Katie Fogden
Through narrative means, how have artists explored the themes and ideas of identity through their work? Although significant in many forms, most important to a person is value of identity. Sharing our identities and who we are creates a strong sense of intimacy, and through art means this has enabled an outlet for these intimate relationships among strangers; artists and viewers. The chosen artists addressed across this essay, Eva Stenram, John Stezaker, and Cindy Sherman all harness varied forms of ‘identity’ through their photographic, digital, illustration and collage style work. However important is the different forms in which identity can be approached, these artists exploring contrasting ideas of self and hidden identity. Can a stronger intimacy be created despite a clear distance between subject and viewer, drawn to the mysterious nature of the work? Why does absence create such intrigue? Stezaker began his recognised style in the late 20th Century, his imagery of his time. Interesting is the artists constant connections to the past, through photographic appropriation, editing styles, and the settings themselves; the past argued to shape personal identity. Despite theme links, composition wise there is an ongoing trend of minimalism, particularly a minimalist approach to collage style imagery which carries an irony. How can such complex ideas and stories be visualised in a clean and simplistic way? This question continues, with each artist creating monoscenic and still imagery work; however, when placed together could be seen to create an ongoing series/concept. ‘I am interested in how all absences reveal something else; absences enhance our looking and trigger our imagination at the same time.’1 Professional photographer/visual artist Eva Stenram has executed many projects, her particular focus and interest with the human body. Through her work she looks at the effect ‘absence’ has on viewers, and how the framing of photography lacks the ability to show a full picture or tell a whole story. Stenram scans ‘pin-up/erotica negatives’ into her work and describes these body parts to ‘become the interior…a part of the female body presented in the same way as a vase, cushion or wall hanging’.
1
https://www.lensculture.com/articles/eva-stenram-drapes-parts
Katie Fogden A main focus the lack and distortion of body, this absence of identity challenges viewers to imagine what is hidden behind the ‘drapes’, the true identity and story of the subject. Common to her work we see every day interior home settings; usually following a retro style, through both the furnishing trends and colour choice (black/white, sepia/yellow tones). However most interesting and important to the photographs are the concealed body parts, digitally separated from the full model/body. Stenram visually develops this ‘found imagery’, and digitally edits her photography to hide these body-parts using drapes in particular creating a minimalist collage like feel. Interesting is the endless stories and perspective individuals take from her work despite lack of information and chaos to the work. ‘By removing, hiding or cropping out faces my work can focus away from the identity and facial expressions of the women and instead focus on other interesting aspects of the photographs: the postures and poses of the body, the interiors and sets that they are within.’2 Although viewers are pulled into an extremely intimate atmosphere there is still a distance in place between themselves and the subject matter, Stenram’s intentions to grasp the curious nature people struggle to ignore. Importance on the collage style some may see stylistic influence from the montage/cut-up techniques central to the Dada movement, however it could be said Stenram takes a cleaner and minimalist approach to the style. A structure can be seen in the work, strengthened by the geometric nature to the collage elements. The main subject could be seen to represent a theme of hidden identity, these women left to the imagination both in appearance and to why they are hidden from sight. ‘The work plays around with the viewer’s gaze and scrutinizes photographic objectifications of the female body, while it hopefully also retains ambivalence and propels curiosity.’ Despite their origin, the legs seem to lose any strong sexual connotation, instead leaving work ‘sexually charged rather than explicit’. However, the work could be seen to carry a teasing nature, acting on behalf of desire and sexual identity. Both the slimness and posture of the legs hint to a women’s identity as well as the heels, however could Stenram be hiding a male? An idea of self-identity and gender confusion.
2
http://www.dazeddigital.com/photography/article/32831/1/eva-stenram-turns-viewer-into-voyeur-for-newshow
Katie Fogden Stezaker, an English conceptual artist, has been creating over 40 years, his work only finding recognition in recent years, ‘discovered’ by Charles Saatchi. Famous for his collage work, with foundations of found imagery, Stezaker recalls his work have begun in ‘The early 70s, when I made the decision to work within the horizons of already existent found images, it was in response to a sense of image glut- that there were already too many images in the world. I could not see a reason for adding to them.’3 Stezaker finds particular interest in black and white portraits of ‘anonymous failed actors’ which he collects from fairs, markets and online, these portraiture shots are the core concept, working alongside lost identities ‘I’m using an archive to create another archive of my own’. Seen above, Stezaker focuses on physically altering the images in the smallest of ways. Cutting, slicing, and overlapping two images into a minimalist collage style, iconic of his work; ‘my ideal is to do very little to the images, maybe just one cut: the smallest change or the most minimal mutilation. What I do is destructive, but also an act of deliberate passivity.’4 Particularly relevant to Stezaker’s Marriage series, the simple combining of the two images instead creates a strong juxtaposition between the genders alone, as well as presence and absence leaving in place a surreal styled portrait; as well as harnessing a ‘disjointed harmony’ between two separate identities and stories. ‘There is something very odd, even unnerving about cutting through a photograph…It sometimes feels like I am cutting though flesh.’ Not only personifying the subject, Stezaker allows viewers to interpret relationships between two images once unknown and unrelated to each other, allowing instead a whole new life to the photographs; ‘It’s how you might imagine reincarnation…or the way you can never quite remember your dreams. Moving an image from one world into another is like taking it into a dream world where it has forgotten its original function but it will always have that trace of its former life. I am attracted to that trace.’5However interesting is the original stories still represented, strengthening a mysterious nature and curiosity to the work; ‘There is a fascination for a world in which one is not yet present and this is different from nostalgia for a world of one’s past.’
3
http://au.blouinartinfo.com/news/story/1049939/interview-john-stezaker-on-collages-at-anna-schwartzgallery 4 https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/australia-culture-blog/2014/mar/27/john-stezaker-sydneybiennale 5 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/photography/9512271/Photographer-John-Stezaker-is-the-winner-ofthis-years-Deutsche-Borse-prize.html
Katie Fogden Important is the surrealist nature Stezaker’s work tends to carry, rejecting typical composition through his altering processes, his Landscape series is basic in placing old postcards of landscapes across a face. ‘When we look at a face, we assume that we are looking behind the face for a personality...By making literal that behindness, I often create something that twists into an image of horror. It often takes me by surprise, because it is not what I have set out to do.’6 This could be seen to allow place to tell a story over people; similar to Stenram the people becoming ‘furniture’ like to a still setting. Playing on the need to know, Stezaker’s work can be associated to feelings of nostalgia, with the lack of obvious story leaving excitement and opportunity in place. Photographer Cindy Sherman is recognised for her self-portraiture, although the work is anything but that. As her own model Sherman is unrecognisable in every photograph she captures. Gaining attention since the 1980s’ Sherman explores the freedoms of identity, wanting to capture the truths of identity her work contrasts in portraying how easily altered this can be. 'If you don't like me this way, how about you like me this way?...In a still photo you only sometimes get the essence of a person’7. Inspired by conceptual performance, allowing herself into an array of different personas Sherman’s concept could be first considered to come to light in her untitled film still series. It could be considered to explore the fragility of identity, and how easily altered it can be or some may see it to consider how true identities can be easily hidden behind personas.
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https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/australia-culture-blog/2014/mar/27/john-stezaker-sydneybiennale 7 https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/jul/03/cindy-sherman-interview-retrospective-motivation
Katie Fogden Sherman’s series saw an interest in the ‘same actress but in different stages of her career’, allowing viewers to join on the journey created entirely by the artist. Offering an intimate welcome into a life of her own minding Sherman explains ‘I want there to be hints of narrative everywhere in the image so that people can make up their own stories about them…but I don’t want to have my own narrative and force it on to them’. Leaving the narrative element to viewers can be seen to quieten heightened curiosity and interest into the character, becoming instead an identity in the hands of ourselves. This unsure nature to the photographs allows room for excitement, happiness, tragedy, anything is possible; ‘there is some ambivalence about them, rather than any kind of fixed emotion’. Although captured in the 80’s the images themselves take a vintage aesthetic, with the monochrome colour and grainy textures, ‘they are super grainy, because I wanted them to look like cheap prints, not art; something you could find in a thrift store for 50 cents.’8 This gives a sense of a life already lived. Although a most recent addition to Sherman’s work, the same concepts still stand. Altering her own self-identity, however ‘quite often I will do something and think, oh no, she looks a little too much like me. I have tried to learn not to be afraid of that when that happens. I am not trying to obliterate myself and completely hide within the images like I used to. I am a little more comfortable now in letting parts of myself show through’, suggesting ideas of growing into and determining our own identities. In recent series Divas ‘They are women who have gone through a lot and come out the other side.’ Sherman’s work is also important in harnessing aspects of her own past, elements to her self-identity although trying to physically hide. ‘Making these photographs…I’ve reflected back on my mother. When she was my age she really seemed like an old lady. She was 44 when she had me, and back in the 1950s that was pretty old. My mother was like a martyr, a good person, but good almost to a fault. She would try to make me always be this good girl.’ Sherman’s interest in dressing up allowed a form of escapism, it could be argued viewers similarly escape into the stories Sherman offers through her work, ideas of altered identity enticing viewers further into the fictional lives portrayed. As well as this the personal concepts behind these images allow an intimate look into Sherman’s own self-identity, creating a strong artist/viewer relationship. 8
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2011/jan/15/cindy-sherman-interview
Katie Fogden Across my own work elements of the artist’s work discussed in this essay were important inspirations and insights into my own ideas. Particularly inspired by John Stezaker when creating one of my narrative outcomes, I took to similar physical techniques Stezaker uses when editing his found imagery. Using similar cutting and layering techniques I wanted to create a reveal of identity beneath another. Similar to Stezaker my work saw the merging of multiple personas into one, possibly addressing the complexities and layers to a person’s identity. With a female subject apparent across my own narrative project I was inspired by both Stenram and Sherman’s female subjects. Also creating experimental work in the style of Eva Stenram, I took into consideration the subject matter of her work and similarly used legs/limbs. I wanted to begin exploring themes of women and identity, using the specific body parts I wanted to highlight the way in which women are subject to both glamorisation and sexualisation. Despite the subject simply being a leg, it could be considered still to be met with sexual connotations in contrast to a male leg. Choosing to emphasise one particular body element, also touched on ideas of concealed identity similar to Stenram’s intentions; ‘‘I am interested in how all absences reveal something else; absences enhance our looking and trigger our imagination at the same time.’. I predominantly based work around portraiture photography, giving narrative pieces a clear focal
Katie Fogden subject, however I also felt this allowed the ongoing theme of identity to become personal to the subject. Between my own work and the artists discussed apparent was a common theme of identity. However, with inspiration from each artist, each piece and development further explored into a subtheme; whether it be hidden, female or changing identities. I wanted to explore identity across my own work as it is an extremely personal and intimate theme, and can allow a strong relationship between subject and viewer which I feel is extremely important in narrative style work. Important is the way in which Stenram, Stezaker and Sherman all exploit viewer’s curiosity, particularly through concealment. Whereas Stenram and Stezaker follow a collage style, emphasising physical concealment Sherman instead plays on self-concealment, relying on her abilities to transform into characters and change identities. With artist exploring the interest and importance of identity, interesting is their choice to leave the stories and lives to the subjects at the hands of the viewer, allowing creative control over something extremely personal to individuals. Whilst Stezaker and Sherman rely on portrait work, a physicality most associated with identity, Stenram instead focuses on the body which creates further confusion and curiosity amongst viewers. However, each artist grasps the complexities of identity, with their narrative work vague the interpreted stories and identities of subjects are endless amongst viewers. Through their work, it can be considered artists allow their own stories to be presented, for example, with Sherman utilising herself in order to explore identity, and the changes it can undergo across time. Although each of the discussed artists explore the common theme under different concepts, an general idea remains present in exploring the complexities of identity as well as grasping human curiosity through absence and concealment in their work.
Katie Fogden Bibliography – Eva Stenram https://www.lensculture.com/articles/eva-stenram-drapes-parts - Feature for Lens Culture, written by Alexander Strecker, last accessed March 2017
http://www.dazeddigital.com/photography/article/32831/1/eva-stenram-turns-viewerinto-voyeur-for-new-show - Feature for Dazed Digital, written by Alice Simkins, September 2016, last accessed March 2017 John Stezaker http://au.blouinartinfo.com/news/story/1049939/interview-john-stezaker-on-collages-atanna-schwartz-gallery - Interview with Stezaker, written by Nicholas Forrest, August 2014, last accessed March 2017 https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/australia-culture-blog/2014/mar/27/johnstezaker-sydney-biennale - Feature for The Guardian, written by Sean O'Hagan, March 2014, last accessed February 2017 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/photography/9512271/Photographer-John-Stezaker-isthe-winner-of-this-years-Deutsche-Borse-prize.html - Feature for The Telegraph, written by Lucy Davies, September 2012, last accessed February 2017 Cindy Sherman https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/jul/03/cindy-sherman-interviewretrospective-motivation - Feature/Interview for The Guardian, written by Tim Adams, July 2016, last accessed February 2017 https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2011/jan/15/cindy-sherman-interview - Interview for The Guardian, written by Simon Hattenstone, January 2011, last accessed February 2017