Exercise: scene from ‘Goodfellas’

For the final part of the Context and Narrative module, the course notes begin by discussing ‘setting the scene’; in other words how photographs can be constructed in order to tell stories or at least hint at narratives.  This exercise asks us to watch a scene from the film Goodfellas and answer two questions.  Goodfellas is one of my favourite films so I was looking forward to seeing this clip and analysing it in more depth.

(The Long Take: Goodfellas (Martin Scorsese, 1990))

Question: what does this scene tell you about the main character?

From the very beginning we can see that Henry, the main character, is used to getting what he wants by using his influence and power, easing his way if necessary with pleasant words and dollar bills.  He is outwardly friendly to all, regardless of their social standing, and is a well-known and respected character in the world we see him in (although we are not made aware in this clip whether this is through high regard or through fear – possibly a combination of the two given the context of the film).  The way he is greeted by staff and his informal conversations with them allude to him being a frequent visitor to the nightclub and this is enhanced by the fact that he obviously knows his way around (even through the kitchens).   Doors both literally and metaphorically open for him everywhere he goes and the attention that he is given conveys to us his power and status.

Question: How does it do this?  List the ‘clues’

• Expensive car
• Frequent ‘facilitating’ tips to doormen, staff, waiters
• Bypasses the queue outside the nightclub by entering through the side door and walking through the kitchen
• The Mâitre d’ rushes to organise a table for Henry and his date.  The table is set up in a prime position right at the front of the stage and placed slightly out in front of the rest of the audience, even though there are other customers waiting for tables (the latter point also emphasised by dialogue and making clear Henry‘s status above the other nightclub visitors)
• Guests at another table (who would seem to be of similar status, albeit a little older than Henry) send over a bottle of wine.  The waiter makes a point of both showing off the wine to Henry, presumably to demonstrate the generosity of the donors, and also ensuring that he knows who sent over the wine
• The entertainer flashes a smile specifically at Henry’s date, acknowledging her presence
• The whole scene is one continuous fast-moving tracking shot with no interruptions.  This conveys a sense of flow, of life moving strongly like a powerful river, and that nothing will get in Henry’s way, either physically or mentally.

References: The Long Take: Goodfellas (2009) YouTube video, added by Barthesian [online].  Available at www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJEEVtqXdK8 [accessed 19 May 2015]

Exercise: Masquerades

The second project of this part of the course looks at masquerades – using yourself to say something about something else.  For this exercise we are asked to look at the work of two photographers, Nikki S. Lee and Trish Morrissey, and then to respond to some questions.

Nikki S. Lee

Nikki S. Lee is an American (of Korean origin) who is interested in moulding her identity to fit her surroundings.  Cited in Bright (2010) she says that

‘I am interested in identity as it is affected or changed through social contexts, cultural categories or personal relationships.  This interest began through personal experience.  I realised that I changed between my surroundings in New York and Seoul, depending on whether I was with my friends or family’.

(Bright, p. 211)

More performance artist than photographer in my view, Lee adopts a disguise for her various projects (for example The Hispanic Project, The Seniors Project, the Skateboarders Project), and then infiltrates herself into a group of similar people in her new guise, spending several weeks as part of the group, joining in with their activities and all the while being photographed by other people under her direction in a snapshot style (Museum of Contemporary Photography).

Question: Is there any sense in which Lee’s work could be considered voyeuristic or even exploitative?  Is she commenting on her own identity, the group identity of the people she photographs, or both?

By infiltrating herself into a specific social community in order to photograph them and allow viewers an intimate look at the lives of other people I would consider Lee’s work to be voyeuristic, albeit not in the sinister way often associated with the term. Whether her work could be considered exploitative depends on the circumstances of each infiltration and shoot.  If the members of the group she has temporarily joined are not aware she is an artist and are not complicit with her project, this could be viewed as exploitation.  If the group is aware of who she is and what her intentions are, then I wouldn’t consider Lee’s work to be exploitative.

I think that Lee’s work comments on both her and the group’s identity.  One can see Lee’s Korean ethnicity in her images but through her disguise and subsequent acceptance into the group she makes the statement that she can move easily between cultures; her identity changes through relationships with others and is accepted (in whichever guise she is in at the time) by the group she is with.  The fact that she can blend into a group so easily makes a comment on the group’s identity, namely that groups do conform to a stereotype to a certain extent, both in how they behave and how we perceive them.

Trish Morrissey

Like Lee, Morrissey is interested in notions of identity.  In her series Front (2005 – 2007) she has approached families on the beach, borrowed the clothes of one of the women present and then taken her place in the family group, asking the woman concerned to take a photograph of the family using Morrissey’s camera (already carefully set up by Morrissey).

The images look realistic with Morrissey appearing to fit in seamlessly into the group each time, swapping her identity for a short time with that of the woman she has replaced.  In fact there is a role swap here also, with Morrissey becoming a family member and the woman becoming the artist.

In her artist’s statement, Morrissey explains that by using the beach and family groups, the latter marking out their own personal territory on the former, Front looks at what happens when both physical and psychological boundaries are crossed.   Similar to Lee, she demonstrates that she can mould her identity to fit her surroundings and be happily accepted (albeit for a short period of time) by the group of people she has chosen to join.

Question:  Would you agree to Morrissey’s request if you were enjoying a day on the beach with your family?  If not, why not?

Yes I would agree.  I wouldn’t find it intrusive as Morrissey is obviously creating a performance, a project of some kind which it would be fun to be a part of.  Also, as the female in my family most likely to be chosen for the ‘identity swap’, I would be interested in swapping roles myself and using Morrissey’s large format camera!

We are also asked to look at two of Morrissey’s projects:

Seven Years

Based on the conventions of the family snapshot, Morrissey has constructed a series of fictional family scenes appearing to be from the 1970s, using herself and her elder sister, both dressed in period clothing and using appropriate props, to assume different family characters and roles in each image.  The body language in the photographs appears quite awkward, with Morrissey in her role as director deliberately mimicking the stereotypical family album and showing the tensions that she believes are inherent in all families (Morrissey, n.d.).  Interestingly there are no explanatory captions to the images, just the date as a title, thus forcing the viewer to make their own decisions as to why a particular scene is important to Morrissey.

I wonder whether Morrissey, like Gillian Wearing, is questioning her own self and is seeking to understand the role of her family on the formation of her identity through constructing a history which never was or perhaps what she would have liked it to have been.

The Failed Realist

The Failed Realist is a series of head and shoulder self-portraits of Morrissey made in collaboration with her five-year old daughter who enjoyed face painting but who would rather paint her mother’s face  than be painted herself.  The painting is clumsy and is a failed attempt by the child to portray what is in her head (eg Ladybird, Party Girl, Spotty Cat), hence the title of the series.

I am not really sure of the point that Morrissey is trying to make with this work.  The use of the paint as a form of mask creates a barrier between Morrissey and her daughter – is Morrissey saying that as adults we hide behind masks of our own making, presenting ourselves to the outside world in the way that we wish others to see us whilst a child does not have these self-imposed restrictions?  It is also noticeable that some of the paintings in the series have dark and sinister undertones and I have the feeling that Morrissey is deliberately inviting a comparison with the innocence of the young child that is painting them.

References:

Lee, N. S. (n.d.) Projects  [online images].  Leslie Tonkonow Artworks + Projects.  Available from http://www.tonkonow.com/lee.html  [accessed 12 January 2015]

Morrissey, T. (2005 – 2007) Front [online images].  Trish Morrissey.  Available from http://www.trishmorrissey.com/works_pages/work-front/workpg-01.html [accessed 14 January 2015]

Morrissey, T. (n.d.) Front – Statement [online].  Trish Morrissey.  Available from http://www.trishmorrissey.com/works_pages/work-front/statement.html [accessed 14 January 2015]

Morrissey, T. (2001 – 2004) Seven Years [online images].  Trish Morrissey.  Available from  http://www.trishmorrissey.com/works_pages/work-sy/workpg-01.html  [accessed 14 January 2015]

Morrissey, T. (n.d.) Seven Years – Statement [online].  Trish Morrissey.  Available from  http://www.trishmorrissey.com/works_pages/work-sy/statement.html    [accessed 14 January 2015]

Morrissey, T. (n.d.) The Failed Realist [online images].  Trish Morrissey.  Available from http://www.trishmorrissey.com/works_pages/work-tfr/workpg-01.html  [accessed 14 January 2015]

Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia College Chicago (n.d.)  Artist: Lee, Nikki S. [online].  Available from http://www.mocp.org/detail.php?t=objects&type=browse&f=maker&s=Lee%2C+Nikki+S.&record=0#collection-search    [accessed 12 January 2015]

Part Three – first thoughts

Part Three of the course is about self-portraiture.  We start by looking at autobiographical self-portraiture, namely using photography to explore your own personal identity, moving on to using self-portraiture as a way of commenting on something else.  The section finishes by looking at how we can depict ourselves in an image without actually being in it.  The title of this section of the course (‘Putting yourself in the picture’) filled me with dread even before I started reading the course notes. I am not interested in the slightest in taking portraits of people and the thought of having to feature myself in a set of photographs is horrifying to say the least – I would much rather choose to be behind the lens than in front of it.

Having read the course notes I now have more enthusiasm and I think that I actually might enjoy this section, having realised that with careful planning I can hopefully keep myself out of the frame.  At the moment I particularly like the idea of using self-portraiture as a way of expressing something else, but it will be interesting to see if I am of the same view once I’ve completed the exercises and research.

As for Part Two, there is only one photographic exercise in this section which I am a little sad about; as much as I enjoy the research element I do find that it tends to be at the expense of picking up my camera.

Of the four books suggested as further reading for Part Three, I already have Photography: The Key Concepts (Bate, 2009) and have managed to borrow Auto Focus: The Self-Portrait in Contemporary Photography (Bright, 2009) from my local library.  I will see if I can also borrow the other two  – Portraiture (Brilliant, 1991) and The Theatre of the Face: Portrait Photography Since 1900 (Kozloff, 2007) –  as these are not books that I want to buy at this stage.

In the forward to Part Three we are asked to read the assignment brief at the start of the section as it involves keeping a diary for at least two weeks.  My first thoughts are that the assignment gives us an incredible amount of scope as to what we can do.  Bearing in mind my tutor’s feedback from the first assignment that in future assignments I should experiment, explore and take risks, it would seem a good opportunity for me to really work on these aspects.  I feel that I made a step forward with my second assignment in this regard (and hope my tutor agrees) so I would like to build on this progress if I can.

Apart from looking at self-portraiture there are some other things that I would like to do / need to do during this part of the course:

• After a wobble in the middle of Part Two where I felt that I was losing my photographic identity, I have recognised that I need to follow my own interests too during this course.  I’ve made a start (and already feel better for it) and I need to keep going with this, even if it is at the expense of some course-work study time
• Following on from the above I’ve revised my study timetable a little to allow time for my own personal work and research.  I’ve realised that I need to pick up my camera more (a lot more) in order to progress my personal ambitions, however this time has to be factored into the set amount of spare time that I have available for study and hobbies
• Carry on with my reading – I love books and have an ever-growing pile, both purchased and borrowed, waiting to be read
• Continue looking at the theory of visual culture as I realise that my current knowledge is woefully inadequate
• Continue my exploration of other art disciplines, in particular how they relate to my photographic work and what I can take away from them to improve my images
• Go to as many exhibitions as I can.  I’m lucky to be working in London at the moment so I need to make the most of the opportunities available
• Practice my street photography.  I’ve recently developed an interest in street photography and have done a fair amount of research into this genre working out which aspects of it interest me so I’m looking forward to getting out there and having fun
• Check into my Ipswich Waterfront project to see what has changed there since my last visit in September.