KNOWN AND STRANGE: PHOTOGRAPHS FROM THE COLLECTION
This collection of over 50 works were displayed in the V&A museum in South Kensington, London. The images that formed this display were those made by contemporary photographers which the V&A described as turning, "The familiar into the unfamiliar, and the ordinary into the extraordinary.", which I visited on the 3rd July 2022.
ANDY SEWELL
20 framed prints from Andy Sewell's Known and Strange Things Pass were displayed, which is a collection of images taken on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean looking as two largely unknown entities: the ocean and the internet. He chose this location as it is where fibres, that run under the sea connecting the internet, are highly concentrated as the come inland.
The work is a mix of images in black and white and others are in colour. Images that are in black and white consist of the wiring and images relating to how the internet runs underneath the sea. This is perhaps done to contrast with the images in colour of the natural world of the sea and human experience above sea level, in order to show the two sides of human interaction with the world around them both natural and man-made.
I like how the prints are framed using thin frames so that the image takes up most of the space that it is allocated. The prints are a range of different sizes which, as is highlighted on the image of the wall above, creates a disorganised and eclectic which represents how humans only have a fragmented view of the world around them and how we can only use pieces of what we know to form a whole idea of unknown forces, in this case the internet and the ocean.
TEREZA ZELENKOVA
The image is called The Unseen and it is by Czech artist and writer ,Tereza Zelenkova. Her works are inspired by literature, philosophy and history and particularly takes inspiration in her photography from her own writings. In the image, a group of what we assume are women, due to their clothes and the position they are sat, are positioned around a table posing for a photograph. Ambiguity is created around the identities of the subjects due to there being a cloth covering their faces. This creates a sense of unease and relates to the Freudian theory of the Uncanny as we assume the figures are human, but we cannot be sure which is where the anxiety lies. Furthermore, to add to the unknown element of the image the top of the figures heads are flat which would allude to an inhuman element of their being and poses questions to the viewer as to why their heads need to be covered.
"I find the ambiguity, which might occasionally arise from certain photographs, to be a healthy antidote to a sometimes dangerously rational, definitive view of the world."
- Zelenkova
The Unseen is part of Zelenkova's body of work called A Snake That Dissapeared Through a Hole in The Wall. The name is inspired by a Czech folk tale as the theme of the work looks into mythology and folklore of the Czech Republic where she grew up. The work is connected to her childhood and the image she held of the landscape of the Czech Republic growing up. For me, what stands out how Zelenkova portrays myths and fantastical stories using a precise and in some ways bare and stripped back way of photographing the subjects. It is a contrast to the elaborate tales of the landscape and creates a tense atmosphere throughout the work. I think images with little distractions in the background work better and this is emphasised in Zelenkova's work through the use of the harsh flash in a black and white format, which is something I will experiment with in my work.
RINKO KAWAUCHI
Rinko Kawauchi is a Japanese photographer whose work is characterised by dream like hues and capturing the everyday moments in life. The images displayed above, are from her series Illuminance in which a motif of light, especially natural light, and reflections run through the images. She is influenced by the traditional Japanese aesthetic of wabi-sabi which is finding beauty in imperfections. This idea is demonstrated in this series for example in the glare of light from the bike mirror.
The natural lights transform the subjects into something elegiac but beautiful and bring the viewers attention to the often overlooked details in our immediate environment. The work creates a sense of intimacy with the world around us due to the up close style of photography therefore the viewer is encouraged to look closely at their environment to appreciate the beauty in the everyday.
