Identity - Family - Mariela Sancari

Identity - Family - Mariela Sancari 
by Hayley Ishihara

Mariela Sancari, originally from Buenos Aires, Argentina, is a photographer based in Mexico City since 1997. Her work tells a personal narrative of her father's death and the growing relationship with her twin sister as they deal with the grief together. Along with a very strong narrative, her work also ties in the thin line between memory and fiction.

Her biggest project, Moises, all began because of her father's suicide. When he committed suicide, Sancari wasn't allowed to see his body and a little part of her never believed that he had ever actually died. For this series, she sent out a want ad with a photo of her father requesting men in their 70s that resembled him in one way or another. She photographed these men, sometimes in her father's clothing, to finally create a combination of beautiful prints, an installation as well as a book.

Sancari's website is clean and fairly minimalist. Unfortunately though, it is not very user friendly. The links on the left side are pretty stressful to look at because each link has sub-links underneath the main link, however, the main link isn't larger in size or bold so when a link is clicked, quite a few sub-links appear and it's hard to look at. It's also unfortunate because some of the images don't load when trying to page through her series.

I really enjoy Sancari's work. I found her approach to this project very interesting. Since she hadn't seen her father's dead body, she seemed to think that he could have been found in a coffee shop across the world reading the daily newspaper. This was her way of connecting with her father, even if it was just a man that shared his nose or a dimple when he smiled. 

Identity - Human Condition - Holly Andres

www.HollyAndres.com 
By Ashley Doelger

Holly Andres uses photography to examine the complexities of childhood, the fleeting nature of memory, and female introspection.Typically, her images rely on a tension between an apparently approachable subject matter and a darker, sometimes disturbing theme.

Holly's website is fresh, simple, to the point, and classy.

"My undergraduate degree is in painting and drawing. It wasn’t until after graduate school, when I was studying cinema and became intrigued by the potential of freezing a narrative as a single frame, that I discovered how photography could best aestheticize my concepts. I am fascinated by photography’s legacy to be perceived as an agent of truth, and recognize this as a powerful tool that is not inherent in the more traditional art forms."

https://petapixel.com/2016/02/09/interview-photographer-holly-andres/

"When I made the transition into the commercial sphere, I decided that I had to find a way to make it as fulfilling and meaningful as making art. I entered the commercial world with a relatively strong and varied portfolio of personal work — work that was not made under the influence of commercial application, and this is the work that has garnered the most attention of photo editors, art directors and art buyers."

"I feel most excited when I am approached by a client who is familiar with my artistic process and aesthetic, and who is interested in engaging in a collaborative endeavor."

Anders' editorial work has been featured in The New York Times Magazine, Time, The New Yorker, Art in America, Artforum, Exit Magazine, Art News, Modern Painters, Oprah Magazine, W, The LA Times, Glamour, Blink, and Art Ltd. – which profiled her as one of 15 emerging West Coast artists under the age of 35.

She provides background stories to her personal series, which is a nice touch and interesting to learn how she put her own spin on things. 

She has had solo exhibitions around the world including Portland Oregon where she lives and works.

Anders' work is highly stylized like a motionless performance, evoking theatrical scenes that are carefully posed and lit. Her images are vivid, fun, and thought provoking. They really draw a viewer in and offer details that make you want to jump right in and explore the scene. Everything feels very natural even though they are elaborately staged. I get dreamlike and fantasy vibes and the mix of modern and old fashion is always a winning combination. I can really relate to her work because I love design, decorating, and thinking up projects and scenes to shoot. I'm blown away by her work, it makes me want to push my creativity and ideas even more.

Identity - Feminist History - Carolee Schneemann

Carolee Schneemann
by: Allison Krenz

Carolee Schneemann's work can best be described as an experience meant to involve the viewer. I was introduced to Schneeman's work through an interview on Artsy.net by Alexxa Gotthardt. In her article, she discusses the inspiration and driving forces behind Schneeman's work. Schneemann refers often to the power of female pleasure, and the relevance it holds in today's political climate. When introduced into the avant-garde scene in the late 60's, Schneemann's work stood out for having been made by a female artist. At the time, most of her contemporaries were men, who more often than not, objectified the female body. Schneemann overcomes this stereotype within her genre of work not by rejecting the notion that women have sexual power, whether it be in reproduction or otherwise, but by embracing it. In one quote from her interview she states: "“When I was young, living in the country, the biggest compliment I could get was a  boy saying, ‘When we grow up, will you breed my babies?’” Schneemann recalls. “I think that idea—that women have the power to procreate—still underlies the need to control and possess by male culture.” 

Film still from "Fuses" 1965, 16mm film, 18 min

One of her film media based pieces "Fuses" embraces just this. Through careful attention to gaze, and cut away scenes to place the  a couple (which is herself and her then partner) in a place of intimacy, rather than focusing on the action of having sexual intercourse, she transcends pornography and creates an artistic experience in which the viewer can relate to. Schneemann very carefully avoids the kind of criticism that other feminist artists have received by shifting away from the male gaze and instead inviting one into her own gaze. 

To call Schneemann a photographer or videographer, even in regards to her media that categorizes itself as such, is far too limiting. Carolee Schneemann expertly puts herself into her work and makes everything about the act, or performance. 

If one wanted more information on Carolee Schneemann, her website would be an excellent place to find links to more of her work, but the website itself could use an injection of her own raw aesthetic. 

Identity - Feminist History - Female Artists and their Influence

Identity - Feminist History - Female Artists and their Influence

by Mandy Litwin

In an article that was posted on artsy.net titled “How Feminist Photography of the 1970s Paved the Way for Women Artists Today” by Charlotte Jensen, we learn about some major female artists and their influences from the work they created during the 1970s. The discussion begins by mentioning how people may argue that, if it has been done before, it should be left just there.      

The author of this article continues to explain how the effect is just the opposite. Females artists such as Cindy Sherman and Valie Export were both involved in such art movements. At the time, a lot of work being made used the female body to provoke and challenge the viewer. Many works were considered “scandalous”, and some artists were called narcissistic for showing their bodies in these photos.

I would argue that, for this very reason, it is important that work with these same ideals continue to be created today. Further, because of the work done in the past, a sort of platform has been set up to push these issues – e.g., “protests for civil rights and sexual revolution, protests against war.” 

Cindy Sherman did a lot of work that exposed stereotypes, and in her words, “make someone feel bad for having a certain expectation.” She took photos utilizing her self as a model, but did not create self portraits. Rather, she took on various roles and photographed herself playing these roles to point out these traditional expectations.

For someone like Valie Export, performance art was very important. One piece she did was titled Touch Cinema in which she created a small “theater” that attached to her upper body. She walked around various city streets and let people touch inside. She was challenging the ways in which we “engage with the female body on screen.” The link for the video can be seen here.

This article exposed me to some artists that seem to have pioneered an important movement for women in art. In addition, artsy.net proved to be a very useful and informative place to explore the art world.  Connecting artists and artworks by finding similar characteristics is efficient.

Questions:

Do you agree with the idea that “even though it’s been done before,” continuing to push and recreate past work helps strengthen work being made now (within the same subject matter)?

What other feminist artists do you know; not just photographers?

Identity - Memory - Eva Stenram

by Morgan

Eva Stenram, originally from Sweden, is a London based artist who creates work by digitally cutting up existing images, primarily from vintage pornography and erotica. Her work has been featured in magazines such as Aperture, W, and Esquire.

When first looking at Stenram's work, I was very curious as to why she would fall into the category of memory, as I wasn't hit with that feeling when just simply viewing her work. She has a body of work in progress since 2004 called pornography/forest_pics, but by simply viewing these images I was even more lost. 

pornography/forest_pic_1

Her website is very simple, clean, and has minimal information visible when viewing images, but after clicking through a handful of these images, I realized there was a "more information" link. That's when the artist statement swooped in and saved the day. 

http://www.evastenram.co.uk/pages/mum-11.htm

"pornography/forest-pics is a series based on hardcore pornographic images that are set within or around forests. The pictures were found on the Internet and downloaded, after which the human bodies were digitally removed. The bodies are digitally removed from each shot by copying and repeating the surrounding landscape, creating visual scars within the image. Our gaze is redirected to the overlooked part of the image. The viewer is left to to complete the scene imaginatively. The photographs, once denuded of their ‘action’, also bring to mind police forensic photography, as though these were the sites of forbidding, if unnamed, events. The forest setting complements this ambiguity: at once a place of beauty and danger, of obscuring and clearing, a public as well as a private space. Its quasi-repetition throughout the series both reproduces the banality of porn itself and elaborates a typography of spaces. The human bodies in many cases gets replaced by the ground, become earth, dust and debris."

Knowing now what this work really is, I'm so much more intrigued. It's a take on the idea of memory I wouldn't have thought of myself. She removes the central focus of these images, and even though we don't ever see the original images, we're left to wonder what was once there. Although I don't find most of these images hold my interest on their own, having the information about the work makes me love the work. I'm always blown away by the ideas other artists create.