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 named PH4IAP_Something and Nothing.
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? Write some reflective notes on these points in your learning log.
Chapter 4 in Charlotte Cotton’s book, The Photograph as Contemporary Art, raises some interesting points on “how non-human things, often quite ordinary, everyday objects, can be made extraordinary by being photographed” (Cotton 2009). To answer the question as to whether a subject is worthy of photographing or not, Cotton (2009) states that the subject must have some significance (no matter what it is), as the artist has designated it significant by photographing it, and the viewer must then determine a significant for themselves.
Objects can evoke greater meaning than the mere definition of what the are i.e. shapes, colours and textures. Referencing Richard Wentworth’s image, Kings Cross, London 1999 (below), Cotton suggest that the image could, for example, be viewed as a metaphor for “the drastic, desperate measure taken to solve car-parking problems in a busy city” (Cotton 2009).
Jennifer Bolande’s series, Globe Sightings, feature globes stored on window ledges, photographed from street level. Her photograph’s show “how partial our perspective is, framed as it is by the window out of which, and into which, we look. ….a sense of constrained human understanding is visualized through simple and subtle observations” (Cotton 2009).
The strategy of using objects or environments as metaphors in photography can be a very useful tool. However, it relies heavily on the viewer’s familiarity with the objects and their understanding of the possible connotations necessary to heighten the meaning. That said, it may still be possible for the viewer to enjoy and derive meaning from photographic work on the denoted level. Thus, photographic work cannot rely solely on connotation in order for it to be successful. Without getting into specifics, I believe the work must also demonstrate some form of visual or aesthetic merit.
Reference
Barthes, R. (1977) Image, Music, Text, translated by Heath, S., London: Fontana Press.
Bolande, J. (2018) ‘Jennifer Bolande’ [online], available: https://jbolande.com/portfolio/globe-sightings-2000/ [accessed 21 Aug 2018].
Cotton, C. (2009) the photograph as contemporary art, new ed. London: Thames & Hudson.
Identity Place Photos 