KafkasFriend - OCA log: February 2011

Monday, 28 February 2011

Exercise photomontage: Critique

I asked my colleagues for some feedback on the political messages. I had three critics.

1. Fortune teller: all critics told me that it is nice done but they did not understand what is the thing which is so shining? When I told them that it is crystal ball, they told me that it was clear to them. They did not know why Merkel's hand is in touch with the crystal ball and also the briefcase was not visible. So, the political message seemed to them as all the politics are looking into crystal ball for a future which has in hand Kadafi.

After that critique (feedback) I changed the photomontage:

2. Freedom photomontage: As I thought the symbol of America seduced to think that we were at American continent so we tought that a tricolor of freedom in Europe could help here. There was comment why there were only women in the crowd. I let there only women because I think they are representing the world without human rights. We also discussed why the padlock was at the outside not at inside and one thought that it looked as the piper lead people to another world which is also closed (world where are other restrictions). Here is the changed photomontage:

3. Aladin lamp: there was discussion what it meant. One said that it is about who let go the genie out of the lamp. Second told that it would be better to show somehow that Obama wanted the Kadafi genie go back into the lamp because it is time to leave his position in Libya. The third told that maybe the aladin lamp is not right because the genie should carry out orders. Finally I did not make any change at Aladin lamp photmontage because I feel it is good in this way. It make someone to think about it.

Sunday, 27 February 2011

Exercise Photomontage: Aladin Lamp

I made quick attempt about idea with aladdin lamp.

Here ar photographs used in photomontage:

Exercise photomontage: Pied piper

6. I did not like the blue some I changed it on the color from the crowd (I think analogous color) and it was much more better. I put there some words from Europe.

5. The direction "sign EUROPE" was somehow disturbing me. I remember on my last feedback from tutor and I wanted to try explain the place via shouting words of the crowd, so I made some changes. I altered the background to a blue color to match a sky. Finally I extended the crowd as there are articles that millions of the Arabs will want to go to Europe.

4. I thought that sign Nobody is home did not work so I deleted it. I put there a padlock and I think it works well. I added the sign Europe with direction to explain better where we are.

3. I had some problem to express where we are and the sign "nobody is home" represented that the politics did not do nothing just waiting.

2. I add some beach as Europe continent. I cut some head of an Arabian women and stick it on the crowd a made some copies. I put on the Pied piper head of Statue of Liberty to represent a freedom and better life which we have on the west and in USA. I am not sure if the Statue of Liberty is good to use it here because is not from Europe. Finally I add a fence which should pretend us before the illegal immigrants.

1. I started with goggled illustration and photo of the sea, I wanted to show that they are coming from sea to Europe. Whole photomontage should be about an exodus from Africa. Whole Europe fears what happened and what should do with that expected exodus. I wanted to show that politics do not know what to do, so I want to put there some obstacles - wall to protect Europe against illegal immigrants.

Exercise photomontage: Pied piper Mindmaping

Exercise photomontage: Understanding brief and mindmaping

I forgot to put here the initial steps. Because the time is running so fast I used only one mindmap to bring some ideas down on the paper.

Saturday, 26 February 2011

Political Photomontage: finishing

I just put a lens flare to brighten up the composition. It is final version.

Political Photomontage: curtains

The curtains on the both sides are here to support idea that such as meeting is secret thing.

Political Photomontage light off

According to crystal ball which should show what happened next I darkened all photo. I wanted here to make the crystal ball shining.

Political Photomontage I put there a briefcase

The briefcase represent money from EU and USA to remind us that the West and USA was paying a lot of money to the friend Kadafi and other contries in Africa and middle east to maintain a peace and of coarse black oil delivery.

Political Photomontage First ideas and photographs

The Photomontage was build from these photographs:

Tuesday, 22 February 2011

Political photomontage Research - Edna Spennato

Political photomontage Reasearch

Source: http://www.webworldarticles.com/e/a/title/Techniques-of-political-photomontage/

Political photomontage

The technique of photomontage was not widely used again until the Cubists and the Dadaists in the 20th century experimented with introducing sections of photographs and other printed material into their paintings. A Dadaist by the name of John Heartfield further developed this use of photography and is now commonly attributed as the founder of political photomontage.

John Heartfield was influenced by Dadaism and the newly emerging socialism in the Soviet Union. Sergei Tretyakov, a Russian born writer, showed Heartfield how a collection of facts carefully edited could convey a significant message. John Heartfield was already deeply involved with politics and he now saw how the graphic use of assembled photographs, combined with the mass production printing techniques of the time, could reach a wide audience with his political messages.

The techniques that John Heartfield developed in the 1920s and 1930s are still used by contemporary artists such as Klaus Staeck and Peter Kennard. In the 1980s Peter Kennard used photomontage to draw attention to the escalating arms race, his most famous works being associated with the organization CND (the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament). Both artists have found photomontage an ideal medium to communicate social and political injustice to the public in an immediate and effective way. Through photomontage the public are asked to question the media images they see every day, thus raising their visual literacy.

Techniques of political photomontage

Text: Text included with most photomontages sets out to reinforce the message of the photographer or artist. The words can remove any possible ambiguity that the viewer may find, draw the attention to the conflict in the images or contradict the images entirely, thus establishing a satirical approach to the work.

Recognizing the familiar: The viewer is meant to recognize familiar images, paintings, photographs, advertising campaigns, etc. that the photomontage is based upon. The viewer is drawn to the differences from the original and the new meanings supplied by the changed information. This technique is often used in contemporary photomontage works. The technique is to make the familiar unfamiliar, e.g. ‘Cruise Missiles’ Peter Kennard, ‘Mona Lisa’ Klaus Staeck.

Contradiction: In many photomontages we see images that contradict each other. Introduced parts of the photomontage may be inconsistent with what we would normally expect to see happening in the image, thus questioning the original point of view. The contradiction can also be between what we see is happening and the text. Our curiosity to establish a coherent meaning in both cases is raised.

Contrast: To gain our attention individual components of the photomontage may be in sharp contrast to each other, e.g. wealth and extreme poverty, tranquillity and violence, happiness and sadness, industrialization and the countryside, filth and cleanliness, etc. Seeing through the lies: Many photomontages invite the viewer to look behind the surface or see through something to gain greater insight into the truth. Windows that open out to a different view, X-ray photographs that reveal a contradiction are all popular techniques.

Exaggeration of scale: By altering the scale of components of the photomontage the artist can exaggerate a point, e.g. a photomontage entitled ‘Big Business’ may include giant, cigar smoking, industrialists crushing smaller individuals under their feet.

Figures of speech: A very popular technique of the photomontage artist is to visualize figures of speech, e.g. puppet on a string, playing with fire, house of cards, etc. The artist may play upon the viewer’s acceptance of these as truth or use them as a contradiction in terms, e.g. ‘The camera never lies’.