Using the keyword “journey’, I searched Lensculture magazine online which revealed numerous results. I decided to trawl through the projects and pick out some of the visual cues that helped to depict the subject of a journey.
Farrah Karapetian – Relief
The title of this project, “Relief” refers to refugees crossing a body of water. (Karapetian, 2020) The images are abstract and are created using negatives and combinations of handmade props from plastics, ice cubes and metals to construct ‘sculptural reliefs’. The artist depicts the precariousness of the refugees journey by using fragile materials that depict space and yet occupy none. (Karapetian, 2020)
This is an interesting project to look at both in terms of creating a more abstract visual using the colour inversion which I’m experimenting with in assignment two but also in consideration for assignment six which in light of the current coronavirus lockdown may have to be some kind of still life project.
The images have a sense of movement and disorientation. There is no sense of linear progression but rather flashes of action as if the subject is viewing disparate events buffeted around by uncertain waters.
Mitsuharu Maeda – Snowy Journey
Maeda’s work is described as a poetic meditation on life. The images depict a journey through the snow. The square format restricts the field of vision just as the hazy sky and large flakes of snow do. Presented in black and white, which is often how the landscape appears when heavy snow falls, the images are simplified in their content, objects silhouetted in compositions of light and shadow.
In relation to my own project, it may be worth noting that sense of the way forward being obscured. We can’t see what’s in the distance just as how we often cannot predict what will happen in the future.
Liliana Gelman – A Journey
Gelman explores the subject of memory by using archival images layered with her own. She presents the concept of how memories manifest randomly in various contexts. In turn these memories are added to, then retained in a new form.
The image above uses an image of a passport which of course suggests a journey, not something I would have considered. She also uses letters which have post marks again suggesting a journey.
Overall the project presents a reflective journey into the past. Again there is no sense of linear progression but random memories as they appear to us evoked by a shadow on the wall or an an old photograph.
One of the directions I thought to take my assignment in was to use a book of old Grimm’s fairy tales that I had acquired. The possibilities were to use it as a basis for the physical presentation or to scan some pages and layer with my images. The idea was to include the mythology and stories that are deeply embedded in our collective consciousness.
Tomasz Weich – Journey to nowhere
Journey to nowhere is the kind of project I would expect to see depicting a journey. The images give a clear sense of a walk and presentation of the things encountered on the way. Weich incorporates collage galleries of items he spots along the way, lost gloves, a dead mouse, discarded litter etc.
One of the most obvious ways of depicting a journey is to show the ‘road ahead’, pathways and views. What Weich writes in his statement is that he’d like to be a great explorer and that he was expecting more from his journey. In the end he returned to where he started and felt that he got no-where.
Elias Tsigounis – The Journey of light into the Dark
This is a very simple project of five black and white images. It focusses on the co-existence of light and dark which I’m beginning to realise feels like a familiar theme to me personally. What I’m potentially looking to explore for assignment two is our perspective on light and shadow, good and evil by looking at the concept of the ego versus our shadow selfs. The journey aspect is one toward individuation where we wade through the mythology and social conditioning we are brought up with, and determine our own path.
References and Bibliography
- Karapetian, F., 2020. Farrah Karapetian – Relief | Lensculture. [online] LensCulture. Available at: <https://www.lensculture.com/search/projects?q=journeys&modal=project-195198-relief> [Accessed 26 March 2020].
- Maeda, M., 2020. Snowy Journey – Photographs And Poetic Text By Mitsuharu Maeda | Lensculture. [online] LensCulture. Available at: <https://www.lensculture.com/articles/mitsuharu-maeda-snowy-journey> [Accessed 26 March 2020].
- Gelman, L., 2020. Liliana Gelman – A Journey | Lensculture. [online] LensCulture. Available at: <https://www.lensculture.com/search/projects?q=journeys&modal=project-35231-a-journey> [Accessed 26 March 2020].
- Wiech, T., 2020. Tomasz Wiech – Journey To Nowhere | Lensculture. [online] LensCulture. Available at: <https://www.lensculture.com/search/projects?q=journeys&modal=project-224780-journey-to-nowhere> [Accessed 26 March 2020].
- Tsigounis, E., 2020. Elias Tsigounis – The Journey Of Light Into The Dark | Lensculture. [online] LensCulture. Available at: <https://www.lensculture.com/search/projects?q=journeys&modal=project-814347-the-journey-of-light-into-the> [Accessed 26 March 2020].
Landscape, Place and Environment 