My project involves trying to
produce images that provoke an emotional response in the viewer. This is not
easy, as I have been discovering over the last year or so. One focus of my
research has been in trying to find images by other photographers that provoke
an emotional response when I look at them. To be honest, I haven’t found too
many! However, at the latest (2016) ‘Uncertain States – Open’ exhibition at the
Mile End Pavilion, London, I did find some images by Israeli-born photographer
Aviv Yaron which caused me to look again and again. Not only were these
photographic prints aesthetically pleasing to my eye but, when hung together,
the ‘fractured’ landscapes (entitled “In Another Place”) created an uncanny and
very strong atmosphere – and if a photograph has atmosphere it is well on the
way to generating an emotional response in me. Image 1 shows a typical example.
Image 1; Aviv Yaron, from
“In Another Place”
I was lucky enough to meet the
artist at the exhibition and chat about his work. “In Another Place” consists of a series of
photographs taken of the rubble that is all that remains of the Palestinian
village of Simsim. Following the creation of the state of Israel, the
Palestinians were expelled from the village in 1948 and moved to the Gaza
strip. In the place where the village used to stand an Israeli kibbutz was
founded: the kibbutz is still there today. There is no sign to indicate what
had once been here before or that this had once been Palestinian land. Yaron grew up
accepting that this was the ‘promised land’ and that he was one of ‘God’s
chosen people’. Only recently has he started to come to terms with the fact
that another culture held rights to the land and that this culture was forcibly
removed, indirectly giving rise to some of the most tragic events in modern
times.
Yaron chose to photograph the
landscapes on film and then to chemically mark his negatives before producing
prints. The results, whilst unpredictable, clearly add another layer of
complexity to the photographs. Yaron remarks that the production of the
additional visual surface in this way is “as if presenting a physical testimony to the
passage of time, and providing an appearance to the unseen”. He also comments
that “The surface blemishes and traces appear to be etched into what could be
experienced as the topology of one’s memory”. It is clear that for him this
series of images represents a journey and a passage of self-reflection,
examining the significance of past events through a multi-layered approach.
Having understood the
significance of this work provides me, the viewer, with the necessary emotional
response. Of course the landscapes on their own could have told the same story,
but somehow the marks add another layer of significance, both literally and
metaphorically. They also seem to reflect the struggle that the artist has had
to come to terms with his past and with the history of what happened in his
mother country before he was born.
What can I learn from this
work? I can take encouragement from the fact that marking the negative has
produced an image with both aesthetic appeal (admittedly a subjective response)
and a kind of surreal complexity (see, for example, Image 2) that draws me in
to find out more. Having understood the background to the project, looking at
the photographs again held my attention and produced an emotional response.
Perhaps my own multi-layered images can produce a similar response in the
viewer, particularly if I can harness the power of the landscapes of the
Yorkshire Dales, where my story unfolds, as part of the story.
Image 2; Aviv Yaron, from
“In Another Place”
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