Background: Sebastião Salgado is a Brazilian social documentary photographer. He has traveled over 120 countries for his photos. Initially he started a career as an economist but later abandoned that and switched to photography in 1973. He focused on the effects of hardship, poverty and oppression on people of various cultures, and also recognized the effects of industrialization in natural landscapes. Photo 1: 1. The setting of this photo is of the Church Gate terminal which is part of the Western railroad line in India. The people of the station can be seen bustling through the over crowded station. 2. The black and white brings the focus to the whole photo by using unity instead of having all different colors spread throughout the image. The lighting seems like a vignette lighting since the middle of the photo is so bright but the edges are dark. There's also a focus on rule of thirds with the two trains on the end and the people in the middle as the focus. 3. This photo, along with the rest, focuses on a social issue of over crowded areas. Overcrowding is dangerous especially in train stations because of the trains. This also creates a dirty environment to be in which works with deterioration of the environment in and around the station. 4. Over crowding isn't good for the environment and can easily spread disease from one person to another. It's also dangerous to be so close together and pushing past others with moving trains so close by. The idea of modernization isn't always a good thing.
Middle and South School
Social Justice
ICA Field Trip
Photo Emulation
Alex Boyd: “A haunting series of Scottish landscapes with a single figure, not seeking to illustrate Edwin Morgan’s work in any sense but to respond to it in a different medium..."
This series represent Alex Boyd's photos because the scenery is of nature with a model facing away from the camera. The models are also both in a white shirt and black pants with a straight pose.
ICA Analysis
The photo, Performance Still, by Mona Hatoum shows vulnerability to ethnic minorities in the face of violence and discrimination. This piece was created in 1985-95. The material of this photo is Gelatin silver print mounted on aluminum with a size of 30 1/16 x 42 1/2 inches (76.4 x 108 cm). The setting is London in the mid-1980s. The texture and line in the photograph lead your eyes in. The picture can take you from left to right or even bottom to top due to the lines created by the ground and her legs. The texture at the bottom also creates a secondary focal point for the viewer to look at. The photo being in black and white also creates a more serious feeling by contrasting between the dark and light values instead of being light and happy. The photo seems well exposed except for the legs seem to be washed out either due to the lighting or the paleness of the models skin. The piece is realistic and makes me feel like something is holding her back in the picture. She could be held back by work, inner insecurity, or maybe an how the world views her due to the boots tied to her ankles. This piece fits into the time period because the boots are what police wore in London in this time period and shes exposing how minorities are discriminated upon. Her being tied by the boots shows shes held back by the views of higher officials. Viewers respond with the emotion someone may feel being tied up or held back by something such as vulnerability, sadness, anger, remorse, etc. The piece tells a story of minority's struggle in the 1980s, Hatoum created this to share what was happening in this time period to others who weren't experiencing this or to those who felt the same way. She achieved that through this photo being displayed. I like this piece because of the depth behind the piece and the story it tells. I also feel like I can relate to this photo because everyone has something they feel could be holding them back in life. I believe it should be an important piece in art history. The title does somewhat make sense because this is a still picture of her behind held back by something.