It took me a long time to finish one of the books of our reading list (and I've quite a few to get through yet!) the photograph as a contemporary art by Charlotte Cotton covers an enormous amount of work and so can only ever say very little about each photograph or artist. Because of this it rattles through, or at least it felt like that to me, without ever offering much to grab hold of apart from facts which presumably to save time and words, are given in what also seemed to me quite a pedestrian manner. I appreciate how much work there was to discuss and see that it's a comprehensive book that gives a beginner a lot to take in.
Although it took me a long time to read, due to my interpretation that it was a quite a dry book, I did enjoy learning about different styles and approaches. The section I felt most compelled by was Intimate Life, probably because I had heard of many of the photographers there but also because I am fascinated by these sorts of photographs even though I don't really take them myself. The lives depicted are often quite extreme such as Corrine Day's or Nan Goldin's and far removed from my own but nevertheless fascinating and horrifying at times. There are also more sedate moments and lives depicted but I suppose similar themes; the difficulty of life and managing aging, loss, love for instance. I like the tenderness, boldness, honesty and bare emotion that many of the photographers in that section explore.
Although I relate to the intimacy of the photographers I mention above I was also taken with the Something and Nothing chapter. I find these little moments of humanity just so interesting and telling about who we are. I particularly liked Wolfgang Tillman's Suit, a photograph of a boiler suit hanging over the door like a skin that has been shed.
It was interesting to read about many of the photographers discussed even though if only briefly and the book is I'm sure one that I will return to. Even now as I flick though though it while I am writing this I am drawn in to read about some of the ideas behind the work I'm looking at.
I guess Cotton's book opened my eyes further about photography and art - as opposed to photography as merely a good way of recording moments. There is something so profound in many of the photographs discussed, and deeply moving. Having just made my way though Roland Barthes Camera Lucida (which I will write up over the next couple of days) I see the little stabs of poignancy or recognition that are so difficult to express any other way, and which he discusses throughout his book. It's very exciting for me to be delving into this - I wish my time were less limited although without my full, busy, sometimes rather trying existence I might not feel the need to find a way to express myself or learn about how others have. (Incidentally, I am fully aware that most people's lives are pretty trying and much worse at times and it's not just me who finds it a bit of struggle! Photography does seem to explore modern lives in a way which questions all of that quite profoundly I think.)
I'm glad to have finished the book and am sure it will be be used as a reference throughout the rest of my studies and beyond.
the photograph as a contemporary art by Charlotte Cotton, New Edition, Thames & Husdon World of Art, 2004 and then 2009.
No comments:
Post a Comment