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THE FAMILY PORTRAIT Visual Literacy and Communication (CS2006) Photography Assignment: Family Portraiture On Social Media By: Lim Mu Yao (U1230240L)
For my family that has always mattered.
For me, the subject of the picture is always more important than the picture. Diane Arbus
CONTEXT With digital photography, the process of taking and sharing images has been made far more complex and customizable with the changes from the “Kodak Age” – digital photography allows non-professionals to edit and share images on different platforms, including social media. The ubiquity and ease of producing customized content on the digital medium facilitates more intimate moments to be captured, in a much more personally expressive and intimate manner. With an emphasis on personal expression in this modern age, the idea of family portraiture has changed as well. While they still ‘emphasize the social bonds of the people in the photograph and preserve a memory of a specific time in the history of the family’, family values have changed and the photos reflect that. A family photo is now centered on the premises of spontaneity and truthful expression, not evoking the formality of posed portraits of the past. This is against the past idea where a family portrait was to ‘perpetuate familial myths by virtue and composition of the photo’ in order to ‘sustain an imaginary cohesion.’ (Toh, 2005.) Since the element of sincerity and spontaneity is characteristic of the modern day family portrait, these qualities are more revered and rendered relevant today. This forms the context of how I would choose to present my images in – something more raw, heartfelt, and visceral. I decided that I would photograph something that ‘celebrates individuality and personality’, rather than the ‘socially acceptable demonstrations of familial life’ of the ‘Kodak Path’. (Sarvas, R. and D. M. Frohich, 2011.)
THAT VISCERAL CONNECTION: Papa’s facial features have always resembled mine. From our shape of our fringes, the shape of our eyebrows - we are biologically connected as father and son. I never really felt this close and this connected ever since I got down to photographing my family in such great detail for this project.
THE DEFINITION OF FAMILY What is my family to me then? There is always an element of a biological connection that subsists between my family members, made clear to us by observers who tell me how much I look like my dad, or how similar my personality is to my mum. This connection is organic and raw, visceral and true, dictated by the happy coincidences of fate and biological occurrence. Photographers like Ulric Collette understand this, and depict the idea of family through her series called Portraits Génétiques, where she digitally blended faces of family members show this visceral familial connection. The detail in these facial features show something intimate about the idea of family, especially when curated in a series, in which forms the premises of how I will approach this photo series. So what about this connection? In each of these features – a hand, a leg, or an eye – lie something unique and special. These features are a representation on how an individual best makes a physical difference in a family’s life, imprinting his/her physical signatures on the daily dynamics of a family. Take my dad, for example. As an audiophile, he uses his ears a lot, with a keen sense of listening. In the same light, he is the person in our family that always patiently listens to our troubles. A facial feature represents a conscious execution of a personality trait we as family members connect with and appreciate. Hence the emphasis on facial features in this photo series.
Portraits Génétiques: Ulric Collette’s work really inspired me to take a hard and close look at my family’s facial features and derive that certain raw, visceral truth that lay between us. Each feature had this quality that represented a distinct personality trait that characterised who we are as an individual member of this family. I thus sought to capture that.
THE ORIGINAL IDEA OF A DIPTYCH: I was originally thinking of an idea where the diptych would merely show all the different body parts of a family member where her/his personality should show up the strongest. This, however, lacked context, even though it was dramatically strong in the level of detail that allows the viewer to study this.
THE “KODAK PATH”: I decided that I would photograph something that ‘celebrates individuality and personality’, rather than the ‘socially acceptable demonstrations of familial life’ of the ‘Kodak Path’.
What I like about photographs is that they capture a moment that is gone forever, impossible to reproduce. Karl Lagerfield
CHANGE AND CONTINUITY: THE 4 DIPTYCHS Artifacts all have special meanings. Be it a brave decision by my mother to enter the male-dominated field of engineering in her time or my dad’s very first radio, they can, at best, represent a decision made in the past that is so life-changing it shapes the fundamental character of a person till today. My mother is the fierce loudmouth of the family because of her hardened self that has come about fighting the corporate battles in her male-dominated career field.This all started from her degree certificate in Chemical Engineering and her decision to enter this field. The idea of how that single artifact can represent that initial moment of change is conveyed, in this photo series, through a portrait of the individual and that artifact. The photos on the left of the diptych however, show that moment of initial change being felt in my family through their individual personal quirks till today. These ‘quirks’ are felt through our daily lives as a family together – my mother as the family’s loudhailer, my father as the family’s listening ear, my brother as the quiet artist that expresses himself through his hand-made creations of art, and me, as the family’s peacemaker who strives to see things through different perspectives, something I learnt as a photographer.
The idea of how that single artifact can represent that initial moment of change is conveyed, in this photo series, through a portrait of the individual and that artifact.
To be accepted as a meaningful document, the photography must itself be first document by being placed in a specific time and place setting.
Jason Toh
CURATING THE SERIES
The idea of using diptychs in presenting my family took root from the narrative quality I saw from photographers like Francesca Guadagnini, with his series, titled Dreamland. It is based on simply asking people where would they want to live. A diptych tells a story by compelling the viewer to compare and make relations with the two photographs, thus creating associative meanings. I was inspired by this photographic format and thus incorporated it in my work. The series starts of with a quadtych, representing my family, who are made up of four individual units. We are different, but are united in the common genetic bond fused together into a portrait of these facial features that represent our visceral biological connection together as a family. The series then goes through our individual diptychs of each of my family members, mentioned earlier. The series finally ends off with a diptych on a portrait of our physical marks as individuals contributing to this family portrait. On this portrait lies the handprint of my brother; the lipstick stains of my mother, the earphones of my father and a cutout of my eyes. As times passes and I look through this hole of history, this portrait of ours will only get clearer, by these physical imprints that increasingly define who we are as individuals, and who we are as a family. We may change individually through the ages, but we continue as a family together to make this portrait of ours an even clearer one than it is today.
DREAMLAND: Based around the simple question “where would you like to live?�, Guadagnini shot portraits of the subjects and then photos of their answers as well, creating images that offer a small peek into the brain and personality of each person. To the right are images of Martino and Giulia, whose dream places are Amsterdam and Sydney respectively. All photos are by Francesca Guadagnini.
A VISCERAL CONNECTION A photographic essay by Lim Mu Yao
http://issuu.com/chrislimmuyao/docs/206report http://facesofthelims.tumblr.com/ Password: 206 assignment
What is a family? To me, the answer is simple. A collection of 4 individuals, bought together by the happy coincidences of biological connections and fate. These facial features define my family life. Each of us form a vital function in the body of our family, and contribute to the family dynamic in our own special way.
This is my father. His name is Henry Lim. He is the listener in our family. He is pictured here with his very old radio on his right, one that he had ever since his college days. He has been an audiophile ever since. He plays no instruments, nor is he musically talented in anyway. He just loves to listen, with his very trendy headphones nevertheless. He listens every day, ever since his college days. A patient figure who listens to every song or scolding from everyone of us, he is that silent rock of the family that we all appreciate and silently love. Because sometimes, true love is not shown through the loudness of words, but the silent intentions of the heart. This is my dad who listens.
This is my mother. Her name is Jane Goh. She is the mouthpiece of our family. She is pictured here with her NUS Degree in Chemical Engineering. Ever since that fateful day where she decided to go where few women would go, she has decided that no one can speak up for her in this maledominated field but herself. And talk she did. Her lipstick, a powerful symbol of femininity in her competitive field of Chemical Engineering, was her trump card. And that didn’t stop her from speaking up on anything that was wrong, or voice her pleasure on anything that was right in our family. She still does so, fervently, today. That voice, though increasingly shrill, has gone down our ears as a resonant symbol of conviction and faith in defending and protecting the silent fort of love our family takes comfort in. A comfort heard in every decibel of her nagging. This is my mother who talks.
This is my brother. His name is Shao Yu. He is the artist of this family. He is pictured here with his very first painting. The wild fauvist colors splashed on thick, choppy strokes of paint applied impasto from his nimble hands have wrung him the reputation of being the “creative genius� in my family. He paints with his many paintbrushes, including his very first one, given to him more than 7 years ago, about half his life. These hands are one that give life to dead figures that come to life from the figments of his imagination. That give voice to the happenings that affect his moods as a member of this family. Red and bright orange when angry, teal and green when he’s at ease. These paintings adorn our walls at home. All portraits of a thoughtful artist, who has so passionately and cynically painted, by hand, the happenings of this home. And today, those portraits are reminders of all the good and bad that have happened in this household, and still serve that purpose every single day. A man of few words. This is my brother, whose works, under the silent hands of an artist in this family speak more than what we could ever put in words. This is my brother who paints.
This is me. My name is Mu Yao. I am the observer in this family. To my right, I have the first camera I have ever loved, my Canon EOS 40D, bought more than 6 years ago. Since then, photography has been my refuge, and has shaped me to become a more objective person in my views. I have become more diplomatic since then. I learn to see things in a different perspective most of the time. It’s not just the physical things I see, of course. I see the other side of the argument and learn to intuitively anticipate the bad and circumvent those situations. I also silently acknowledge the good, and document these moments in the quieter days of this family. I take good care of my camera equipment, my cheap $15 filters included. I train myself to be a better person by seeing better, and becoming the more patient person as an observer. An observer, like a photographer, cannot be impatient. Patience is what is required to see issues from both ends, and to resolve them appropriately. There is a certain serenity that comes with doing photography. I think this can be applied to seeing as well. A serenity and calmness that makes everything so much clearer, when you see the beauty there is in this family of mine. This is me, who sees.
This is our family portrait. A portrait that is still still vague and blur, because the journey of us walking together as one family has not been completed. A portrait that is made up by our individual physical impressions upon each other. Father’s earphones that continue to hear out our greatest worries. Mama’s lipstick for speaking up against wrong, and for sounding out what is right. Brother’s handprints for that artistic imprint in documenting our family life in his moods. And my eye, for observing the bad and good, taking no sides in days better or worse. This portrait of ours, our marks, our physical imprints that represent how we affect each other in our family life - this a precious artifact that we make ourselves as a family, every single day. And we continue to make this picture, better and clearer, as imperfect as it is… until one day…. The legacy continues.
REFERENCES Collette, U. (n.d.). Portraits Génétiques. Retrieved Feb 14, 2013, from http://genetic.ulriccollette. com/. Zhang, M. (May 23rd, 2013). Petapixel Photography Blog. Diptychs of People & Their Dream Locations. Retrieved Feb 15, 2013, from http://www.petapixel.com/2012/05/23/diptychs-of-peopleand-their-dream-living-locations/. Good, Katie (2012). “From Scrapbook to Facebook: A History of Personal Media Assemblage and Archives”, New Media and Society, 0(0): 1-17. Sarvas, R. and D.M. Frohich (2011). “Domestic Photography and Technological Paths”, From Snapshots to Social Media. The Changing Picture of domestic Photography. London: SpringerVerlang. pp. 5-22 (chapter 2). Toh, Jason. (2005). “Framing History: Displaying the Singapore Family through Photography”, The Heritage Journal. 2(1): 51-63.