CONTAIN
TOP- HELENA WIERZBICKI
FAR LEFT- VAN GOTH
LEFT - KATIE JOY CRAWFORD
BOTTOM LEFT - DENNIS ELLIOTT
Katie Joy Crawford
Crawford used her history of generalised anxiety order to create a series of photos depicting how it feels living with the mental health condition. The photos had a surreal edge to them with most being edited in order to represent anxiety in a metaphorical way. I used her photography for 'contain' to show how pictures can speak 1000 words and how you can use a camera, props and photoshop to express the greater picture. Mental health issues are a very real issue and I think it's incredible to showcase them in a creative way. Additionally Crawford stated how taking these shots actually guided her in some form of therapy and wishes they will educate viewers and get them to start asking hard questions.
Dennis Elliott
Chicago based Elliott took this image amongst others during a protest post the tragedy that shook the world regarding George Floyd- an innocent man who was shot dead by white supremacists ( AKA most of americas police force ). I chose focusing on protests for the final photographer of 'contain' as I focused mainly of the concept of emotion being held in a art form and where else do you see more strength, unity and courage than in a protest? I looked at more of Elliotts work and his eye for detail shines through- his photos are completely captivating and involve conceptual themes.
ARTISTS
HELENA WIERZBICKI
Featured is Wierzbickis Emotions painting - I chose this artwork simply because
the theme contain made me think of emotions-I love how they are expressed through oil paints and canvas and held in a passionate art form. Wierzbicki stated on her website she loves exploring her innermost feelings and thoughts through acrylic paints. Her work is influenced by the period of fauvism which is loosely translates into English as 'the wild beasts. This movement retained realstic details from impressionism but with emphasised and bold colour. I love how states she paints in a compulsive way as it feels very real.
VAN GOGH
The late Van Gogh is without question the most prolific and one of (if not the most) famous and reclaimed artists in the entire world however he lead an impoverished life in a horrendous psychological state in which he lead to cutting his own ear off and tragically ended in suicide. I chose one of his self-portraits for the theme contain as I simply love when you look at his work - all the dramatic (but beautiful) brush strokes he used to create such masterpieces dripping with colour, emotion and beauty influenced by his low quality of life. These stand-out brush strokes are the reason I chose his work for the theme contain- all these 100s of paint strokes contained in a image . His work was of the post- impressionism period. This art movement came after impressionism and featured art work that steered away from realism and instead concentrated on vivid colours whilst still using real life subject matter.
CONTAIN-MY PHOTOS
Sometimes you don't have to go far to take good quality images. I took these all in my small bedroom whilst experimenting with my new camera. I decided on photos of my bedroom ( including details like my sheets, the window etc) for 'contain because I wanted to present the amount of details you can contain in just one picture.
Beautiful pictures don't always have to be grand and exciting especially at the moment with regarding COVID.
I simply placed a black and white filter over them to get the viewer to concentrate on the subject matter and the different textures and shadows rather than the colour scheme.
Now that I have more of a grip on my new camera I shall go more out of my comfort zone and try new processes etc.
