Why and how have a number of different artists used either traditional ‘hand-based’ techniques or digital techniques to create a Surreal and / or Ethereal narrative within their creative work? A major change in the way artists created ‘graphic art’ happened when the ‘personal computer’ became widely available late in the 20th Century. This product enabled artists & designers to manipulate images in a much faster and simpler way than the storyboard artists prior to the 1990’s. This invention made it possible to do the following changes very quickly: recolour, alter the scale, rotate, and many hundreds of other functions. It is fair to say that due to further advances in technology available to many creative individuals, there has been a dramatic increase in the digital editing of photographs, which has led to a change of techniques used by artists & designers in conveying their thoughts and ideas to a wider public. It could be argued that these new digital tools have enabled amateur photographers & designers to produce a range of creative work that looks quite professional in standard compared to amateur designers from the past who had to use hand-based techniques; and it seems that they can make the ‘impossible’ happen by creating Surreal and ethereal effects to help convey the narrative behind their work. In the context of this essay, the term ‘Surreal’ means ‘dream-like qualities’ and Ethereal means ‘other-worldly.’ In the 1970’s, technology was not yet available for editing photographs, as it was only the birth of modern computing at this time, therefore artists & photographers would rely on hand-based techniques to create ‘art work’. It can be argued that as a result they were limited to choice of materials and had to rely more on their art skills. However, in this contemporary society people can virtually create what they choose, which can potentially lead to a clearer and stronger understanding of their narrative work. This essay intends to explore and evaluate the use of both contemporary digital techniques and traditional hand-based techniques to see what type of visual effect they both produce and which one has the greater potential of conveying a narrative. This essay intends to explore the work of artists such as Ellen Rogers, Alison Scarpulla, Aela Labbe and the way they convey their own narratives through either digital or hand-based techniques. Alison Scarpulla was born in 1990 in New York and is self-taught. She prefers to use hand-based techniques to create her photographs, even in this digital age. “When I was a child I’d take photos with my 35mm point and shoot all the time” (1) Then when she was in high school, she developed an interest in art, especially in illustration and painting, which possibly expanded and enhanced her skills-set for her future. Her work developed and she started to develop her own style as she mentioned in an interview “I gave up the rules I had learned about photography and just did what felt natural.” (2) This suggests that she doesn’t follow the rules as she perhaps has a very creative mind. It can be argued that Scarpulla’s work has ‘mystical’ qualities with a connection to both nature and people, therefore she likes to create images that are semi-realistic and out of the ordinary. Scarpulla mentioned in an interview “I am interested in the boundaries of what is reality and what is not”. (3) Some people will be able to fully relate to this statement, especially if they are truly fascinated by magic, spiritual belief and the ‘unknown’. Scarpulla has been able to explore these types of ideas by creating ethereal looking effects practically instead of using digital technology. Scarpulla often uses expired film and also self-taught methods of smearing water and dirt on camera lenses and dipping negatives in acid before printing in the dark room. Many of Scarpulla’s early photographs were taken in New York, however she recently moved to Ohio. The scenery in her photographs has slightly changed because of this, although she still keeps to a similar look and feel throughout, as this is the type of imagery that she is passionate about. A review was made by an author Megan Ramirez about her work that supports the argument about Scarpulla only using hand-based techniques “She transforms her already beautiful photographs into even more striking images not by Photoshop, but by her own unorthodox sorcery.”(4) It could be argued that hand-based techniques are more
powerful and effective for telling certain types of stories because they would be easy to relate to on a human level because they are more natural compared to the technology involved in digital editing.
In these examples for Scarpulla’s work (featured above) it is clear to see that hand-based experimental methods have been used, as they are features that are visible on the surface of the prints that have been added by hand. It could be argued that these images are quite typical of her ethereal-looking pieces which supports the idea that she has an interest in ‘mystery’ and ‘the spiritual’. In the image on the right there is a circle of light surrounding the girl which look very magical. Scarpulla discussed this in an interview: “I am fascinated by the unknown and the unseen.” (5) By looking at her work, it is clear to see that her work has surreal and ethereal qualities. For example, in a normal, unedited image, there would not be these sparks of light surrounding the girl in the right hand-side image. The colours of the sparks are a light pink, which contrasts against the darker colours in the image. This supports the idea that her work has that surreal and ethereal. The lighting also makes her work look Surreal. Ellen Rogers is a British photographer who was born in 1983 and lives in Norfolk. She studied at Goldsmith’s College in London and received a Masters Degree in Photography in 2007. Similarly, to Alison Scarpulla, Rogers also uses hand-based techniques when creating her work instead of using digital technology. “I use cameras, tripods, lenses, a light-meter, film, a scanner, chemicals, towels and hands. Everything is hands on and there is no digital manipulation whatsoever at any stage”. (6) Rogers used to assist her father with his photographic work when she was a little girl and she learnt a lot from his methods. “I always thought too that on a primitive level, grains are prettier than pixels. I could spend hours in my darkroom and that I do. But it seems somewhat removed from catharsis when I see people editing in Photoshop.” (7) This quote by Rogers supports the fact that she does not like to use any digital technology as it takes away the ‘realness’ of her photographic work. Like Scarpulla, Ellen Rogers prefers to use hand-based techniques and therefore it could be argued that her narratives can be seen as more ‘human’ because she has created them with her own hands as opposed to using technology. This, it could be argued, takes away the element of human idiosyncrasies from the work as the computer does some of the work for the artist. Rogers’ inspiration for her artwork is mainly fantasy: a combination of her own ideas, of comic books and psychological & horror stories. She has also suffered from depression which could have influenced the content and style of her work because it is quite dark and ‘bleak’ looking. Many of her pieces have similar themes running throughout them and they have a similar appearance because this is her creative passion. She stated in an interview: “for me it is now and perhaps forever, my love of the British countryside that draws me to certain places. I often read English ghost stories as a child and I love the romance of them. Some of them are positively Brontësque in pace and always beautifully dark and full of trauma.” (8) Many people could relate to this statement, especially if they are interested in horror and ghost stories’ or if they have also gone through a difficult time in their life, similar to Ellen Rogers who suffered with depression. Ellen Rogers work looks Ethereal in many ways. For example, the lighting in her work has these pink tones. In real life, these colours do not exist unless there is an unusual looking sunset. The
girl in the images also makes the work quite Ethereal as it adds a sense of horror/thriller to the piece. She is wearing all black in both examples below and is standing there still. She looks possessed and that is what makes helps make her work look Surreal.
Aela Labbe was born in 1986 in Brittany, France. From an early age she devoted herself to dancing, a passion which led her to Amsterdam, where she studied theatre-dance for three years. Back in France, she became increasingly interested in photography, which she considers, in essence, to be connected to dance. ‘From an early age I devoted myself to dancing, I became increasingly interested in photography afterwards; I see it as by essence connected to dance.’ (9) It gave her the option to express all her emotions which maybe gave her a sense of freedom. Her work is considered to contain quite a lot of emotion, with her family having a huge impact on her work. Her style is based on the darker and more mysterious side of life shown through representations of an earlier time in her own life. She started using photography to express her struggles with emancipation. The result is a body of work whose mix of influences creates different ethereal qualities. Labbe has the ability to create powerful narratives in her work as she can capture her feelings in an image. “She tried to dramatize the relationship between humanity and nature, aiming at objectifying her deeper and most peculiar feelings- her ethic and values, reaching a point where photography and ethereality merge imperceptibly.” (10). Labbe will use Photoshop to edit her images. In an interview, in response to a question about whether she used Photoshop, she replied “I edit a little…. I think that it does not matter how much use you give to Photoshop, the most important is the result, what you really want to share.” (11) Therefore, it would be fair to say that she only uses Photoshop as much as she needs to, as long as it helps her to effectively communicate the narrative in her artwork to the viewer. It could be fair to say that with the help of Photoshop she can fully express her emotions as digital technology can help artists manipulate images in a way that they could not produce by hand. As Labbe mentioned earlier, she will only use digital technology such as Photoshop if she needs to. For example, in the image bottom left, it is clear to see that she has not used a lot of digital technology because the subject in the image can have the potential to tell a powerful narrative on its own, All of Labbe’s work has been created within the last 5 years; therefore, it could be argued that she has used technology to her advantage to help her to communicate the narrative. “I try to bring forth some magic that carries hope and fantasy, as my own way of swearing an oath ever to resist materialism and dreamlessness.” (12).
Labbe’s work is inspired by her difficult upbringing and her passion for dance and she has used her dancing skills to approach her photography, paying special attention to elements of composition and the combination of body, space and time. Scarpulla and Rogers are fascinated by the unknown, magic and spiritual belief and Rogers in particular has an interest in ghost stories and fantasy. Similarly, Aela Labbe has an interest in similar themes to Scarpulla and Rogers, especially with Scarpulla; however, she uses technology such as Photoshop to partially create her photographs instead of creating them all practically. Her work can also demonstrate an effective narrative just like Scarpulla, although she will be able to explore more features of editing as she is using the advancement of technology in this postmodern society to her advantage, compared to Scarpulla who is still using the old fashion ways. It can be argued that her pieces look Surreal and Ethereal in many ways. For example, in the image above on the left hand side, the image shows the girl in an awkward position. The dress is on the right way, however the hands looked locked up and the resulting image looks quite surreal. People’s hands aren’t usually like this in real life and only a few humans can do this action. The lighting in the second image looks quite ethereal because the colours are very light and changes tones on certain features of the human. Naturally, the colour lighting wouldn’t be like this and therefore wouldn’t look either Surreal or Ethereal without the use of Photoshop.
Conclusion Question: Are traditional hand-based techniques more effective in conveying a Surreal and Ethereal narrative than digital editing techniques? and how has this inspired my own work? Personally, I believe that digital editing techniques are more effective than traditional methods when conveying a Surreal narrative in creative work because there is no limitation to what you can make look Surreal/Ethereal. An example of this is featured in the piece on the right by French artist Vincent Bourilhon. I find this image very effective because the bubble appears to be subtle and delicate. I have used this as inspiration in my narrative, as it helps make my work look more Surreal. It is not really possible to create an image as precise as this and a strong surreal narrative without digital editing. I believe that it isn’t possible to do this through using handbased techniques. Alison Scarpulla and Ellen Rogers both create strong surreal & ethereal
narratives, however they rely on such things as weather conditions and chemical equipment to achieve their imagery, whereas Vincent Bourilhon doesn’t have this limit when trying to convey his surreal narrative. Another example of this is the Guinness ‘Horses’ advert in 1998 which is considered to be a pivotal point for advertisement because of the use of digital editing to create it. By looking at this ‘still’ taken from the advert, it is clear to see that totally reliant on digital editing because it isn’t practically possible to film horses surfing with humans in the sea. A review was made by ‘Campaign’ in 1999 and they said “Using state-of-the-art technology, it was a true jaw-dropper”. (13) This supports the idea of how iconic this advert and how much digital technology played a part in creating something this surreal, no one has ever seen anything like it before. Nowadays, television adverts are even more advanced because of the use of digital editing and it is seen as the norm to have these kind of adverts. To view the full advert, go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5CwOLYtq7U . When conveying a Surreal and Ethereal narrative, I personally believe that using digital editing techniques is more effective than hand- based techniques. One reason I argue this is because I have been brought up in the world of advanced technology, therefore I have been taught by teachers, parents and friends how to use this type of technology in my everyday life. However, the artists I have chosen to analyse for this essay mainly use hand-based techniques when creating their narrative-based pieces. I understand why they use these techniques, because it looks really effective and is successful in showing a Surreal and / or Ethereal narrative within their imagery. For example there is more of a human element within the work, as it is made by hand rather than digitally. Personally I would rather create my own narrative-based imagery using digital editing. This is because I find digital editing techniques less time consuming compared to hand-based techniques. If I were to try and create my Surreal and Ethereal narrative-based pieces using hand-based techniques, such as in a dark room, it might take quite a while to produce my final outcome. There are a few issues with using digital editing techniques i.e. if someone wasn’t sure on how to create certain effect on Photoshop and other digital editing software, it might take a while to work it out, therefore they would need to research how to do it and then keep experimenting until they succeeded. In my opinion, I find it easier to achieve the effects I want in my narrative-based pieces by editing them digitally rather than by hand. This is because I can always perfect it to the way I want it to look; whereas if I did it practically, there is a limit to how much you can control. For example, you cannot change the lighting in the image to the exact way you want it. On the other hand, you can do this on Photoshop. This has been beneficial to me for my own work, as I needed to change the lighting of my whole image to make it look more Surreal and Ethereal. So I did this by editing my image in Analog Efex in Photoshop.
Overall, I have concluded that I would rather use digital editing techniques to help make my work look more Ethereal/Surreal compared to hand-based techniques. This is because I can use the advanced technology to my advantage and create out worldly pieces with having no limitation.
Quote references Konbini article by Rachel Holmes Author Megan L Ramirez review in article EK interview by the blind architect, April 2011 Interview by JL Schnabel, October 2011 EK interview by the blind architect, April 2011 Online French article by Felipe Escobar Article written by Donatella Montrone, July 2016 Interview by Giovanni Cervi, April 2011 Odalisque m. Magazine article Odalisque m. Magazine article
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