop seeing the shape of the union flag on her face! Perhaps this could be a comment on the independence of Scotland? Once the viewer sees and recognises a pattern, a response is formed which was not intended by the artist and the value of the meaning is degraded.

This image seems to reference the anatomical drawings of Leonardo da Vinci. The chunks of glossy, textured meat are visible and suggest the carnal nature of the human body. Old or young, we are all made the same and contain the same organic matter that will eventually rot and disintegrate.

This is a model made by the University of Hamburg Computer Science dept.with direct reference to the Leonardo anatomical drawing on parchment displayed to the left. I was lucky enough to see this drawing in an exhibition in Rome in March '14. There is a bloodstained thumb print on it which is awe inspiring!

This is my favourite combination which works because the black background absorbs the pattern, making it appear to exist solely on the naked body.  The bright  colours against the dark background remind me of Grunewald's 'Temptation of St Anthony' The image overlaid is also made up of meat and hair, but what adds more depth of meaning is the lace doily and the red wool. These represent the womanly skills of making that my mother possesses. The masking of the face links with the idea of identity and the Invisible woman. However, this Major Study is about disgust so I must not get distracted by what I am researching for my other project. There is however a sense of disgust caused by smothering an old lady's body with blood,  scraps of rotten meat and bloodstained locks of golden hair. It creates a ritualistic, symbolic image.

Grunewald (1512-16) 'The Temptation of St Anthony'

Poo and Gilbert and George

Still attempting to elicit disgust in my audience, I produced another set of images which included  fake faeces. I added tomato soup to represent blood and included bones, rotten meat and spiders.

I made some symmetrical section images from both dishes.

The main problem with these images as already suggested in the peer feedback, is that they are too pretty. Rather than seeming disgusting, even when the viewer can make out the subject of the details-poo, meat, blood, spiders, they do not shock as much as I would have liked. I think I need to reduce the multiplications and keep them simpler, so the individual objects re easier to see and you are not mesmerised by the overall pattern and symmetry.

These two are more simplified versions, where the pieces of meat and dollops of dog poo are perhaps more obvious?

I made this shoot 'wetter' so it seem more visceral. The obvious toy spiders spoil it I think.

Gilbert and George

I researched the use of human waste in art and it is a common material, often used in some form of protest. Here are two examples from the Gilbert and George series 'Shit and Piss'

Gilbert and George 1983

In this work, the faeces do not offend as they have been sanitised somehow as they are presented in a stylised, symmetrical form.The overall image is 'clean' and sharp and balanced. It is only when you look closer, you realise what you are studying. This seduction/repulsion effect is what I would like to achieve.

Illumination

I am thinking about how my images might be displayed to best effect. I have been inspired by the work of the artist James Nizam who uses derelict building in Vancover to create temporary light sculptures in.

                                               Nazim (2010) Drill holes through Studio wall

I am considering the idea of what is seen through a microscope, light from behind.

I think the bright colours in my multi facetted images would look good back-lit. That would also reflect the idea of ‘drawing the viewer in’ like a moth to a flame. Then when they are nice and close, they get ‘burnt’ when they realise what they are studying so intently!

Helen Chadwick printed an image of a human brain onto glass and lit it from behind. I saw this piece-Self Portrait (1991) in Edinburgh. There was something so attractive about the ring of bright light spilling out around the image,  that I was distracted from the rather gruesome subject matter of the brain being cradled in two hands. I like the way it glowed and you could see it from the other end of the corridor.

                            

Chadwick (1991) Self Portrait

I have looked at circular wall and ceiling lights consisting of a neon tube covered by a frosted glass dome. There may be some way i could take it apart and fix a circular image inside the dome and have the light illuminating it from the back?

What makes using a light like this difficult for my work is that the paper has to be cut to size and curved round the inside of the glass. This is almost impossible to do without creasing the paper it is printed on. One alternative would be to print the image onto acetate and perhaps heat it and bend it.

Another would be to print the image in a circular shape which would mould more easily into the convex glass cover. 

As the images were created to be either rectangular or square, however, \I think a lightbox would be a better solution.Having seen the price of light boxes, I have started some trials to make my own. (£200 for an aluminium framed A3 one)

I made a spiral with a strip of LED lights from EBAY across the back board of a box frame from Ikea.

The strip has an adhesive coating on the back, but it would not stay stuck for very long. I will have to add clear tape, or perhaps double-sided tape  to hold it in position. Also, it is too inflexible to be bent round tight corners, so the tape has to be twisted onto its side to turn the corners, then laid flat again on the straight runs.

I am not sure if the dimming of the light source at the corners will show through the image.

At least the adaptor works, But I will probably have to paint the flex white so it does not distract from the image when it is mounted on the wall. Another problem may be the power source. If there is a convenient one I will still need a multi- plug adaptor for more than one image. Then there will be a lot of cable to hide away.
If the image is flat onto the backing board, the individual lights show through. If I wanted the pattern of the lights to show, I would have to attach them with more care,  so they are perfectly symmetrical in their layout.

But when the image is just beneath the glass on the front of the frame, the light is more diffused.

I have to consider the thickness and quality of the paper I choose for the final prints.

Peer Feedback

In order to gage how effective my representations of the abject were, I asked fellow M.A Photography students to examine some examples and give me some constructive criticism. This took place in an organised tutorial session at Uni with a visiting specialist Lecturer.
I wanted to choose an area to focus on that seemed the most disgusting and that evoked the strongest reaction.

I explained the subject of my Major study was to create images that both seduced and then shocked the viewer. I told them how I had based my research on a set of global elicitors of disgust which were documented earlier in this blog. The elicitors were connected with diseased, distorted, injured, extreme bodies and what came out of them as waste matter. Other key elicitors of disgust were rotten, possibly diseased food, insects and creatures like rats and snakes with evil, dirty, disease spreading connotations.
Another elicitor was poor personal hygiene and anti-social habits like spitting and picking your nose.

I had six different categories and showed one or two images in each of the categories asking respondents to note their initial response, then any suggestions, comments or advice.
The categories were:-

'Bottled'

They found the ancient bottled body parts quite disgusting. Some found the fact that they were surreptitious made them more attractive and intriguing. They liked the sectioned images and found that once they knew what they were found the symmetry and attractiveness tinged with disgust.

'Gothic'

Although they liked the image of the old vine against the sandstone wall, the students did not expect the intricate interwoven pattern created from it. They talked about seeing insects and faces lurking in the pattern. they found the sectioned image attractive and 'eerie' but not disgusting or abject. One comment was that it looked like something from Harry Potter created by witchcraft or b elves to keep their money safe!

'Death'

There was much more expression of disgust at the top two images.The original image, discussed in an earlier blog post, is from ancient catacombs where saints'  bodies have been dressed and decorated in gold and precious stones. The juxtaposition of white skull and bright gold is quite spectacular and creates a sense of discomfort. With my image I chose to leave less detail, fewer multiples so that the subject matter is more easily definable. Comments were made about seeing a bright and beautiful pattern of shapes, then seeing the rows of teeth with a jolt of recognition. This was a popular image and the students felt it succeeded in being abject. Some people had to turn away as they found it too unpleasant.Another student said he was drawn back to the rows of teeth even when he tried to study the whole image.
The lower image was made from a skull in a museum. The deformity caused by the manipulation of sections adds to the sense of abject. This was described as 'very scary' by the group and represented death and decay to them.

'Snakes'

The original image on the left was an attempt to suggest the malevolence of snakes; the black snake surrounded here by feathers, fur  and a rat's skull.' Although The students love the image on the right, there was nothing in it that suggested malevolence or disgust. 'It is too pretty' 'It looks like wallpaper'

'Rotten meat'

These rotten food images proved to be considered the most effective in creating disgust in my tutorial group. They liked the visceral quality, but  it was suggested that I could make them even more slippery

by spraying the original dish of food with oil. I like the idea of making them more glossy. It was also suggested that it was easier in these images to look closer and see the pieces of meat and scraps of bone.

I am going to do another rotting food shoot with the inclusion of faeces and vomit perhaps I will get some intestines and organs from a butcher's?

. I will also spray it with cooking oil. The fact that these images are made up of only four repeats, makes their subject matter more clear and therefore more shocking rather than  a beautiful pattern.

The multi-faceted image below for example, was considered lees abject by the tutorial group although they liked it.

Because of the size of the pattern and the number of repeats, the meat, bone and blood are lost in the overall image. Perhaps if this image were printed very large, the individual components would be more obvious.

Bottled Horror?

At the Huntarian Museum at Glasgow university there  were lots of bottled preserved human body parts. I was not sure if photography was allowed…

Hand with cancerous growth Huntarian museum Glasgow 2013


Well, I could not resist some of the gruesome exhibits, and I had come a long way to see this collection, so I am afraid I took some sneaky shots with my phone. Obviously the light and composition were not as I would have liked, but I think the wonky angles and reflected windows add a sense of covert, secret documentation which adds flavour to them.

The hand looks so elegant and vulnerable in that jar. As if was gently resting across her lap.

I cannot help but think about how the woman who lost it felt and how she covered her stump and how long she survived after it was amputated??? Any way, looking at this exhibit reminds us that we are also vulnerable and susceptible to cancer, so it is uncomfortable and abject subject matter. I took away some of that immediate repulsion:

         

My eye seem to be drawn to the skin round the thumb nail -Barthes'  'Punctum'?

I think it looks as if she has been in the bath too long, but am also reminded that the hand is disintegrating after over 100 years in formaldehyde. The white, unnatural colour and texture remind me too that this is a long-dead body part.

                                Human Placenta, Huntarian, Glasgow(2014)

The placenta image makes the object unrecognisable from the original, which takes away some of the unease and disgust. The tangled and twisting veins and arteries that once worked so hard to sustain a life, still look powerful and strong. Once you know the subject of this image, there is a sense of sadness and possible loss. did the baby survive? Was it healthy? Or did it get bottled and end up sitting on the shelf next to its original source of life and sustenance?

                                                                                   Swollen Hand, Huntarian Glasgow(2014)

This image has great resonance with me as I contracted septicemia when I was gardening and had three operations to save my hand. At the time I would have been happy to have it cut off to free me of the incredible pain!

Initially, the hand is not recognisable as a human hand, but once you read the label it becomes evident and more horrific. The distortion and the way the flesh has been cut into so you can see the depth of swelling make this an abject image. The way the skin on the finger tips has puckered reminds us all of how our own fingers look after too long in the bath. The sharp contrast of the warm comforting bath with this cold, eerie, sealed  bottle adds to the sense of hopelessness, loss and death. I have emphasised the callous and clinical deep cut into the flesh of the hand, making it a central feature of the image. I have kept it simple and multiplied the sections of the image only four times so that, with close examination, the true subject of the image shows itself to you in all its gory detail.

Unnatural Nature

I am continuing to experiment with the production of multi- sectioned images that create a dual response of attraction/ repulsion. I am striving to elicit strong emotional reaction of fear or unease.
I created a series of Gothic style images from vines on a sandstone wall previously. I liked the effect the organic shapes created. So I took some more images of tangled roots, grasses and broken branches.

These are the roots of a tree that had been pulled up in a storm. I thought there was something sinister in the shadows and twisted forms.

I have got quite good at recognising images that will work well with the manipulation process I follow using photoshop. I know that this image with the variations of light and colour and the particles of soil clinging to the fragile exposed roots would work well. I like the aspect of being shown what should not normally be seen-the roots that are hidden under the ground. The image gives a sense of disorder and upheaval in the natural state of nature.

Coles Roots I (2014)

There is a Baroque feel to this image with the twisting motif in the centre and the delicate patterns of white fibres and cobwebs. I can see white moths and insects caught in them. However, once again, as with the mould, i do not think there is enough of the abject on close contemplation of this image.

                                                            Coles RootsIV(2014)

Coles Roots V(2014)

 Image Roots IV above  is more successful with its dark central motif and strong contrasts of light. it perhaps gives a sinister and threatening impression. The image directly above,

 Roots V  has bright patches of light  which contrast well with the dark centre that the eye is drawn to. The white tendrills with chalk clinging to them create delicate gothic patterns. But still not Abject enough. So I will return to the plates of rotten meat and work on that theme further!