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Photographing The Apocalypse.

Writing by Brendan Olley.

Our obsession with the post apocalyptic is by no means coy, on the contrary we can witness a rapid flux in the acceptance of the state. Not just a rise in photography but a spread across all veins of existing culture and systems.

The apocalypse I refer to is not one you may be familiar with and I hypothesise that we are already inside a quasi fictitious and real state. Jung theoreticized the understanding of the ‘collective unconscious’ were he argued that as a collective species we share the same fears and joys but on an unconscious level, these effects of the collective can be reflected in art, music and socioculture which can be then delivered back into the mass when made real in works of art and the likes. 

As we bare witness to the heights of the industrial revolution and even higher peaks manifest in the birth of the world web we can track the journey of advancement.  This advancement has peaked and it could be argued that we are now either looking for even higher unachievable satisfaction and that we are now in the decline of the flux. The end of advancement signifies the decent back down, the apocalypse, I believe we are on the cusp at present.

We can now understand this decline subconsciously but at the same time quicker than ever before as a result of creating more compact tighter social circles. Information, emotion and sensitivity can be transmitted very fast through social websites and the advancement of information/connectivity methods. The ‘Nodes’ (the individuals in the unit) are equipped to transfer the status quo easier and quicker and thus a snowball effect is created. This is easily identifiable with the clothing and music industry.

One is amazed of how a shawl of fish and a flock of birds move so choreographed but aren’t we moving the same as a collective circle through social networking websites and the likes?

Periodically the movement of life changes quickly enough for us to record and recognise (the zeitgeist). The status quo aligns itself with systems of the individual, who in turn is the creator, creating an output as a result.  We’ve seen to many of these creations that reflect an apocalyptic state to ignore.

This has been no new concept, arguably taking place over the past century through a number of media. From literature we are offered T.S. Elliot's The Hollow Man, J.G. Ballard's The Drowned World and Orwell's 1984. This in pattern has pushed cinema to produce lynchian language of Erasurehead, The lost Highway and more recent attempt The Road by John Hillcoat.

This eventually leads us onto the rise of the apocalyptic inside the field of photography. The context hasn’t just come from out of the sky as a collective we have already agreed to this and we may see this rise even higher.

Who says this apocalypse is a negative movement, we may see a surge of enlightenment, an evolution that may allow us to relate more sympathetically.  It may even be white. No I'm only joking, find as many mates as possible, eat ice cream and shit cake and ride the coaster into the oblivion! 

Some photographers I think are working in this language.

Micheal Corridors - Angry Black Snake  

http://www.1000wordsmag.com/

Nadav Kander - The Yangtze River series   

http://www.nadavkander.com/#

Oliver Beer - Deep and Meaningful

( Showing at 20 Hoxton Projects, Hoxton Square )

Alejandro Guijarro - Broad Daylight

http://www.alejandroguijarro.com/project/test/

Cheer up! x 

Image: Nadav Kander original sourced    http://bit.ly/9q634t

Writing by Christopher Fields. 

This is my fist time writing for photographyandmash and I thought it might be a good starting point to discuss the current exhibitions for photography graduates 2010.

The Truman Brewery is once again hosting its annual exhibition ‘Free Range’ for graduates of photography design and graphics. This week was the turn of photographers from universities including Farnham, Plymouth and Lancashire.  Some really interesting and provoking images from this year’s graduates which will shortly appear on photographyandmash. The usual collection of images inspired by fashion which unfortunately in an exhibition environment can be a little misplaced especially when work is little more than a poor replication of  ‘fashion imagery’.  If you can manage to stomach it past this you will be pleasantly rewarded with some beautiful imagery born out of interesting and engaging ideas. Next Thursday exhibitions from Brighton, Nottingham and Westminster, I shall be there eagle eyed searching for more insightful work, glass of wine in hand. See you there , 

Fresh Faced and Wild Eyed.

Photographers Gallery London

Exhibition

We’ve been far to busy soaking up some of this beautiful sunshine that we got caught out with all the beautifully wonderful things the creative community is offering us this month, so we’ve pulled out some of our top picks of the month that we really wanted to give to you as a peace offering? If we had a slice of cake we would also give you a piece.

Fresh Faced and Wild Eyed shows at The Photographers Gallery  this month 16th May - 7th June. It is an embodiment of the top 25 graduated students from Britain last year, placed in the minimal landscape of the Photographers Gallery and opened up for the public to see. We are very please to say that three of our community photographers have been selected for the show; Ozant Kamaci and Ekaterina Demidova are amongst these selected few. We wanted to pay homage to our brothers and sister in congratulating them on this success.

The Show is a wonderful display and a variety of thematic content to inspire, evoke and stimulate the viewer. This is our selected exhibition of the month and gets a full backing from out team.

What else... we think you may like…

Exhibitions.:

-       Concrete and Glass at 20 Hoxton Projects, 20 hoxton square London

 http://20hoxtonsquare.com/

 -       Leigh Ledare, Photographer. 15 April - 5 June, Pilar Corrias Gallery

 http://www.pilarcorrias.com/#/exhibitions/current

Magazines & Books:

-       File Magazine  Unexpected Photography. We’ve been following File now for the past 4 issues and we love it. It’s a         refreshing magazine that encompasses all that is great in current design at the moment. This issue is photography based mainly so is well worth a look.

 -       Next Level Magazine, Issue 19. These guys from Scotland are cleaning up in the photography magazine world and issue 19 is no exception to what we’ve come to expect. It centres around the position of photograpy in the current art market. One to Keep!!  

-     Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky. This Russian novelist needs quirky introduction as any kind would be futile to the greatness of this read.  It’s the summer book for Photography and Mash.

 Music:

-       Meltdown Festival has to be the talk of the month in the music world. Recent curators of the festival include Morrisey and Bowie, enough said? This year they’ve asked Richard Thompson to cast his musical brain over the festival.  Highlights include Eliis Costello, Seasick Steve and Broken Bells. There’s also a FREE film  screening of Werner Herzog’s The Grizzly Man as part of the festival. Tickets are pretty cheap Also!! http://meltdown.southbankcentre.co.uk/about/

Hope that’s enough goodies for you lovely people to enjoy this week.

With Peace,

Photography & Mash. 

I Am love ( lo Sono L’Amore )

Film, | Cinema Photography.

Run Time | 120 Mins

Directors | Luca Guadagnino. ( 2010 )

Perhaps not a good idea to go to the movies on a second date with the film titled  ‘I Am Love’.  It was risky business on uncertain ground. Luckily it wasn’t your one dimensional romantic flick, boy meets girl in summer time bravado, on the contrary a deeply moving piece of cinema that deserves this thought for the week.

It’s not the narrative or the plot that moves this film forward with a stream of elegance, although the twists in the narrative do throw the viewer into realms of ambiguity, the cinema-photography is what makes the cake.  We’re talking about atmospheric, evocatively mundane shots that have been so beautifully crafted to change them into an exciting stimulating collection of deadpan details. Its like hearing the sound of a still lake and watching it slowly flow pass with an expanse of nothing.  Its mesmerizingly empty in its depiction of life's rights of passage.

Close up shots of doors closing, opening, windows inside and outside and stark contrast’s between the snow and summer light builds a complex pace in the film. If there was ever such a film that describes the energy and process of sex then this would be the one. Bold climax’s boil to extreme highs and then break the wave to absolute stillness. It’s a visual description of the indescribable anxiety, excitement and joy of sex. This is profoundly communicated in a scene were Tilda Swinton ( Emma )  breaks into tears of joy and regret after the infidelity of her marriage, following a highly sexual scene of her new found lover, the resident chef. The classical score explodes in an erotic scene showing the metamorphosis and release of sexual desires to a bold orchestral symphony of lustful eros.

One could look at the sequential story as a description of the metamorphosis of mankind, a rebirth into the world as a new person or the shedding of all faith in ones aspirations from the material world to return to the purity of a primal sensuality, akin to that of the freedom of the wild butterfly. This is played out in the very last scene were Swinton and her lover retire to a cave in the mountains to live out there lustful desires. It has a daring sense of the truth behind our sexual desires, making us feel a sense of the erotic likened to the deeply moving nature of Liars Van Trier in the Antichrist, which incidentally is also a lesson in new wave provocative cinema-photography. Other films that have boldly explored this similar cinematic genre would be Exotica (1994) directed Atom Egoyan and recently The Single Man (2010) directed by Tom Ford. 

The film is sometimes dark but without knowing why, rebirth and resurrection run through-out the script but nothing is definitively concluded, making it even more special. Tilda Swinton plays out that great look of alien outer worldly women which supports this notion of spiritual rebirth and the awakening of desires. Sex, lust and dark fantasy are all factors that build up a world of clandestine secrecy played out in a far away mansion in the suburbs of italy. 

The heat is definitely on!

Photography & Mash.