The Photographer and the Viewer

The Photographer and the Viewer

I feel it is important for serious photographers to look at how other artists had explored certain societal issues. This should be done not only through the work such artists produce, but also to how it is perceived by a viewing public. Through my research on the fascinating subject of how an image is read revolves primarily around four main factors:

a) The creator’s knowledge, input and influence.

b) The conditioning of the viewer.

c) The changing space between the viewer and the subject.

d) Technological advances.

Naturally, many artists have tackled such issues but, to my mind, two photographers have produced work that ably demonstrates one or more of these four main factors. They are namely Guy Bourdin and Helmut Newton. Both were iconic photographers in their own right and both mainly operated in the fashion photography world. Although different in their approach, the work of both photographers was brimful with visual signifiers which, many times, were consciously kept obscure in order to intensify the mystery and interpretation of the image. Yet both photographers would consciously play around with the way they manipulated and composed their subjects in order to exercise control over the viewer.

Newton’s work experimented mostly with fetish-driven nude photography, even whilst working in, at that time, the rather conservative world of commercial fashion photography. One of his most iconic and typical images, ‘Self Portrait with Wife June and Models,’ Paris, 1981, is a notable example of the way a viewer can be influenced by the skills and wishes of the creator whilst, concurrently, the narrative of the image is left wide open to interpretation.

Newton, H. Self Portrait with Wife June and Models, Paris, (1981)

This image is loaded with semiotic information: some of these signs are cliché whilst others more subtle. The many elements contained show the power of a photograph as well as the skill of the photographer to imbue his image with mystery, sexuality, eroticism as well as human relationships. So many questions arise out of just this one image: the disembodied legs of the secondary model are ambiguous and give no particular significance. June, (Helmut’s wife), is the voyeur and Helmut is both the observer and the observed. The image could be interpreted as a ‘sexploitation’ of the model or that she is there as an ‘exhibitionist.’ Space and framing are masterfully utilized by Newton. To me, this image plays upon many of the same visual elements that Velasquez used in his famous painting of the Spanish Court, ‘Las Meninas.’ The engagement of the viewer with such work is also further enriched when the creator includes himself or herself in the work. The continued success and debate of the work of artists like Cindy Sherman demonstrates that such work remains engaging to most viewers.

Sherman, Cindy Untitled Film Stills no.10 (n.d.)

Guy Bourdin’s work was successful for various reasons: in most of his signature images, one would generally need to search hard for the actual fashion product being advertised. He surrounded his images with drama, theatrical lighting and vivid colour compositions whilst, at the same time, often preferred dark narratives that challenged conventional approaches to fashion photography. Here again the perception of the image, albeit influenced by the creator, (Bourdin), can be read in a myriad of ways by the viewer who is seeing the image from the context of his/her surroundings and from knowledge and conditioning factors. In the majority of his work, Bourdin ‘forces’ the viewer to take the place of the voyeur or ‘peeping tom.’ Stéphane Mallarme aptly sums this up when he states that: “to define is to destroy, to suggest is to create.” (Zakia, R.1995).

Bourdin, G. (c.1982-83). Roland Pierre Advert by Guy Bourdin.

The work of Iranian photographer and film director Mitra Tabrizian is also very relevant to this study as she is concerned with concepts of indistinct space and location. One of her engaging projects, “Another Country,” 2009-2010, (Matt Mahon, 2012), depicts groups of displaced immigrants attempting to transform and adapt to their new surroundings, far away from their country of origin. The choreographed figures in these images are purposely kept ambiguous, rather far away from the camera. They are curiously arranged in pattern-like formations which somehow de-humanize them and further intrigue the viewer into trying to decipher an amount of signifiers, which, at prima facie, look ‘normal’ but after careful study, carry deeper social and cultural meaning. Taking her image 'Another Country' as an example, the Muslim attire suggests that the pictures were taken in the Middle East, but on closer scrutiny, one starts realizing that there is more than meets the eye. One eventually recognizes the contaminating signs of western writing and that some girls are wearing jeans - which is normally not a Middle Eastern fashion. The transposition of the figures into a westernized scenario raises questions as to how immigration affects persons moving from one culture into another. The will and inclination for retaining traditions and customs usually galvanizes such immigrants to congregate into communities. In this manner, they can be more equipped to help each other in adapting to their alien surroundings. This picture can be viewed and interpreted from many different angles. It raises awareness that some immigrants are more capable of integrating into new societal patterns, (the girls in jeans), whilst the surveillance camera on the far left opens up another curious debate on the difficulty when such immigrants are subjected to common place western ‘invasion of privacy’ issues. Such issues must be particularly frightening to people coming from societies which are not usually familiar with such scrutiny. Naturally, the interpretation of such images is very much influenced by the knowledge and perceptive skills of the observer.

Tabrizian, M. (2012) – “Another Country”

Versatile artist Valie Export’s work presents also another study of how a creator can coax and influence viewers by the type of hints and elements included in the image. Export's work engages deeply with the audience due not only to it’s somewhat shock content but also through the obvious omission of a clear narrative, leaving space for the interpretation of the viewer.

Touch and Tap Cinema, (1968) - a typical brave work by Valie Export

Actually, Export’s work attempted to mark and strive to make a shift in the way artists looked at their own bodies. Most of her projects, particularly early on in her career, were basically of a feminist nature and were particularly aimed at provoking social change and reverse prevailing attitudes toward women. Her work can also sometimes be termed as ‘anti-spectacle’ and she bravely and cleverly challenged the expected norms of the time. Her oeuvre is loaded with acts of defiance and protest whilst her activism, (particularly through her performance work, such as In Touch and Tap Cinema, 1968), dealt not only with the relationship of spectator and spectacle, but also with the distance between the two. In this work, the spectator’s gaze and actions are reflected and challenged back through the eyes of the artist, who thus becomes both viewer and viewed.

Jo Spence’s work, even before Cindy Sherman's, also embraced self portraiture but in a more direct and challenging manner. Spence’s strong and much debated work during the 1970’s engaged with both social and deep personal issues. Her outwardly technically unstudied looking work shied away from aesthetic and stereotyped values and concerned itself with exploring identity and exposing societal angles that are usually hidden and avoided. Spence’s work challenges the viewer through awkward questions on topics such as gender, feminism and health. Most of her photographs can be termed as incisive ‘performance pieces’ that tend to evoke an uneasy feeling in the spectator. During her fight with breast cancer, Spence’s own body is depicted fragile, diseased and vulnerable - Spence bared all with her exhibition entitled ‘A Picture of Health.’ In this important work, she seems to clinically document herself through a seemingly out of body experience using ‘photo therapy’ to try and ‘heal’ her emotional crisis brought about by her serious illness. Here, Spence also raised the issue of the patient’s vulnerability and rights.

Export, V. (n.d.)

Researching such poignant work has recently encouraged me to attempt to leave the viewers of my work ample space for interpretation and imagination. I think that the constant exploration of what and how other photographers and artists have created their work is a vital element that can help all artists evolve a wider and more meaningful concept of how they would want to influence their viewers.