#melisidor

[photographyatmit]

Blogpost #10

Last year one of my elder friends Juan gave me a series of drawing lessons—though the lessons were rather a dialogue on psychological experience rather than the mechanics of drawing a perfect figure. As Juan told me, the creation of imagery is about bringing forth emotion and capturing motion even if the medium itself is flat and still. 

The film and readings this week on La Jetée helped to contextualize this sentiment, emphasizing how Marker’s use of still image as the narrative does not erase the movement of each scene, but rather emphasizes a particular slice or interruption of a moment to place deeper emphasis on this fraction of time. As Bellour questions in his writing, “what kinds of instants does the interruption of movement imply?”

As I watched the film, I found the stillness encouraged m to more deeply examine expressions and framing of each image, showing what was both included and excluded from the frame. Together, the images build the moving dialogue of the larger story. 

[photographyatmit]

Blogpost #9

I felt the cinematography to be quite powerful in its use of montage—that being the varied use of angles, cuts, and perspective. There was a particular line in the text that addresses the idea of a spiraling narrative, as portrayed through as series of contrasting visuals, where it states “And there are many kinds of opposition: quantitative (one-many, one man-many men, a single shot-a salvo, one ship-a fleet); qualitative (sea-land); intensive (dark-light); dynamic (movement upwards and downwards, from left to right and vice versa).”

As this ties back to still image and storytelling, this makes me think about the conversations that images build when placed next to the other. In particular, scenes that compared the scale of bodies and commotion spoke well to the cuts of the faces and nuanced experiences of the individuals in each scene—highlighting the objective and divergent narratives and experiences. Furthermore, the close-ups produce this fragmentation and “mineralization” of a scene that capsules an essence isolated from the larger case. It is here were alternate narratives may spin off or spiral. While different cuts may feel divergent, they also help piece together the narrative where scenes overlap and make the overall story more complete.

[photographyatmit]

Blogpost #6

In the film, “Two Meetings and a Funeral” One of the things I was drawn to was how architecture and spatial design was an integral to the narrative.

In essence, the film highlights the importance of space as an actor in the social organizing. This intentionality adds a layer of depth that I have not witnessed (in my limited film expertise) as often when historical imagery is overlaid with the present. The building themselves—well-built structures and and supposed houses of organizational change are portrayed as empty and hollow. It leave the viewer to wonder what the spaces felt  energetically when filled with many people coming together, as in a memory. On the contrary, archival footage shows spaces as alive and activated. As it states, “this movie is a war against forgetting.”

The architecture is a physical tie that connects the events of the 60s and 70s to now, though in a way that drives home the larger message of the film—how NAM experienced a period of great momentum but has since fizzled into a sort of relic as are the buildings themselves

There is a line around 38” that states how with regards to the spatial design “the politics were more sympathetic [to anti-colonialism] than the art.” For me this is a reminder of the difficulties of taking politics and ideologies and cementing into tangible practice and/or space—particularly over time.

[photographyatmit]

Blogpost #5

Across the media presented this week, I was drawn to the statement in “Vision & Justice” piece that described Frederick Douglass as a master of visual literacy. There was a particular line that stated that he “understood that the subjectivity of the person of African descent was dependent upon the creation of a self.” This line, as well as I Am Not Your Negro emphasized a lot of how I feel about the over-saturation of Blackness in media, both in the US and globally that only serves to position blackness as striving to be accepted and/or adjacent to whiteness and/or dwelling on Black history as slavery, when slavery is actually more accurately White history, both in the US and globally.

Today, we see the dualities of increased Black faces in the Hollywood alongside increased documented records of ongoing brutality. You can’t see one without the other

James never wrote the book on the assassinations of Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr.—perhaps because it was never his calling to do so. Perhaps it was not his purpose to speak on these men’s lives though a connected thread of brutality, a message that would ultimately trump over and craft of literary art.

[photographyatmit]

Blog #4

Across this week’s film and readings, they key takeaway was to emphasize how images (whether still or moving) are inherently political. They can be used as tools for political mobilization, and on the contrary a tool for political ostracization. The Film Manifestos piece in particular emphasized the latter, articulating hyper policing of image production in “third-world” contacts. While this represents the extreme, the complex is much larger.

On quote that particularly stuck with me was the following “the culture of the colonizer, while alienating the colonized peoples, does the same to the people of the colonizing countries who are themselves exploited by the capitalist system. Cultural alienation presents, therefore, a dual character—national against the totality of the colonized people, and social against the working classes in the colonizing countries as well as the colonized countries.” As someone born and raised in the US, I have always been truck by the controlled representation in dominant TV and film despite supposed increased “diversity.” The harms of political correctness still persist.

After watching and researching a bit on the Battle of Algiers, the final production of the film reaffirm some of the conflicts discussed in the Film Manifestos piece around the limits of radical film when subject to the influence of a colonizer lens. As I understand, the film was inspired by Saadi Yacef’s (an FLN military commander) count of the warfare—though his original screenplay was rejected by Italian (colonizer) producers for being too biased towards towards the Algerians. This may led to more neutrality (bias) in the final production. While this film is widely celebrated, this understanding beg the question..could the film have pushed the needle further and been even more radical?

[photographyatmit]

Blog #3

For my project, I intend to create a mixed media collage series that explores the layered history of Boston though its urban fabric. At large, this work stems from a fascination with the built environment, seeking to unpack how our urban fabric reflects people and culture.

My vision is to leverage photo collage as a medium to mix existing photos from my own archives (dating back to 2015 in Boston) overlayed with historical photos from public archives. From my preliminary research I plan to use existing archival photos from the Boston Public Library, City of Boston (on Flickr), and Digital Commonwealth of Massachusetts online repository. As I move through my work, I may come across additional archival sources.

I hope that the works I make will create a visual metaphor of past and present histories. The use of collage seeks to create a sense of ephemeral and collective feel that goes beyond a single image, time, or experience. The physical layering of the collage medium represents the layers of people and histories that exist in space.

Much of the inspiration behind my methodology is backed by my lived and work experience in Boston since 2015. In recent years, I have connected with a number of elders in the community—primarily South End and Roxbury who have and continue to share deep knowledge and stories about the city. While the works will be inspired through cultural forces, the primary visuals will be architectural to emphasize the aesthetics of our build environment as an strong element of our cultural realities.

While most of the photos may came from my existing archive, I may continue to take additional photos throughout the project, as I see fit to enhance select works or address gaps in my existing photo archive. Furthermore, depending on my capacity, I may potentially extend this scope of work to other cities where I have existing photo repositories (New Orleans, Los Angeles, and/or Mexico City).

[photographyatmit]

Blog #2

La Haine was a great display of cinematography. The long stills made many scenes feel like an animated or moving photo—allowing the viewer to appreciate the subtleties of the landscape.

One thing I kept thinking about was the intentionality behind the absence of color. It communicates a certain message and makes the film feel more like a memory. Furthermore, the use of real clips montaged in the beginning create a historical connection that makes the narrative feel more real.

Additionally, the absence of color adds to the mood of the film. It creates a sense of contrast, both literally and metaphorically. The lack of color leaves the mind to wonder and gives an aura of abstraction beyond our direct realities. The use of black and white contrast alludes to the idea of polarization of the characters experiences (I.e. immigrant struggle in the French context).

I appreciated that the film almost looked like a series of image stills. Should the narrative be presented an alternative format it could take the form of stills of the film itself through a photo essay and capture a parallel essence.

[photographyatmit]

Blog #1

One thing I was thinking about is the challenge and opportunity from photography and its origins as a tool of documentation particularly in the political realm to document and represent as directed by institutional political forces. In essence, the craft emerged from very utilitarian means. Photography has since shifted to more creative and abstract realms but still grapples with this history of origins as a tool rather than an art. Though, in line with its origins as photography’s evolved and become more accessible, the craft of documentation itself has become more expansive and accessible for multiple vantage points to shape our record of history.

One commentary that stuck with me was the conversation on ownership of photography as a grander experience than the image itself. I enjoyed the critique of ownership to understand that a photo does not exist without the experience of an encounter in the existence of another. To assume ownership In a way strips back and removes the contents of the photo itself from having equal worth and value in the contributions to the creation.