As I was on another adventure through StumbleUpon’s multitude of websites, which is always entertaining, I found some really fascinating art installations that I thought should be shared. I like the aspect of having the visitors help with the art. I especially enjoy that it get kids involved and interested when going to museums.
2. Stickers
Today we had our second junior tutorial class. We went over our old work and then some of us, including myself, had a critique. While looking over our previous works it became even more clearworst my best work is the work that is the most intimate and closest to my heart.
During the critique I became aware that if I’m not careful how I handle my works they. They may become exploitive to the family I’m working with. I’m considering taking very personal photos of my own life. In doing this I may be able to take some of the focus and judgement of of the family and even the playing field. I definitely do not hurt the people I’m close to but I want to raise awareness about their situation and the situations of many families similar to theirs.
After meeting with my professor for the Junior Tutorial class I’m feeling good about getting started with my projects. I want to continue working with my GRG family and incorporate some hand colorings. I’m nervous to start hand painting but I’m also really excited to get going. I was told to look at work by Diane Arbus and Dr. Lakara.
Here is a link to Diane Arbus’s work. I was told to study her work because she is able to look at people who may be in an unfortunate situation and photograph them without judgement and without exploiting them. Her approach is critical when working with my GRG family because I want to capture their situation without making anyone uncomfortable or treating them unfairly.
Dr. Lakara, who’s work can be found here, is a tattoo artist and painter who takes images traditional images and adds to them. For example, he takes pictures of pin-up girls and covers them in tattoos. Dr. Lakara’s work will become an influence when I work on my hand paintings. I’m not sure what direction those works will take but as they develop they may stray from the traditional pictures and colors to more abstract.
This is the work for my Final Project. The more I look at it the more clear it becomes that I am not finished with this body of work. Hopefully over the next couple of months I will be able to finish it. The people in the photos are from my community engagement partners in the Grandparents Raising Grandchildren group. Most photos are taken at their home in Winchester, TN. but others come from a park near their house. All were taken in the fall of 2011.
I have been working with a family in Winchester. They are a part of the Grandparents Raising Grandkids group. The family is comprised of a husband and wife, two grandsons, and three granddaughters. I can’t gather the ages of the grandparents because both are ill, but neither look very elderly. Four of the grandkids are grown and out of the house wile one granddaughter remains. I have come to be very attached to this family as they have welcomed me into their home. When I go visit I sit in their tv room, play with the dogs, and just talk about our weeks. They have invited me for dinner and I was promised Hillbilly Chili. I have never experienced this delicacy before but I’m actually pretty excited about it. I feel guilty that I haven’t seen my family recently but hopefully I can change that this weekend.
This is Rastas, one of the dogs at the house.
Here are some of my photos from Art103 that I took Spring 2011. They were taken with a Holga camera which was quite the experience.
I finally got LightRoom3 for my computer! I feel like I can do so much more now, it’s great! So since I’m now at liberty to work on my photos wherever and whenever I see fit I was able to upload my self portrait project. You can see the photographs here.
I found a great site while on stumbleupon.com tonight. It’s called www.dear photograph.com. It’s where people send in old photographs taken in the present day. Check it out.
Also, I cannot go without saying that in our reading photography was referred to as an “ancient act of stalking”.
For Documentary Photography we had to do a When and Where exercise. I have uploaded the pictures here.