ABSENSE AND PRESENCE IN ART Name: Amy Claxton Course: BA Hons Fine Art Supervisor: Silke Panse The University for the Creative Arts, Canterbury Word Count: 2014
AMY CLAXTON
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Table of Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 - 3 Chapter One: John Stezaker - Portraits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 - 7 Chapter Two: Annagret Soltau - Father Search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 - 10 Chapter Three: Cindy Sherman - Film Stills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 - 13 Chapter Four: Sophie Calle - Take Care Of Yourself . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14- 17 Chapter Five: Abandoned Places . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 - 22 Chapter Six: Jane Dorn - Empirical Evidence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 - 25 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 - 28 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 - 32 Illustrations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 - 34
AMY CLAXTON
ABSENSE AND PRESENCE IN ART
AMY CLAXTON
ABSENSE AND PRESENCE IN ART
Introduction
Let me talk deeply, personally, with where I first came face to face with the presence of absence. My father died in 1990. The first Friday night , we sat down to dinner.... My fathers chair was empty. We literally couldn’t eat until my mother said, “You sit in your father’s chair.” Because my father’s absence loomed larger than anybody present. (Shabi, 2014) Everyone has experienced absence in their lives or if they haven’t, they will. We will all lose a loved one, a pet, a job, we will experience absence of health, of money, of love, of time, of freedom. Absence is seen everywhere and felt everywhere we go and in everything we do. Some absences can not be forgotten or let go off, they will follow us and effect every aspect of our lives. Presence however is less noticed, perhaps over looked because we as humans tend not to appreciate what we have until it is gone. They say people learn from their mistakes and the reason for this is because we dwell on the past rather than looking to the future, but in actuality past embodies absence. The past is about what has already happened and what has been and gone where as the future is about what will exist or what already exists. We pay most attention to the absence and the past because it holds something to fear or to aspire towards happening again, we miss it and we hope it to happen or in a lot of cases to never happen again. We do not always know what we have, we take our families for granted and just expect things to happen for us, jobs to come along but when they don’t is when we take notice. When researching began for this topic the focus was on absence. It began with wanting to explore the way absence was used and portrayed within different artistic practice and how different artists used absence to create art, but what soon came to realization was that where absence was found there was also presence. Then arose the question whether it was even possible for absence to exist without presence because it was such a difficulty finding an example of only one in use. In previous studio practice I have worked with absence but never realized that presence was also present and I AMY CLAXTON
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now see this presence in everything I did and do. I find it very engaging that I had not noticed the presence when I was the one creating it so this made me wonder whether other artists knew what they were creating when they created it or whether this presence was just something the viewers could see. Through even a small amount of preparatory research for this dissertation, the initial thought is that absence can not exist without presence and vice verser. Absence is a very noticeable in art because the artist has purposely not included something which would often or always be there otherwise, where as the presence is not noted as highly because an artist can create anything they want so the presence of something is just another thing the artist has included. As mentioned previously, we as humans take what we have for granted but when it is taken away the thing becomes much more apparent and is missed much more highly which is why absence is more noticeable than presence and the reason why initially the presence was not seen at all, yet the absence was glaringly obvious. The initial hypothesis is that absence can not exist without presence and presence can not exist without absence. This dissertation will use the layout of a chapter per artist or art form and in each chapter will work though the works, deciphering how they were created, the concepts behind them, the artists thoughts and feelings; it will find the absence in the works then will decide whether presence also exists along side it. The best way to get a fair conclusion would be to use artists and art forms which are not otherwise related, who’s only relationship is the absence within them. By using very different subjects we will get a broader idea of whether presence and absence are always found together. The topics chosen within this dissertation are those that can be personally related to inspirations I have used in my own work and generally things which intrigue me. I would also like to have a focus on collage and photography in the chosen subjects as they are very different and because they are two areas which I personally like to take inspiration from. The intention is that by researching and discovering the truth behind this dissertation a very interesting subject can be explored which will be benificial to future artist practice. The artists, art forms and series which have been chosen to be explored are John Stezaker’s portraits, Abandoned Places, Jane Dorn’s Empirical Evidence series, Cindy Sherman’s film stills, Annaget Soltau’s Father Search series and lastly Sophie Calle’s Take Care Of yourself work. This is a varied combination of artists from different times, backgrounds and also artists and art forms which are all greatly exciting as a subject. This dissertation will unravel the depth of these subjects works and find the pairing of absence AMY CLAXTON
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and presence or in some cases the absence of a pairing which will either prove or disprove the initial hypothesis. The subjects chosen will provide a both fair but also varied field of examples which will provide the most accurate of answers.
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Chapter One: John Stezaker - Portraits
John Stezaker is an influential British Conceptual Artist who mainly produced work during the 70”s, this chapter will explore the meanings behind Stezaker’s work, his use of materials and subjects, find out where the absence resides and whether presence is also to be found. Stezaker’s works use the lure of imagery. He takes existing materials and images to make collages which give old images new meaning, a new lease of life. Stezaker creates new works out of the old by “adjusting, inverting and slicing separate pictures together to create unique new works of art” (Author Unknown, 2011). Stezaker’s works all have the similar basis of creating the effect of the uncanny, they remove or hide a face in most cases which shows absence, the absence of the face but then this absence is covered over by another image which fills this absence and creates a new presence within the image. The original image still exists but the whole feeling which surrounds it is transformed into something new, something eerily beautiful. “He has been compiling amateur photographs, postcards, old magazines, all sorts of books, and stills from film encyclopedias for decades” (Stuhmer, 2011) This idea that the artist has been collecting these materials enforced the absence with in the work. These photographs, postcards and other materials are not personal to the artist, Stezaker has an absence in these materials because the photos are not of himself or people he knows, the postcards have not been sent to him from the holidays of people he knows, they are not books or magazines he is in or has read, they are secondhand. As far as he knows they are more than secondhand, they could have been in the hands of countless others who he cannot name. However, it is not only absence which is found, the presence of a past is also made known, although to Stezaker the items are not personal; they are personal to someone and their presence is very much felt within the materials. AMY CLAXTON
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John Stezaker “has stated that the effects of the photographic image on both the personal and collective psyche are central to his artistic intention. The physicality of the yellowing, scuffed, and scratched photographic objects are both part of the magic of a remembered past and a present moment of visual decay” (Stuhmer, 2011) All of these aspects are vital in creating the feeling the works display and to capture why the works have captivated viewers in such a way. They embody memories and history, the past of what the materials once were and who they were important to and they present of the decay, the aging of the materials but also the materials show how they have changed in the present. The clothing worn by the subjects in the photographs and the magazines, the styles of writing and every other aspect adds to the line between the past and present because of how different those materials are made in present publications and photographs. Stezaker’s most used technique is the visual relationship between two images placed one on top of the other. The larger image on the bottom and a smaller image perfectly placed on top which usually lines up with the bottom image in a confidently placed way, this create a distinctive anomaly causing the viewers mind to see them as one image, a third image. This third image is now very present but the first and second image become absent, they are no longer single images, they are this new third image. These methods can be seen in (See Fig. 1.) and (See Fig. 2.), they are both from Stezaker’s “Mask” collection and are the images which speak the most. The partnership between nature and the human face are fascinating, two things so very different just both natural forms which fit perfectly together; before experiencing theses images viewers would not have ever imagined two cliffe faces for instance fitting so well with the profiles of two faces. Through out our life times we all long for the past to become present, we miss lost family members, we remember holidays and good times we’ve had, we reminisce about being young and carefree, we are always holding onto something which is in the past and we search to regain those things elsewhere; such as in music, film, artwork and so on. Stezaker’s work plays with the line between reality and our perception colliding, these images play with our minds, they feel like a hallucinatory full image despite knowing that in fact they are not. These images most obviously show absence of the persons faces or parts of the faces but the most important aspect within these works is the overwhelming presence, the presence of the way the layered images fit so well with the image of the person, the presence of history within the old photos and way the materials are aged and worn. Figure One (See Fig. 1.) clearly shows a layered image but the way the rocks within the image perfectly resemble this mans possible facial features is so well placed. The feeling of the uncanny is very present and it is easy to forget that the image is not a whole image. AMY CLAXTON
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In Figure 2 (See Fig.2.) the two subjects are assumably staring lovingly into each others eyes but the parts of the face which would hold their expressions are covered with two cliffe face. Like Figure 1 (See Fig.1.) the layered image imitates what is underneath; the shape of the human face is present in the rock face but what is absent is the facial expression that once showed. We as viewers feel a disconnection with the people now because we can no longer tell how they feel or look because we can not see it due to the obstructing rock faces. “Without irony or cheekiness, Stezaker also includes several found photographs unaltered, which are so uncanny they appear to be Stezaker collages” (Stuhmer, 2011)
Fig. 1. The Mask Series (2007)
Fig. 2. The Mask Series (2007)
Fig. 3. Underworld XII (1990) In Stezaker’s exhibitions he often included photographs which he has not tampered with, he used photographs which are anomalies, photos which naturally have a hybrid look about them much in the way that Stezaker’s works look like a hybrid creation. These images are so akin to Stezakers own work that when being looked at in an exhibition the viewer has to search for the absence of Stezaker’s noticeable cutting into the images. It is as though Stezaker is making a point of saying that his AMY CLAXTON
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images are as real as the untampered images, reinforcing that fact that his images become one image, one new image and that they replace the previous ones. “Underworld XII” (See Fig. 3.) looks like a tampered image but in reality it is just a photograph taken at an angle which is deceiving, it is still very much a real image despite these attributes. Stezaker wants you to believe that his works are just photographs taken at a deceiving angle, he wants us to believe in what the images show. Believe in the presence of this new third image. The intention of this chapter was to delve into the works of John Stezaker and see whether along side absence, presence also exists. With great confidence it can be concluded, yes they do. On first inspection Stekazer’s work shows absence, they all show the absence of a face or parts of a face which make you think of absence of personality, of a sense of self but when dissected as thoroughly as within this chapter, we find presence; more so presence than absence. Stezaker’s works all base on the presence of a figure, a person, then they build layers of other scenes or other figures to create a third image. The viewer is then left with a new image, which creates a whole new presence that was not there in the original materials, Stezaker uses the technique of collage to manipulate the mind using hallucinatory, uncanny, dream like presence; all these layers makes the works what they are. The presence of the decaying, yellowing paper, the faces, the landscapes and scenes, this new third images completely over shadow the absence that once was felt. Despite this, the absence is still there but so is the overwhelming presence, absence and presence co exist in Stezaker’s work; more than co exist, they compliment each other and one cannot exist without the other.
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Chapter Two: Annagret Soltau - Father Search
Annagret Soltau is a feminist collage artist, she uses various documents, photographs and sewing methods in her work. This chapter will be focusing on her series of works called ‘Father Search’ this series Soltau uses documents which have accumulated from a long “...fruitless search for my missing father” (Soltau, 2007), Soltau’s father was a Wehrmacht soldier who never returned from war, Soltau contacted various agencies and agencies contacted her in an attempt to find out what happened to her father and give Soltau and her family peace in knowing her fathers whereabouts. She received multiple formal letters none of which were able to answer her questions and none of which were able to fill the empty space she had for her father, these letters became apart of her; they became apart of her everyday life and they influenced everything about her. In Soltau’s ‘Father Search’ series she shows the absence being filled by using these letters as a part of her self portrait, she uses a photograph of herself and cuts away a part of her, usually her face and replaces it with these letters. These letters act as a way of filling absence by physically doing so but also by emitting a new presence of her father which would otherwise be unknown, she physically stitches him to her so that they become one.
Fig .7. Vatersuche (2007) AMY CLAXTON
Fig . 8. Vatersuche (2003)
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The first absence noticed when looking at Soltau’s work is of course the absence of her face and the presence is that of the letters and documents which replace it but these works are much more than that, they are anything but simple. They are very personal to the artist due to the use of Soltau’s own face and also because the letters are regarding her missing father, they are both extremely personal subjects which are explored so openly. There are three visual aspects present in these works, Soltau’s self portrait, the letters and the thread which has been used to stitched the two pieces into one, the thread and the motion of stitching is also a very personal presence in the work. Soltau has said “I was not allowed to read or do the things I liked. I was always told, no, you have to knit.” (Soltau, 2007) The thread has been a constant in her childhood, she was made to knit and do other hand crafts while her father was away, presumably to keep her busy but also under control.
Fig .9. Vatersuche (2007)
Fig .10. Vatersuche (2003)
“The thread became her hallmark has it’s origins in a deep ambivalence...It is a love-hate relationship, there is so much negative energy in this thread, because you were forced to do handicrafts during your childhood and adolescence,” (Von Zitzewitz, 2012) This is a quote taken from an interview with Soltau herself, Von Zitzewitz has explained and deciphered why the thread has become a hallmark within Soltau’s work; she explains that the thread links to her childhood and it stands as a symbol of her past, a symbol of her childhood. The act of knitting was a way to hold herself together in hard times, it was something her family used to control a young Annegret. In Soltau’s work the thread does the same job, it holds her together. It combines her with the search for her father, they become one, much like they always have been but in a more physical form. Figure 7 (See Fig .7.) shows Soltau’s head and shoulders, her face is cut away and replaced with another letter telling Soltau that they had no information for her. The shape of the cut out made is carefully cut to be sure that all the information on the letter can still be read, in addition to this there is also a photograph of her father sewn to her chest. This work speaks the loudest out of the AMY CLAXTON
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whole ‘Father Search’ series because although the whole set up is the same as all the other pieces in the series, this particular piece has the added addition of the photograph of her father. This photograph is carefully placed over her chest, the reason it is on her chest as opposed to her heart is due to the emptiness, the aching feeling in her chest at the loss of her father. Soltau’s work in my opinion expresses that she knows that her father is dead but this “empty white space” (Soltau, 2007) can not be filled again until she knows for sure what his fate was but until then this space will be filled with the presence of the search, the actions of finding him. Soltau’s work is so touching and personal because she is the subject, any artist can use other peoples experiences to make art but it is a very brave thing to use something so personal to yourself and reflect it so graphically in your art work such as Soltau does. An aspect that is so very personal is that she has used the original letters she had received regarding her father. This aspect only enhances the presence of her father, it enhances how deeply she feels for him and how deeply she wants to make sense of the loss she feels. It is final and she can never use those letters again, those letters which once caused her such pain are now changed into an outlet for Soltau’s emotions. The letters are used as a cover-up of sorts, the letters fill the absence of her father with the presence of trying to find him so by using the original materials Soltau is making her feelings when she received those letters, public in her work. Soltau’s work and this series in particular are the perfect combination of both absence and presence, one is no larger felt that the other and they definitely cannot exist without each other. The work is about expressing loss and heartache but using every resource to try and make sense of those feelings and create something worthwhile with the pain Soltau feels for here fathers absence but also how comforted she is with the presence she is creating.
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Chapter Three: Cindy Sherman - Film Stills
“Regarding it not as a slice of life but rather as something artificial, a fabricated visual creation.” (Moorhouse, 2014:26) Untitled Film Stills is a series of works by artist and photographer Cindy Sherman, Sherman began the series upon moving to New York in 1977. These film stills are actually not film stills at all but “a fabricated visual creation” (Moorhouse, 2014:28) created by Sherman through photography but also through her use of herself as the model or actress in the images. She sets the scene of her photograph to look as though it is taken from a film from the 1940’s and 1950’s, she does this by using expressions, scenery, costume and by the impressions given. She has stated that “none of the characters she invented was planned. They developed naturally from the costumes available and the locations that presented themselves.” (Moorhouse, 2014:28) This statement is the first connection with the works and the notion of absence. She is already admitting to an absence because these objects seen within her work have no meaning, they were not sought out for the part, they were not chosen too specifically but because they were available. This is absence in itself because it is an absence of thought, of reason. Any items could have been used and although these differences may have had a changing effect on the final photograph, they could have been changed and still the photograph would have been taken and Sherman would have still created the effect she had intended but by making use of different props. Such as in Figure 15 (See Fig .15.) if say, the hat Sherman is wearing was a different hat, then the hat would be different but Sherman’s expression would still read the same way and the image would ultimately still be the same. Sherman has made focus on the way the image is portrayed rather than the reason behind each prop. Absence is initially thought of as something physical being missing or a feeling of absence but in this case it is an absence of a background, absence of real story or substance within the photographs. ABSENSE AND PRESENCE IN ART
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Even if they were real film stills which are from films so are not real life, they have no real story but they still tell the story that the film would have told. Although not things that have happened in the real world, a film still shows a story which is present in a made up world where as Sherman’s stills are not from films or from real life so they only represent the notion of a story or a background when in fact, there is not one at all.
Fig .15. Untitled Film Still: 15 (2014)
Sherman is creating an illusion with her work, the illusion that there is a tale to tell, some kind of background to the character. She purposely gives the impression that the character is not Sherman herself but a character in a movie, a character with a life and who is completing a task within the image or expressing an emotion when in actuality there is no narrative behind the pose. There is a complete absence of narrative in the images but a higher looming presence of the narrative we can see although it does not exist.
Fig .16. Untitled Film Still: 13(2014)
“Is she perhaps lying to avoid detection as the surreptitiously removed the book? Her motives are unclear and the suspicion of theft may be an injustice. But there is something about the set piece AMY CLAXTON
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that suggests an individual caught unaware, as if significance of which is uncertain,� (Moorhouse, 2014:26) Figure 16 (See Fig .16.) shows Sherman dressed in a simple white outfit which makes her look quite innocent but also rather attractive. She is reaching up a bookshelf and grasping a book while she looks inquisitively over her shoulder. She looks as though she is looking up at someone, supposedly a love interest but as explained in the quote by Moorhouse regarding the photograph, he thinks that it looks as though she may be stealing the book and looking over her shoulder to avoid being caught. These narrative are all fabricated. They are not real, we cannot watch the film and know why the character is doing what she is doing because it is not from a film, it is not a still at all. The viewer may speculate at the motives but will never know for sure as in reality nothing is happening at all. There is a complete absence of narrative despite a presence of speculation surrounding the character who is in fact not a character at all but an artist making the viewer believe so. After analyzing even a small selection of Sherman’s work it is made very clear that absence and presence are indeed both represented in her work. Presence is represented in the narratives the viewers are made to see and speculate, the narratives the viewers construct in there own minds. Absence however, is represented in the factual absence of this narrative, Sherman is creating this narrative with props, surroundings and expressions but in actuality Sherman is deceiving us. Sherman is deceiving us not in a malicious way but because she is creating a world which does not exist, this is the absence within the work and this has the largest presence of all.
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Chapter Four: Sophie Calle - Take Care Of Yourself
“I received an email telling me it was over. I didn’t know how to respond. It was almost as if it hadn’t been meant for me. It ended with the words. Take care of yourself. And so I did. I asked 107 women (including two made from wood and one with feathers), chosen for their profession or skills, to interpret this letter. To analyze it, comment on it, dance it, sing it. Dissect it. Exhaust it. Understand it for me. It was a way of taking the time to break up a way of taking care of myself. “ (Calle, 2007:1) Take Care Of Yourself is a series of work by Sophie Calle, this series consists of 107 women from different professions expressing an email Calle received from a man ending his relationship with her, these women were each given the email and asked to express it not in a way to make Calle feel better about the situation but professionally based on the women’s own careers. This included a romance writer who has written a short story using the words of the letter (See Fig .17), an actress who has acted out her reading the letter (See Fig .18.) and even a parrot holding the letter (See Fig .19.) This letter can be found on the last page of this chapter, for reference. The selection of women is a very broad one, there is a women from almost any fathomable profession which is used to show how this letter would have effected different women but all in all, still women and still they would have been hurt by the letters content no matter who the women is. It shows a connection between women, a desire to console, understand and protect other women from the hurt a man can cause. Absence is first seen in the email itself, the man who is ending his relationship with Calle has chosen to do so in an email. In many opinions, an email is one of the most heartless and cowardice way to end a relationship. It allows no room for argument, to ask questions or for the injured party to AMY CLAXTON
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Fig .17. Brenda (2014)
Fig .18. Dinara Droukarova (2014)
Fig .19. Anne and Marine Rambach (2014)
have any input at all; it is a very blunt method. It is absence of thought or feeling so in term the reader (Calle) would feel absent of closure in the breakup. Calle furthers the absence by... “...handing over all the problems and questions to the viewer - and thereby, closing the loop, back to life itself - to find the answers.� (Kaernbach, 2013) Being that the email was so abrupt and impersonal, Calle would have felt rather disconnected from the breakup. Passing on the email to other women to interpret causes Calle to be further absent from the work, further absent from the breakup but in doing this the presence of these other women and AMY CLAXTON
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other ways of interpreting the email become the new layer in the work. Presence is the overall layer because Calle has passed all her feelings over the a second party to understand in a new way that maybe Calle could not do herself. Calle is leaning on these other women for support and for help getting over her lost love, help not over thinking the words of the email but instead just accepting what the letter is and moving on. The presence of these other women replaces the hole where Calle’s feelings for the email should be, she has removed herself from the grieving process. But in turn, removing herself has actually enabled her to sit at the sidelines while the other women take care of themselves, in doing this she is given the freedom to do the same. Much like a women would talk to female friends after a breakup and ask advice, opinion and seek comfort. These 107 women are doing the same thing for Calle, they are her support. They are her presence when she herself felt absent in the decision and in the email itself. This is a very different balance that what has been explored in the previous chapters, the presence balances out the absence in order to make a perfect level in which the injured party is able to thrive and take care of herself as instructed in the email. The “Take Care Of Yourself � (Calle, 2014) series was born of absence but ultimately presence is what defines it. The presence of all 107 women fill this absence Calle felt, she handed over her absence to these women and they supported her and expressed themselves through the email and through themselves which gave presence back to Calle. It is a full circle completed.
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Fig .20. Sophie Calle (2014)
The Email Sophie, “I have been meaning to write and reply to your last email for a while. At the same time, I thought it would be better to talk to you and tell you what I have to say out loud. Still, at least it will be written. As you have noticed, I have not been quite right recently. As if I no longer recognised myself in my own existence. A terrible feeling of anxiety, which I cannot really fight, other than keeping on going to try and overtake it, as I always have done. When we met you laid down one condition : not to become the “fourth.” I stood by that promise : it has been months now since I have seen the “others”, because I obviously could find no way of seeing them without making you one of them. I thought that would be enough, I thought that loving you and your love would be enough so that this anxiety - which constantly drives me to look further afield and which means I will never feel quiet and at rest or probably even just happy or “generous” - would be calmed when I was with you, with the certainty that the love you have for me was the best for me, the best I have ever had, you know that. I thought that my writing would be a remedy, that my “disquiet” would dissolve into it so that I could find you. But no. In fact it even became worse, I cannot even tell you the sort of state I feel I am in. So I started calling the “others” again this week. And I know what that means to me and the cycle that it will drag me into. I have never lied to you and I do not intend to start lying now. There was another rule that you laid down at the beginning of our affair : the day we stopped being lovers you would no longer be able to envisage seeing me”. You know this constraint can only ever strike me as disasterous, and unjust (when you still see B and R...) and understandable (obviously...) ; so i can never become your friend. But now you can gauge how significunt my decision is from the fact that I am prepared to bend to your will, even though there are so many things - not seeing you or talking to you or catching the way you look at people and things, and your gentlemess towards me - that I will miss terribly. Whatever happens, remember that I will always love you in the same way, my own way, I have ever since I first met you ; that it will carry on within me and, I am sure, will never die. But it would be the worst kind of masquerade to prolong a situation now when, you know as well as I do, it has become irreparable by the standards of the very love I have for you and you have for me, a love which is now forcing me to be so frank with you, as final proof of what happened between us and will always be unique. I would have liked things to have turned out differently. Take care of yourself.” G. AMY CLAXTON
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Chapter Five: Abandoned Places
Abandoned Places are an area of great interest because they have a way of developing a haunting feeling in otherwise what was a normal everyday place, a home, a business a life. Almost everything in this world has been touched by humans, we have interrupted, adapted and taken ownership, we have made it our mission to understand every inch of what is around us. Abandoned Places are different to places we see everyday, they were once touched by humans, once a place that humans built, interacted with but have for one reason or another been abandoned and left for the world to take back. Nature has overgrown them and deteriorated what was once there and slowly but surely is returning the place to the way it was before humans changed it. This is a beautiful thing, to witness a step back, the absence of human life which has allowed the world around us to reclaim the land and decay it until potentially it will eventually become just land once more. “This encounter between the living and dead is the source of the stories that we tell to make sense of being alive, and to be that explorer at that moment is to be given back the power to tell those stories yourself.� (Potter, 2011:1)
Fig .11. Beauty In Decay (2011) AMY CLAXTON
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Beauty In Decay is a book which is mostly a collection of photographs of abandoned and decaying places, the above quote by Patrick Potter opens the book to the reader and it is so apt to describe the whole genre of photography that Beauty In Decay explores. The section “living and dead” from the quote, is the living representing when the place was thriving with human life and the dead representing the rot and decay that has occurred now that the life is gone from the place. The line between it being in use and being abandoned. Death is something all humans fear in some way whether it be dying without having achieved anything, leaving people behind or the pain of death itself. Ultimately it is the end, the end of existence and life as a whole so this quote is saying that in order to feel alive we need something to fear and overcome in some cases. The memories and stories of those who have passed make others feel more alive because they have the one thing the dead can never have again, life. It is a very bold statement to say that we need death, we need the bad things to happen to make the good things more real. The abandoned places have the same effect, seeing one of these places makes the viewer feel uneasy because they do not know what happened there or it’s history; the place becomes a big mystery and we as humans have a natural desire to understand it. It is human nature to be curious but curiosity can also be very frightening, it leaves the viewer feeling helpless and completely in the dark. This is why these images and places are so interesting, trying to figure out what happened there and why, how long it has been abandoned and who else has been there since it was abandoned. Decay is beautiful and mysterious, it has secrets of presence but absence will always be present because of the lack of human life and lack of answers. The presence of what once was and the new life that is overgrowing the place is just as real and looming as the absence. Making abandoned places the embodiment of both. “Do we seek to re-create the dangers that, on some deep level, we secretly miss?” (Potter, 2011:130) Our everyday lives can become mundane with order and commitments, we humans have to follow a set of rules everyday such as the law but also the rules which we and others set ourselves. We go to work everyday, earn a living and sometimes... “we get to feeling like robots, we get to feeling like mice on a treadmill.” (Potter, 2011:130) ...which is when we come to need a release, something to make us feel alive again. This is where abandoned places in my opinion lend, they are places in which these stresses no longer exist, they used to but no longer do. People can become enveloped in the place or in a photograph of the place, the mind is allowed complete freedom to explore every AMY CLAXTON
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depth of the place and conclude anything the mind desires. Particularly interesting examples are Abandoned Theme parks, they are an... “eerie glimpse into a world without humans. Their dark walls inspire a sense of wonder like I’ve never felt before.” (Happner, 2012) Theme parks are a place of happiness and thrills. They are place which people treat themselves and there families too as an escape from life. A trip to the theme park is a treat that can be enjoyed by an array of different types of people, they are a place to go to let go of lives struggles and have a good time. It is also a place where a person can be a child again, eat ice cream, buy a balloon and go on a children’s ride and feel no shame, be able to let go of the responsibilities which hold them down on a daily basis. Some examples of abandoned theme parks are...
Holy Land USA - Waterbury, Connecticut
Figure .12. Holy Land (2000)
Figure .13. Holy Land II (2000)
Holy Land was a theme park which was at its peak in the 1960’s and 70’s, situated in Waterbury, Connectiut, USA. At the parks peak it attracted roughly 40,000 guests annually, the park finally AMY CLAXTON
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closed its gates in 1984. The attraction was based on stories and characters from the bible which is why it was so popular because... “in the 1960’s and early 1970’s religion has remained as vibrant and vital a part of American society.” (Beckman, 2000) Due to religion being so vibrant at the time the theme park flourished but by the 80’s when religion was starting to be questioned and those who followed religion were in decline, the theme parks customers reduced and eventually the park had to close. This fact makes this park both mesmerizing because of its aesthetics but it is also a point of history in the way religion changed over those centuries and the fact that this park was never redeveloped only enforced the decline of religion in the area even more as still to this day there is no call for the park to be opened. The park shows most clearly an absence of religion that once flourished and the people who once celebrated belief at the park, there is absence of life and development but there is also an overwhelming presence of religion, you cannot see past the looming presence of what once was and what will never be again.
Six Flags Jazzland - New Orleans, Louisiana “The carousel has not turned for the nearly ten years, the still ferris wheel creaks in the wind and the roller coasters are slowly reclaimed by nature as ivy snakes its way up the eroding supports.” (Robinson, 2014) Before 2005, Six Flags was a thriving theme park alive with happy children and thrill seekers until Hurricane Katrina hit the country and submerged the park under seven foot of flooding. The park has been closed ever since, no efforts to clear the flood water were made because the damage was so severe. Much like Holy Land being a memory of a reclining religion, Six Flags is a memory of a huge natural disaster and embodies how awful a disaster as such can be. The theme park is 140- acres in size so for something so huge to be brought to a close due to a hurricane, it is scary to think about all the smaller places and families that were effected. The park has a massive presence of this, it embodies the disaster, everyone and everything that was lost. The park was once filled with voices, screams of delight, happy families, you can not help but wonder which of those people died in the hurricane or lost homes. The presence far outweighs the absence here but absence is still an enormous presence in the lack of people, lack of life and everything that once existed being overcome with nature, the water damage and the decay. ‘The park is hauntingly surreal - normally an amusement park is very noisy.” (Luckhardt, 2014) Luckhardt is a photographer who spent three days at the park photographing the decay, he notes how quiet it is there now and that this is a surprise because you never would imagine a theme park AMY CLAXTON
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to be quiet. It is one of not many places that is always noisy with voices and the sound of rides. With this absence the whole feeling the park evokes is changed into something eery and depressing, completely different to the parks original purpose.
Figure .14. Six Flags, New Orleans (2005)
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Chapter Six: Jane Dorn - Empirical Evidence
“Looking is benign. Seeing has teeth and comes with consequences. You see it, you own it. Sometimes it owns you.” (Dorn, Unknown) Following on from Abandoned Places, Jane Dorn is a photographer who uses abandoned places as the subject in her work. The series this chapter looks at is called “Empirical Evidence”. This collection of images capture a mesmerizing stage in time which shows absence and presence using nature and place. Dorn photographed abandoned houses, schools, churches which stand as “A poignant reminder of our impermanence and the beauty of accepting life’s cycles of growth and decay” (Popova, Unknown). These places firstly show absence, you can see and feel the absence of human life but the most overwhelming feeling is that of what once was, the people who once roamed the halls of the school in Figure 4 (See Fig .4.), the person who once wore the shoe in Figure 5 (See Fig .5.) and the person who once sat in the chair in Figure 6 (See Fig .6.) but what becomes extremely clear very quickly is the presence within the imagery. Presence does not have to be a physical being which is exactly what is occurring within Dorn’s work, the absence of people actually enhanced the presence those people have. These images cause the viewer to wonder who those people were, what made a person leave a shoe behind and why is the chair facing looking out a window, did someone sit there and stare out at the distance and what did they think about? Who were they? “...the awareness that life’s beauty comes from accepting imperfection and welcoming the natural cycles of growth and decay.” (Popova, Unknown). Another presence felt and seen is beauty, the beauty in the decay of the places. In the time since the places or things were abandoned nature has taken over, seasons have changed and brought decay with it, the rain has withered the structures AMY CLAXTON
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and rusted the metal, plants and wildlife have over grown, walls have crumbled and everything has been left to change as nature had intended. In a way these ideas and the way the places now look can be frightening, look like a scene from a horror movie and the thought of the unknown can be very unnerving which may be the first thing that a viewer would feel but when closer inspected you see beauty. The quote at the beginning of this paragraph explains exactly what is shown in Dorn’s photographs, life is all about accepting imperfections and living side by side with nature because we have no other choice, we have to accept the growth and decay of the world around us because it will happen regardless. We can keep it at bay but eventually human life will move on and decay will take over once more, nature and decay are essentially the same thing; nature occurs much like human life does but decay occurs surrounding nature and human life. Decay needs to be triggered but it is still apart of nature and life and that is what makes it beautiful.
Fig .4. Empirical Evidence: Over The River (Unknown)
Fig .5. Empirical Evidence: Over The River (Unknown)
Figure .6. Empirical Evidence: Over The River (Unknown) AMY CLAXTON
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Beauty is represented in a multitude of ways, it can be visual or it can be a feeling of beauty. Figure 4 (See Fig .4.) shows the doors of a mens toilet and a women’s toilet inside a school, the doors are closed, the walls are covered in moss and mould and other decays from uncountable years of neglect and natures encroach on the space The signs on the doors which read ‘WOMEN’ and ‘MEN’ are the only detail on the doors. These small details once separated the sexes, the other sex could not enter through those doors but now that natural have taken over these signs mean nothing. They will not stop who enters through the doors because if someone were to enter they would not find another person on the other side; just more decay and items left behind. This is a beautiful thing, something that society once required is now useless and meaningless, every image will conjure up a different memory or thought in everyone; our minds try to fill the absence in the photographs. This also shows presence, presence is very much there but it may be a difference presence to different people. Each absence is open to interpretation of what story it could tell or was once told and all of these absences is accompanied by an even larger presence meaning yes, both are present in Jane Dorn’s work.
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Conclusion
The aim of this dissertation was to find out whether absence and presence within artist practice always appeared together, or whether they could be present separately in different contexts. This question has been answered and this conclusion will endeavor to explain why. The first artist explored was John Stezaker’s portraits. The portraits initially show absence, absence of a full person, a complete face, the absence of the two original images but presence is then at play by creating a new third image from the remanence of the original two. Absence is the basis of Stezaker’s work but the end result is the presence of a new image created from many others which work in such harmony that a viewer could think the third image was the original all along. This analysis and many others as discussed in Chapter One prove that, yes, absence and presence do coexist in Stezaker’s work and do not in any instance exist alone. Stezaker’s work leads onto the work of Annagret Soltau, her work is very similar to Stezaker’s because they both work with portraits but also due to the presence of this third image and the collage techniques used. Soltau uses her own face combined with the letters and documentation involved with her fathers disappearance, the absence within is that of her father and the absence of her knowledge regarding her fathers disappearance. Soltau’s actions to understand her feelings for her fathers disappearance show the presence in the work, although her father is absent his presence looms larger due to Solau’s desire to know what happened to him. Although presence in my opinion has the largest existence, absence is the basis of the work in the first instance so both absence and presence do both exist together within the work. Leaving behind collage but keeping with the theme of portrait and using ones self in the work. Much like Soltau using her images of her own face in her work, Sherman uses herself as the main AMY CLAXTON
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subject of her photographic film stills. The film stills are not from films at all, this is the main instance of absence. Sherman gives the impression that her works are stills from a film and that there are narratives at play in the images but in actual fact nothing is happening in the image or at play because the situation is entirely fabricated by Sherman. The absence is this fabrication created, the presence however is what the mind of the viewer creates. The stills cause the viewer to wonder what could be happening when in actuality nothing is happening at all. Therefore, both presence and absence are both exist. Sophie Calle’s Take Care Of Yourself series also uses the artists self. Unlike Soltau, does not capture herself physically but uses her work to portray an emotional event of absence, she uses an email from an ex boyfriend ending their relationship to create work by asking other women to interpret the email in there own ways, using the different women’s professions to influence the style in which they interpret. She does this as a way of taking care of herself, so for this reason the work reflects presence because she is using her own experiences and her own private issues with a man she was in a relationship with but the work is also making Calle herself very absent because she is passing on her grief to other women. She takes herself out of the situation and allows other women to fill her absence and give a new perspective on the email. Her work is a perfect example of presence and absence working together rather beautifully, the absence and the presence lean on each other for support and work together to create the end result, Calle being able to “Take Care Of Yourself ” (Calle, 2014) The next area of interest is Abandoned Places, the initial draw is to the aesthetics of the places but on exploring them further it is found that there is much more the places have to say. Abandoned Places are full of absence in that they are absent of human life, absent of being used in the way they were originally intended. Initially it was thought it may be possible that presence did not also exist but what was found instead is that it most definitely does. This chapter came to find that presence was in the new life that begins to grow in absence of human activity, the way the earth reclaims what once belonged to it. Becoming over grown with plants and wild life is the presence that can be seen but there is also an invisible presence of what once was. What once occurred in those places to make them abandoned and the people who once inhabited the places provides a looming presence much larger than the absence, yet both do exist. The next topic explored was the artist Jane Dorn, Dorn creates beautifully haunting photography of abandoned places and objects. The absence and presence occurs much like explained in the previous paragraph but Dorn’s photographs have a more personal feeling because they are focused AMY CLAXTON
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on certain objects such as a persons shoe left behind, or a chair left empty facing out of a window. These photographs have such a depth to a viewer because the viewer will feel connected with the persons absent from the photographs, they will wonder what happened to the person who left the shoe and why it was left behind. Rather than being reminded of a natural disaster or overgrown plants, the viewer is reminded of an actual person. That is a very different yet very similar feeling to the abandoned places discussed previously. Ultimately, both presence and absence do exist. The subject focus in this dissertation has mainly been on artists and how absence and presence has been portrayed in physical art works. This method has worked well to decipher the role absence and presence plays within art works and artist practice, it has provided an accurate answer within the context. Another context to explore would be the writings of theorists on the subject in a higher level of academic thought process. Taking the notions of presence and absence above that of physical art works into a psychological understanding and what they do in regards to the human mind, with focus on how this reflects on art works themselves. A particular theorist and theory I would like to explore in future writings in The Mirror Effect Theory By Lacan. The Mirror Effect is a theory put forward by Lacan, he proposes that young infants go through a stage in which the reflection of themselves in the mirror is not recognized as being them because at the young age they are under developed, physically vulnerable and weak therefore unable to connect what they are seeing with the concept of “i”. “i” is a representation of knowing ones self, understanding who you are, what you look like and simply know ones self. Lacan’s theory is a very interesting topic and would be a natural next step in exploring the questions of this dissertation further. The answer to this dissertation question is clear but with further exploration in topics not touched upon so far in this dissertation the answer could change. There are endless possibilities to explore and I am not certain that it is truly possible to find an overall answer. The answer to this dissertation topic based on the contexts of this dissertation alone, concludes that absence and presence can not exist without each other but what has been discovered is that the subject of absence and presence is possibly an endless one, I believe that absence or presence touches almost everything within art and within life. It is subject that can be continuously explored with no end point therefore I am not sure a definitive answer will ever be found.
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References
Beckman, J. (2000) Religion In Post-World War II America, At: http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/ tserve/twenty/tkeyinfo/trelww2.htm (Accessed on 3.12.14) Calle, S (2007) Take Care Of Yourself. France: Actes Sud Calle, S (2007) Take Care Of Yourself. France: Actes Sud Dorn, J. (Unknown) The Presence of Absence: Jane Dorn’s Haunting Photographs of Abandoned Buildings in the South, At: http://www.brainpickings.org/2014/04/03/jane-dorn-photography/ (Accessed on 6.10.14) Happner, Jake, (2012) The 38 Most Haunting Abandoned Places On Earth Just Might Give You Chills..., At: http://news.distractify.com/culture/arts/the-most-spectacular-abandoned-places-in-theworld/ (Accessed on 2.12.14) Kaernach, A (2013) Sophie Calle, At: http://www.arndtberlin.com/website/artist_937 (Accessed on 29.12.14) Luckhardt, Chris (2014) Flooded by Hurricane Katrina and left abandoned for ten years: Inside the decaying Six Flags theme park in New Orleans, At: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2719832/Flooded-Hurricane-Katrina-left-abandoned-ten-years-Inside-decaying-Six-Flagstheme-park-New-Orleans.html (Accessed on 12.12.14) Moorhouse, P (2014) Cindy Sherman. New York: Phaidon Press AMY CLAXTON
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Moorhouse, P (2014) Cindy Sherman. New York: Phaidon Press Moorhouse, P (2014) Cindy Sherman. New York: Phaidon Press Potter, Patrick (2011) Beauty In Decay (2nd). Great Britain : Carpet Bombing Culture Popover, M. (Unknown) The Presence of Absence: Jane Dorn’s Haunting Photographs of Abandoned Buildings in the South, At: http://www.brainpickings.org/2014/04/03/jane-dorn-photography/ (Accessed on 14.10.14) Popover, M. (Unknown) The Presence of Absence: Jane Dorn’s Haunting Photographs of Abandoned Buildings in the South, At: http://www.brainpickings.org/2014/04/03/jane-dorn-photography/ (Accessed on 16.10.14) Robinson, J. (2014) Flooded by Hurricane Katrina and left abandoned for ten years: Inside the decaying Six Flags theme park in New Orleans, At: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2719832/ Flooded-Hurricane-Katrina-left-abandoned-ten-years-Inside-decaying-Six-Flags-theme-park-NewOrleans.html (Accessed on 12.12.14) Stuhmer, M. (2011) John Stezaker: The Nude and Landscape, At: http://www.title-magazine. com/2011/11/john-stezaker-the-nude-and-landscape/ (Accessed on 6.10.14) Soltau, A (Unknown) “This needle, the stitch that you feel inside…” The photographer Annegret Soltau, At: http://db-artmag.com/en/63/feature/the-photographer-annegret-soltau/ (Accessed on 20.10.14) Soltau, A (2007) Father Search 2003-07, At: http://www.annegret-soltau.de/en/galleries/fathersearch-2003-07 (Accessed on 22.10.14) Shabi, K (2014) The Presence of Absence & the Absence of Presence: War & The Holocaust, At: http://legomenon.com/presence-of-absence-holocaust.html (Accessed on 3.1.15) Unknown. (2002) John Stezaker, At: http://www.whitechapelgallery.org/exhibitions/john-stezaker (Accessed on 1.10.14)
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Von Zitzewitz, J (2012) “This needle, the stitch that you feel inside…” The photographer Annegret Soltau, At: http://db-artmag.com/en/63/feature/the-photographer-annegret-soltau/ (Accessed on 20.10.14)
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Illustrations
Figure 1. Stezaker, J (2007) The Mask Series [Collage] At: http://www.cassone-art.com/magazine/ article/2013/04/john-stezaker-successor-to-ernst-daliand-hitchcock/?psrc=art-and-artists (Accessed on 1.10.14) Figure 2. Stezaker, J (2007) The Mask Series [Collage] At: http://eddera.com/john-stezakers-masks/ (Accessed on 1.10.14) Figure 3. Underworld XII (1990) [Collage] At: http://artbasel.insideguidance.com/43/catalog/#!exhi bitor/288b28e4b3b5d1c4214fd7987526b119 (Accessed on 28.09.14) Figure 4. Dorn, J (Unknown) Empirical Evidence: Over The River [Photograph] At: http://janedorn. com/116303/2324215/photography/empirical-evidence-over-the-river (Accessed on 25.10.14) Figure 5. Dorn, J (Unknown) [Photograph] At: http://janedorn.com/116303/2324215/photography/ empirical-evidence-over-the-river (Accessed on 24.10.14) Figure 6. Dorn, J (Unknown) Empirical Evidence: Over The River [Photograph] At: http://janedorn. com/116303/2324215/photography/empirical-evidence-over-the-river (Accessed on 25.10.14) Figure 7. Soltau, A (2007) Vatersuche [Collage] At: http://www.annegret-soltau.de/en/galleries/ father-search-2003-07/artworks/vatersuche-20-11-2007 (Accessed on 26.10.14) Figure 8. Soltau, A (2003) Vatersuche [Collage] At: http://www.annegret-soltau.de/en/galleries/ father-search-2003-07/artworks/vatersuche-15-4-2003 (Accessed on 26.10.14) AMY CLAXTON
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Figure 9. Soltau, A (2007) Vatersuche [Collage] At: http://www.annegret-soltau.de/en/galleries/ father-search-2003-07/artworks/vatersuche-26-9-2007 (Accessed on 26.10.14) Figure 10. Soltau, A (2003) Vatersuche [Collage] At: http://www.annegret-soltau.de/en/galleries/ father-search-2003-07/artworks/vatersuche-2-4-2003 (Accessed on 26.10.14) Figure 11. Abandoned Place (2011) Unknown [Photograph] In: Potter, P. Beauty In Decay. Page 14. Great Britain : Carpet Bombing Culture Figure 12. Heppner, J (2000) Holy Land, USA [Photograph] At: http://news.distractify.com/culture/ arts/the-most-spectacular-abandoned-places-in-the-world/ (Accessed on 1.12.14) Figure 13. Heppner, J (2000) Holy Land, USA II [Photograph] At: http://news.distractify.com/culture/arts/the-most-spectacular-abandoned-places-in-the-world/ (Accessed on 1.12.14) Figure 14. Robinson, J (2005) Six Flags, New Orleans [Photograph] At: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/ news/article-2719832/Flooded-Hurricane-Katrina-left-abandoned-ten-years-Inside-decaying-SixFlags-theme-park-New-Orleans.html (Accessed on 11.12.14) Figure 15. Sherman, Cindy (1978) Untitled Film Still: 15 [Photograph] In: Moorhouse, P. Cindy
Sherman. Plate 32. Phaidon Focus. Figure 16. Sherman, Cindy (1978) Untitled Film Still: 13 [Photograph] In: Moorhouse, P. Cindy
Sherman. Plate 37. Phaidon Focus. Figure 17. Abril, V (2014) Brenda [Photograph] At: https://lucymyates.wordpress.com/2014/02/28/ secondary-research-sophie-calle/ (Accessed on 6.1.15) Figure 18. Droukarova, D (2014) Dinara Droukarova [Photograph] In: Calle, S. Take Care Of Your-
self. Plate 106. Actes Sud Figure 19. Rambach, A & M (2014) Anna and Marine Rambach [photgraph] In: Calle, S. Take Care
Of Yourself. Plate 65. Actes Sud Figure 20. Calle, S (2014) Take Care Of Yourself Letter [Letter] In: Calle, S. Take Care Of Yourself. Plate 7. Actes Sud AMY CLAXTON
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ABSENSE AND PRESENCE IN ART Amy Claxton