Reading Task: Something and Nothing
Read Chapter 4, ‘Something and Nothing’ in Cotton, C. (2014) The Photograph as Contemporary Art (3rd edition) London: Thames & Hudson. You will find this on the student website.
● To what extent do you think the strategy of using objects or environments as metaphor is a useful tool in photography?
● When might it fall down?
I managed to navigate my way to Chapter 4 of ‘Something and Nothing’ on the new OCA website. In line with the copyright notice at the front, I have download and kept a printed copy for my own use, but it is not retained on my blog.
The chapter pertains to a series of artists who have used everyday objects or places to explore human activity. Cotton says (page 126) “All the photographs in this chapter, in subtle ways, attempt to shift our perception of our daily lives . . . The images are rarely about the subject matter captured, but about the memories, situations and human activity they connote.
Most of the images seem to evoke the viewer’s curiosity as to why the photographer has taken the image. I think the success or otherwise of using objects and environments as a metaphor depends largely on the photographers intent. If we do not understand that the photographer is using the image as a metaphor and read it merely as a record shot, the intended meaning could be lost.
Furthermore, if we accept Barthes’ theory of Studium, then reading these images will depend a lot on the cultural references a viewer bring to the image. For Example: without the title ‘breath on a piano’, Orozco’s image would have no cultural reference for me, I don’t have a piano, I don’t play one, I don’t know that is highly polished and that breathing on it is an act of ‘fugitive act’. However, if I saw this image, with know the intention, I would recognise the beautiful light through the window and the reflection of the outside on the shiny surface that is obscured by the misty patch. For me it would symbolise middle class homes and dark Victorian houses.
I think I am being encouraged to view every image with an enquiry as to why the photographer took this image.
My other thoughts are about record keeping as well. I was recently going through a box of old photos looking for archival images for Assignment 4. One of the things that quite often made me linger on photos was looking at objects and decor from the past. It’s really interesting to compare the tastes of only a few year’s ago with today, it reflects the every changing nature of things.
