Friday, February 14, 2014

Exhibition - "Ensemble" (Together) by Denis Darzacq

The exhibition "Ensemble"("Together") at the cultural center "Arsenal" in Metz (France) presents very interesting photos from the series realised by Denis Darzacq. 
Darzacq's project lasted 15 years and shows the reflection of the artist on the often precarious place of the individuals in the contemporary society. 
Even if the his way of photographing evolves, the body appears, since the beginning, as common denominator of Denis Darzacq's researches. 
The artist conceives the body as a real sculpture within the social environment. 
It is social sculpture because the body cannot be extracted from the context with which it interacts. 
The artist in fact uses it as the tool of a criticism of the difficulties and the stigmatisation that certain groups, particularly the young people of the disadvantaged districts or the disables, have still to face in our modern society.
Denis Darzacq's photography points out social's constraints and the contradictions.
He invites to affirm an identity which is more complex than the one imposed by the society and conquer a freedom that is often formally denied.










I personally liked a lot the message of the artist.
I believe that his work is very original and gives a strong input to the viewer hitting prejudices and helping to re-think the way we see the persons that are often considered to be marginal in our society.
He manages very well to discover the poetic side or simply the oddness of the "marginalised" and to express this artistically. 
In parallel with this quest, he is extremely attentive to the different ways the human body relates to the city space. 
I like a lot social documentary and I believe, like Denis Darzacq, that photography should be also used in order to expose social issues. And in my opinion, he did a great job in this respect.
However, I did not necessarily always liked his style of photography.
Sometimes, the narrative of his shots looks to me rather "minimalist" (eg. the last picture I published in my post).
On the contrary, above all in his series with disables persons, it is as if his photography had succeeded in giving new form and meaning "to the compassionate injunction look at disabilities in a new light".


Sunday, February 9, 2014

First thoughts about my new Open College of the Art course

Here we go again!

After few months of break, now I am very exited to be about to enrol to my third OCA course: "People and Place".

In 2011 and 2013 I passed the first two OCA courses "The Art of Photography" and "Digital Photographic Practise".
My scores were respectively 75% and 73%, corresponding to what used to be an A.
Upon completion of this third course I will finish the Level 4 of the BA Hons Degree in Photography.


My goals and aims for P&P

"One of the key purposes of this course is to stretch your photographic skills in terms of the subject material you choose. Specifically, to broaden the range of your work by tackling subjects that include people. In this sense there is something of a challenge.
Any comprehensive set of courses on photography will of course embrace a range of subject material, and some of this will be easier to deal with than others. Throughout most of the modules you will usually have a choice in exercises and assignments, and it is perfectly natural to look for subjects that are accessible, nearby and predictable. Too often, however, this means avoiding interesting subjects in favour of safe ones. And arguably, the most interesting class of photographic subject is people."

On the basis of my recent experience with OCA, this year I would like to:
1. Maintain a forensic attitude to what I am photographing.
2. Increase the level of my rigour with a well established flow of actions to take both in production and editing.
3. Focus on my photographic technique.
4. Increase the level of interaction with my tutor.
5. Pay more attention to the details of my learning log blog.
6. Post all my best photos (not necessarily linked to the course) in order to start to build a personal portfolio (recently I created a Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/macondophotoproject).
7. Visiting more exhibitions.

My general goal in taking this course is to develop a personal style in the area of photography that I prefer: street photography.  
I also am looking forward to put a bit of order in my photographic world.

Let's start (or, better, continue) the journey!