Seeing Martin Parr’s celebrated work in a setting that supports artistic context is always interesting. These photographs, printed on large scale and hung in stylish frames almost transforms the work from documentary into art. Within this environment the content of these images can almost be treated as painting. The intricacies are exposed each, face and figure can be admired and there is generally more to be experienced. The same image printed in a book or seen on a screen can easily be dismissed. The scale of these images almost forces them to be considered. What ever you think of Martin Parr his work has changed the way we treat and accept the photographic snapshot. His style and candid approach encapsulate culture where ever he might point his lens.
Although his selection of older images, taken in the 80s and 90s are handled with more of a traditional exposé, hung in these large frames to maximise the impact of each image. Parr manages to adapt to the way the photographic image has changed. The domination of the image and its abundance in our digital world may have had some influence on how Parr shows some of his newer work. In a room displaying his more contemporary work we are confuted with a huge wall filled with bright vividly colour images from Parr’s travel across the world these images. These images have been selected and hung in a fixed grid. The images blend together when glanced at but we have the ability to approach the wall and appreciate each individual image. I wonder if there is any reflection to the way we experience images on platforms like Instagram, often gridded and fixed with the way that these images are displayed. These are images that are fill with connotations of consumerism and a globalised world. The compilation of images come together to give a saturated vision of our world. The other images within the space are hung as if they were in the Parisian salon, but all have very similar connections in exposing our cultural phenomenons. We expect Parr’s more iconic image to be presented with greater care and given space to breathe. But with the image that are less known, the photographer can be more creative with the ways he is or the curator is displaying the work.
Parr’s self portrait series was something that I have greatly admired. This work really starts to challenge our expectations of photography. He is playing with the vernacular but also entrenched in his own personal image and identity. Again we are being exposed to cultural factors that are generating and creating the differences within these images. Instead of pointing his own lens at each culture he is intrinsically becoming the photograph himself. His body is the image and allowing himself to be manipulated by every photographer who he has commissioned to take his portrait. The strange bridge between found image, portraiture and self portraiture creates a series of images that provoke humour but also become engaged in expressing a unique global vision and tolerance of the photograph.
Yorkshire Sculpture Park plays host to a collection of work by the video artist Bill Viola. In darken rooms, where our key senses are diminish and we have a flattering awareness of our surroundings. Within these spaces we are exposed to the work of Viola. His take on video art becomes an experience. Were are not there to simple watch a piece of moving image but there to engage and experience the strange unique transcendence that eeks out from the screen or projection in front of us. We become a part of the performance that Viola is conveying. In this sense time becomes a major factor in voila’s work. Moving image that is devoid of plot or narrative yet the audience can still be expected to sit in front of a screen for a long period of time. The distortion of time is clear in a lot of his work. In Tristin’s Ascension we watch as a man lays flat on a plinth before water plunges from the sky and his body rises upwards beyond the frame of the image. All of this occurs at a super slow speed, the water becomes alive as it slowly cascades over the body, we are aware of each and ever movement. The projection its self fills the space of a small chapel from floor to ceiling, the dark room shifts our complete focus on to the moving image. Using such a large screen makes this the work life size. we can imaging the figure laying in the space on a cold hard slab of stone as if his death was real.
In Viola’s work it is always incredibly hard to spot any digital manipulation or distinguish between practical or digital effect. All of Viola’s work relies heavily on some sort of manipulation but it is presented in a way that feels believable. The figure is particularly important in keeping us in front of the screen. Here the work illustrates a human connection in to these strange parallel existences that Viola has created. The body is put through some sort of process that we would not usually expect. The process becomes the pinnacle of the work, the figure is merely a figure that has almost had any theme of identity removed.
The way that this work is displayed appears to be fundamental to each piece. Viola’s application of audio visual equipment dramatically enhances the work. He is pushing what he can do with the screen or with projections and speakers to make us feel that we are not just staring at a television but experiencing a work of art.