Review of: "Spoken Image: Photography and Language - Clive Scott" by Emily Tweedie

Review of: "Spoken Image: Photography and Language - Clive Scott" 

by Emily Tweedie

   The family album us something that we all have had, but is dying out due to advances in technology. In society in this day and age keep photographs on things such as Facebook and other social medias.  
Clive Scott splits his book into separate paragraphs. 230 pages into Clive Scott's book, he starts to explain what his perception of what a family album is. He believes that the father creates the photographs for the album and the mother puts the album together, although what is not considered that the "family" has a different definition in this century. A family has a range of definitions, different structures than the original "family", such as having two mothers or two fathers as well as families being split up and the child lives with either of their one of their parents.
   Scott explains that the family album being sociably acceptable. This is a true statement as there is only "good" things in a family album; there is rare amount, if any pictures of the family being sad or unhappy. The content is only things that we would want other people to see; such as marriage, graduation, and the family progressing naturally.
   Scott also writes about the family album being in a narrative structure. The family album seems to start off with the beginning to the current day. It continues to have the strong, remember-able points of a families life. I believe this point to be true, as I don't think anyone would put the photographs in a random order.
   In conclusion, Clive Scott makes some good points in his book although with them being considered in this day and age then there could be a good argument of to whether these points are true or not.

Cover of the Book

Harvard Reference:

[Book] - Clive Scott, 1999, The Spoken Image: Photography and Language, Reaktion Books, 26/03/14, http://lib.myilibrary.com/Open.aspx?id=226525&loc=231&srch=family%20album#, WWW. 

[Image] - 26/03/14, http://www.reaktionbooks.co.uk/display.asp?K=9781861890320, WWW.

Review of Cindy Sherman's book: Retrospective - By Emily Tweedie

Review of Cindy Sherman's book: Retrospective

By Emily Tweedie

Cover of Cindy Sherman's Retrospective

     In this essay I will be writing a short review on Cindy Sherman's Book Retrospective.

 I would first put this book into a fantasy category. The purpose of Sherman's book is to show the expectations of society such as people's fears. She also does some exploration of the body with her later work. 

    Her work fits into the genre of fantasy with her earlier work when she dresses up and impersonates celebrities which the average "house wife" who is stuck at home looking after the children while doing the house work, would look up too and aspire to be. As well as her later work where she creates living monstrosities with manikins.  

   The introduction of Sherman's book is very successful with telling the audience what Sherman wanted to portray within her work. 

   The book is laid out in a very linear way. It's starts with an explanation of twenty years of Cindy Sherman's life. Giving the viewer very detailed information about Cindy Sherman and her work. After the text, it starts with Sherman's earlier work of her dressing up/impersonating celebrities on plates. All these photographs are in black and white. Then it comes to her more recent work which may be seen as very grotesque and can be quite uncomfortable to look at. Sherman creates rather sinister and physiological work which press on issues within society. 

Cindy Sherman: Plate 14
Untitled Film Still 1978

Cindy Sherman: Plate 143
Untitled #314E 1994

Finally, Sherman clearly shows the cultural conditions within her work. In her earlier work, it's clear to see that society was still a sex oriented time- where women would stay at home and look after the children, while the man of the house would go out to work and be the "bread winner". With her later work, she shows how the society is a very image-based place. She also presses on issues such as the male gaze by putting manikins in certain positions.

Amada Cruz, Elizabeth A. T. Smith and Amelia Jones, First Published 1997, Retrospective, Cindy Sherman.

Summary of Thomas Struth: San Zaccaria, Venice 1995 by Sophie Howarth

Summary of Thomas Struth: San Zaccaria, Venice 1995 by Sophie Howarth

Thomas Struth: San Zanccaria, Venice 1995

   Sophie Howarth starts off her essay by writing about the people in the image: telling us what she believes they are doing there and possibly what they are thinking. Her first comment is about the couple, who are tourists at this magnificent place of worship. She instantly explains how the viewer can tell they are tourists and not people of the community. In the next few paragraphs, she writes about the people who are sat and gives us information about these people. 

   Howarth then goes on to give more information about the photographer himself. Giving us information about what Struth had intended to do on his trip. She also speaks about the camera Struth used, the size of the negatives and roughly how many negatives he would of produced during his shoot. 

She then goes on to give us her belief of why Struth choose the original negative rather than any other of the 60 or so negatives that had been produced as well as telling us how he took the photograph and why he took it with that certain technique.

   Howarth goes on to explain how Struth became inspired to start this project, along with it two quotes by Struth explaining himself. 

   She then speaks about how he photographed the tourists, as he "never mocked individuals". She also explained how Struth allowed the visitors a "level of privacy" by not showing their faces. 

   In her next paragraph, she is pondering the future of Struth photograph: how it will be seen and how it will be considered. 

   Howarth adds into the essay a poem by Phillip Larkin about a cyclist being confused of why he stopped outside of a church even though he was a non-believer himself. Which nicely concluded Howarths last paragraph about the place of worship bringing people who are believers and non-believes together for their "common hunger for something mysterious". 

All That Is Solid Melts Into Air

All That Is Solid Melts Into Air

Emily Tweedie

    The exhibition was led round within a circle, like a time line. Starting at the title and work your way around the room to the end piece. It had mixed media, from paintings to photographs to film as well as objects.

Motorola WT4000, Wearable Terminal, 2013
Courtesy Motorola Solutions

Double-Dial Longcase Clock from Park Green
Silk Mill, Macclesfield. 1810

   The two pieces that I chose to analyse is 'Motorola WT4000' and the "Double-Dial Longcase Clock": Both of these devices are used to manage the time of the workers. The Motorola managed the time of the workers by a tracking device which was worn on their wrist. It would tell the workers what to do and where to go as well as inform the worker how fast they are completing the tasks at hand. The Double-Dial Clock, was less advanced in technology but did a similar thing, one of the clocks was to show the time of day and the other would show any time lost within the working day and would have to be made up by the workers at the end of their shift.
   The sequencing I believe was to show the advances in technology within time, starting with paintings then leading to photographs and objects such as the clocks. The juxtaposition with certain things was to show how similar but more advanced they were. It was also to show the differences in the working culture such as the differences between men and women.

Video of Steel Industry

   One piece that I believe showed well the working class experience was the video of working class men in the steel industry. The whole film is 35 minutes long and showed the cycle of how metal was made. Thus also showing the working class being controlled by a person in a higher position than them. It also showed how much labor they had to endure to make a wage.

Clocking On/Off Clock

    One device that could be connected with was the 'Clocking On/Off Clock', one woman said her mother used to work and clock in with a similar device. I also have a connection with this, although it is less advance, I also clock in and out at work which tracks what time I get there and what time I leave. If I am late, it automatically gets deduced from my wage rather than me working for a longer period to make the time up.