Day 18 Environment Wednesday 12th Oct 2011

Wednesday 12th Oct 2011

10:00 Lecture: Between Frontier and the Back Garden - Contemporary Responses to the Land. Again another two pages of notes, and lots more photographers to investigate, several names crop up in different lectures. A number of the photographers mentioned i recall from appearing in the genius of photography.

14:00 Artist talk (Steffi Klenz)  I think the main point of note with this talk was the statement about pursuing your own interests..

As an  exercise we have been tasked to take three images from a photographer (taken from a list) and analyse and deconstruct the work in a critical way. The photographer I have chosen is Simon Norfolk:

Simon Norfolk wasn’t born in the UK, he was in fact born in Lagos, Nigeria.

Having been educated in England studying and completing a degree in Philosophy and Sociology in Oxford and Bristol universities, he went on to do a documentary photography course in Newport in South Wales.

Initially working for a number of anti Nazi left wing publications who specialised in work on the BNP it was clear that he was a very politically motivated individual with strong personal beliefs. Although he gave up Photojournalism in favour of Landscape Photography in 1994 his work still contained a strong moral and political message creating work such as ‘For Most of It I Have No Words: Genocide, Landscape, Memory’ photographing places that have witnessed the horrors of genocide.

After a 2001 trip to Afghanistan and a number of accolades for his work he has returned on numerous occasions.

Today we watched a film of Simon producing his work in Afghanistan,  and we were asked to note his series 'Burke and Norfolk’, Burke being an British born nineteenth century photographer who photographed a previous afgan Imperial conflict in the region some 130 years ago. Norfolk presented this body of work alongside Burkes this year in Kabul.

The three images I have selected come from this series:

Afgan Police training with US Marines Camp Leatherneck

This first image was in fact one we saw constructed on the film shown during todays Lecture. 

We watched the training provided then we saw the students and instructors arranged for the image. Norfolk provided/arranged the carpet. This idea of a carpet on which the men stand is very much based on the style of image Burke would have created. A romantic image of Empire, strength and foreign democracy via armys and the use of arms. In fact the whole image is a pastiche, so much so that he displays Burkes images alongside his own in this series. The visual connections are clear to be seen and this reference back to history is a strong part of the narrative. Although each image tells it's own story, the visual language of the series is used to tell a bigger story. That of failure to learn from the past and a failure that has lead to it's repeat.

Visual layout of the image: Directed by the photographer and manipulated to tell a political message that if understood by the subjects, may have lead to them being less keen to being photographed. These people are warriors, and the whole series is in fact an anti war critique of US and Allied foreign policy. Although initially this might be considered a portrait, the environment in which it is taken gives it context and tells a story in it's own right. The US Marines are in fact out of place in this location, it's an image made stronger by the vast and bleak background. To me when I think of a muslim in relation to a mat, I think of prayer, and I wonder if Norfolk uses the carpets in relations to troops and weapons to emphasisise the gap between cultural ideologys? The old/traditional, and the new western imposed and out of place cultures treading over the traditional? Also the vastness of the environment not just used for context, showing the weakness of man in relation to nature and time, possibly another use of the environment to link back to the past, and possibly the future? Used as a metaphor to remind us that people come and go, politics change but the country and it's people endure and in many ways change little, making the US Armys presence seem a very tempory thing indeed.

Mine detection team in Kabul with German mentor

An image that harks back to the days of the British Empire in India/Afghanistan . This time located in a rather grand setting, a very European building built in Kabul and again part of the rich history of European/foreign control in the region. The main subject matter is the Afghan mine clearance workers being trained to improve their country, by removing the danger of mines. They are arranged almost as if they were a polo team or a cricket team ready to go into bat circa 1890s. Using Black and white emphasises the ties back to previous historic conflicts within the region (and to John Burkes images). But by having them wear the blast proof protective equipment/mine detectors, you could say that again these show the Afghan people still remain controlled by the foreign/european 'Mentors'. They are left with the dirty and dangerous task despite millions of US dollars being pumped into the conflict.

Norfolk seems to pose his subjects awkwardly, having them look in different directions as if disjointed and uncomfortable, yet resigned to their futures, making them appear out of place in their uniforms.  He would appear to be emphasising the vast cultural gap between the overseer and those who are tasked with the mine clearance. If it were not for war these people would not be in this environment. They are out of place and at odds with the location almost. The message is made stronger by the choice of environment which is a mix of old world Victorian imperial architecture, which could have been taken anywhere in the Uk were it not for the carpets, the people. No smiles, and the large blast proof clothing almost adding to the slightly rag tag look of the team. The lighting is natural and shows the faces clearly, their expressions showing the stain of years of hardship and conflict within their nation. perhaps considered more of a group portrait than an environment based image. I liked the use of background/environment to almost confuse and unsettle, with the viewer seeing that strange mix of cultures that wars create. 

 

Watchtower for a street on which stands foreign embassy

This image appears far more contemporary, mainly due to the use of colour. Its composition and subject matter are more graphic, and it is less about the peoples relationship to their environment and much more about the environment itself. It has a less visual connection to John Burke’s images, and would have been impossible to shoot effectively in the 1890’s, and is now due to technological improvements with modern equipment. What it does well is tells a strong narrative message like many of John Burkes images. Norfolk has provided a sterile still image of an ugly western imposition, and it shows the separation and fear of the enemy. Why else would such a structure exist if the protection it offered were not needed? To me it’s a message about instability and control, the control attempted to be imposed, the instability that generates attacks and requires protection and separation from.  The caption on Simon Norfolk’s own website for this image explains the British Army call these sites “Sangers” a word derived from Dari and means ‘barricade’, he goes on to explain that the use of this word is a left over from the previous Anglo-Afghan conflicts, as if the image is all about the word/structure, and it’s relation to the past. To me he has also selected this environment, this structure within this bleak space because it is so harsh and ugly, an un-natural cold, harsh place of danger, emphasised by the time of day it was taken, night representing fear and the dark side of life.  This image could have come from Northern Ireland in the 1980’s and there are in fact no visual references to Afghanistan, Norfolk would appear to be providing a narrative of displacement. The building so out of place with the natural beauty of the country, but so obviously needed in the context of the political and military situation within the region.