This quick exercise is designed to introduce the idea of analysing and reflecting
on the work of others, and to give you some material for your first learning log
entry or blogpost.
Here’s a selection of creative practitioners that you will encounter during this
course unit:
● Elina Brotherus
● Gideon Mendel
● Hannah Starkey
● Nigel Shafran.

1. Choose one of these names and find a piece of work they’ve produced.
   Remember to reference the works you have chosen using Harvard
   Referencing, so it’s clear what you are looking at, who made it, and when.
2. Pick one of the pieces and briefly describe it. Consider its qualities by
   trying to describe it. What are the different elements within the work and
   how do these elements work together? What do you think the work is
   trying to communicate? Imagine you’re describing the work to somebody
   over the telephone. Try to do this in no more than 50 words.
   For image based work, what you’re doing here is analysing the formal
   visual language of an image. This is known as visual research or,
   sometimes visual analysis. Writing can be a useful tool in visual analysis,
   but you can also annotate images with notes.
3. Using the same piece, briefly write about how you relate to this work. Do
   you like it or hate it, find it intriguing, influential or outdated, and if so,
   why? Does the work connect to wider ideas or other creative practitioners?
   In other words, what’s your opinion on this work. Don’t worry about
   ‘getting it wrong’ or ‘missing the point’. Perhaps your reflection raises more
   questions than answers. Again, try to do this in no more than 50 words.
4. Use the text you’ve generated to create your first blog post or learning log
   entry. You may also want to be self-reflective by considering your
   experience of doing the exercise. Did you find it an easy or difficult task?
   Did it raise any interesting issues or areas you want to develop further?
   Write a sentence or two picking up on any of these points in your learning
   log.

I have chosen Gideon Mendel and his work Freedom or Death

The images were taken during an intense period of war in South Africa from 1985 and 1989 at the start of Gideon Mendel’s photography career. The images depict a struggle for freedom by the indigenous people and the life of the white minority, this can still be visible by the subjects in these distorted images. The images appear abstract because the water damage has created distortions on the image, this adds to the aesthetic quality of the work. Mendel chose to include the negative borders in the images which connects it’s origins and ties in with the narrative about the damaged physical negatives over time.

I like this work because I am drawn the the material affectation of physical prints, this is just a variation on that theme. I like the abstract patterns created by chance to when the negatives were damaged, colourful quality where the damage occurred is attractive to me. I am drawn to this work on a deeper level, growing up in Rhodesia during a similar civil war and also witnessing this struggle first hand in the 1980’s whilst on holiday in South Africa, this work resonates with me on an emotional level. I was first drawn to the physical affectation of the printed image at my first student visit to the Blast festival in West Bromwich in 2019. Nilupa Yasmin takes images and cuts them into strips and weaves them together to create an abstract version as the final outcome. Nilupa Yasmin’s work “Where Can I Find This” was work taken at the Sandwell markets and then cut and woven together.

I was also drawn to the work of Sam Ivin, called “Lingering Ghosts” where he scratched out the faces of asylum seekers on printed images, as if to erase their identity, similar to what asylum seekers feel when in limbo, awaiting approval for residency. This work also represents a social struggle by a group of people and I am also drawn to social issues, which connects Gideon Mendel’s work to this I have previously enjoyed.

Below are some images from Gideon Mendel’s Work “Freedom or Death” that I particularly liked. The captions are what accompanies the images on his website

Their distortion speaking a deeper truth beyond the original documentary format.

Bibliography

Gideonmendel.com. (2020). Damage – Gideon Mendel. [online] Available at: http://gideonmendel.com/freedom-or-death/ [Accessed 13 Feb. 2020].

Blast!. (2020). Nilupa Yasmin — Blast!. [online] Available at: https://www.blastphotofestival.com/artists/nilupayasmin [Accessed 13 Feb. 2020].

SAM IVIN. (2020). Lingering Ghosts — SAM IVIN. [online] Available at: http://www.samivin.com/lingeringghosts [Accessed 13 Feb. 2020].