The Abject Body - Periodicals

 
The words The Abject Body in photography looks at the body discussed.  The reaction to what is unconventional however the sense of familiarity that some viewers have with the subject at some level. An image that provokes the audience creating a discussion around the intensity of the image and the relevance of it being printed and viewed by the public. It presents us with the notion of wanting to dispose of the unwanted: People would rather not see the reality and consequences of war.

In terms of death we are all familiar with it, however seeing the gruesome images of a body on fire is something we are not accustom to seeing           

over breakfast whilst reading the paper.
An image like this divides us between looking at this images as an object on fire or a subject. 

"The horror inevitably raises questions about their work, as Sautereau has found. 'I hesitated before showing it (his photograph of a dead child),' he says. 'But then I decided that this kid in the morgue represented the situation as I saw it - dead kids, injured kids, amputated babies. I accept that people might react strongly against this photo, but I think it needs to be shown. Let's not forget that we're talking about more than 100,000 victims. We have to represent the dead."

Read more: http://www.bjp-online.com/british-journal-of-photography/news/1645494/after-shocks#ixzz1kKLWnjCG
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British Journal of Photography - After Shock. 3/2/2010 Page 16

                                                                                               

Another commonly controversial subject for The Abject Body in the arts world is the portrayal of people with physical disabilities. During the Edwardian period people like this were looked at and represented as 'freaks' outside the fringes of society and what was seen as 'normal and acceptable'. This perception is slowly changing as society is exposed to images like those in 'Vile Bodies'-the article in the The British Journal of Photography 2009. Dr Eugenie Shinkle discusses the work of photographers such as Antony Crossfield (Foreign Bodies) and Larry Dunstan. Both photographers experiment with digital technology by manipulating the familiar image of a body and creating a disfigured  hybrid with multiple limbs. His work invokes a discussing round what is normal and why are these images different. They are familiar yet abstract and show that through this modern change of technology and digital world we can use abstraction to present reality.

                                                                                     








  





The Bristish Journal of Photography - Vile Bodies, 15/04/2009 Page 12/13/14

 
The body can take on different meanings dependent on how it is portrayed. John Coplan's self portraits of an aged body are fragmented and divided, questioning out notion of beauty. Taking the audience away from the traditional style of portraits, loosing us in a image focused on composition and texture.

( Review- The body in Question- Creative Camera 8&9 1967 P73)




His Self portraits 1984 at the age of 64 are shot beautifully on a large format camera in black and white with a natural white background.

I found these images and articles in online magazines and really wanted to include them.


Andre Serrano- The Morgue 

There is a fascinating interview with Serrano, talking about his photos in the morgue and what his aims were in producing such controversial and unrecognisable portraits of the dead.

http://bombsite.com/issues/43/articles/1631






Wall Street Journal- Why Death Photos Matter.






http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2011/05/04/why-we-want-to-look-death-in-the-face/