Word+Image, essay by Declan Cann

Declan Cann - Critical and Contextual Studies - Word and Image Assignment (Paul Graham)

Figure 1.

Figure 2.

Figure 1: ‘Mother’ - Paul Graham Figure 1: Cafe Assistants, Compass Cafe, Colsterworth, Lincolnshire, November 1982 - Paul Graham

Figure 3.

Figure 4.

Figure 3: Woman at Bus Stop, Mill Hill, North London, November, 1982 - Paul Graham Figure 4: Picture by Garry Winogrand - From Lee Friedlander’s book ‘The Mind and the Hand’

Figure 1 is from a series of portraits of Paul Graham’s mother Dorothy, taken from his book ‘Mother’. She is an elderly woman, signified by her silvery grey hair and the wrinkled skin on her face and neck. Her clothes, a smart blue blouse and a grey cardigan, connotes that she likes to look after herself, or is in fact being looked after. You can see she is sitting in an armchair and her hair is slightly ruffled as if she has recently been sleeping, which suggests she is comfortable and probably at home. Collectively these things could signify that she is living in a retirement or care home and together with the moody colour tones of the picture, it connotes a feeling of loneliness. The portrait feels very private, the close up angle and the expression on her face makes you feel like you have almost walked in on her having a nap. Graham says “It’s my most personal, intimate series of portraits and that is perhaps the reason it resonates so strongly.”1 In this portrait Graham has captured the peaceful tranquility of his mothers personal space whilst also prompting the viewer to reflect on the sometimes harsh idea of their own mortality.

Figure 2 is titled ‘Cafe Assistants’, from Graham’s first book ‘The Great North Road’ published in 1983. The picture shows two women in what looks to be a roadside diner, signified by the road visible through the misted window behind them. The picture appears to be taken in the late 70’s or early 80’s as signified by the women’s hairstyles, their uniforms, the style of their glasses and the style of the watch one of them is wearing. The roll neck jumpers underneath their aprons and their light blue and purple pastel colours are also signifiers of that period of time. The uncomfortable looking furniture, plain tablecloths and the lack of decoration connote a working class diner as opposed to a high end cafe however the table and the uniforms are clean which suggest they are well maintained. As with the ‘Mother’ portrait, the photo is informal and there are no fancy camera angles or lighting effects. Captured in his typical social-documentary style, Graham takes “pictures of people at the most ordinary, everyday moments—cutting the grass or waiting for the bus, smoking cigarettes or traveling to and from the supermarket.” 2 and is an expert at “cultivating an aesthetic of the banal.”3 Figure 3, simply titled ‘Woman at bus stop’, is also from Graham’s first book ‘The Great North Road’. The picture denotes a woman waiting for a bus in the centre of the frame and she appears to be standing in front of a motorway, signified by the elevated walkways and the back of a road sign behind her to 1

(Paul Graham on Mother, 2019) (ASX, 2010) 3 (Source Reviews: An Aesthetic of the Banal by Gavin Murphy, n.d.)

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the right of the frame. The woman is wearing a dark blue top and a red skirt, which is the only splash of colour in the picture apart from the bottom of the bus stop which is the same colour red as her skirt. The sky, pavement, elevated walkways and the rest of the picture are mostly grey, which carries negative connotations, especially when it comes to depression and misery, often associated with living in the inner city. There is some bold graffiti on the bus stop, “Mike of NW7 Punks” which also connotes a feeling of being in the city, where gangs can use graffiti to mark their territory, particularly when a postcode is denoted. For me, the colour the woman brings to the photo connotes the life that humans and personalities can bring to dull, built up urban areas.

Figure 4 is a picture by Garry Winogrand from Lee Friedlander’s book ‘The Mind and the Hand’ which denotes a man talking on a payphone, taken in a social-documentary style similar to the previous images. The signifiers such as the architecture of the building behind him and the marquee sign in the background to the right of the payphone indicate the man is standing in front of a church. The man's wide smile; the punctum of the photograph, signifies that he is happy and having an enjoyable conversation. There is a woman to the left of the frame taking a picture; this, the camera around the man's neck and the bag across his shoulder could be a signifier that this is a tourist location and these people are possibly on holiday. Similar to Paul Graham, Winogrand causes his viewers to look at seemingly everyday moments with a different perspective. In Graham’s words, “I am interested in more elusive and nebulous subject matter. The photography I most respect pulls something out of the ether of nothingness… you can't sum up the results in a single line. In a way, 'a shimmer of possibility' is really about these nothing moments in life."4

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(Paul Graham, 2011)

Bibliography ASX, E. @. (2010, July 1). An Interview with Paul Graham. AMERICAN SUBURB X. https://americansuburbx.com/2010/07/interview-paul-graham-with-richard.html

Paul Graham on Mother: “I wanted to look clearly at her last years on Earth.” (2019, October 23). The Guardian. http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2019/oct/23/paul-graham-mother-photog rapher-book-portraits

Paul Graham: “The photography I most respect pulls something out of the ether.”

(2011, April 11). The Guardian. http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2011/apr/11/paul-graham-interview-whit echapel-ohagan

Source Reviews: An Aesthetic of the Banal by Gavin Murphy. (n.d.). Retrieved March 18, 2021, from https://www.source.ie/issues/issues0120/issue18/is18revaesban.html