Jam Steward
McNutt, (2014)
Power & Control
2015
What is domination without submission? Pointless, unsatisfying and chaotic. In my opinion, power is a form of domination of the submissive. Control is the domination through manipulation of the non compliant. With this being said, as a society we are compliment and passive. We take what we are given and we deal with it, we may riot on the odd occasion, however this doesn't get us very far as it is not organised or constructive. Traditionally - very traditionally - rioting is seen as a “masculine” act, that mainly heterosexual men participate in. However think to the single most liberating riot to have ever taken place, in my opinion this would be the stonewall riots. I believe this because not only did it liberate the LGBT community of New York, it did for the LGBT community of the world. It also tackled matters of police power and brutality, which was a profound problem in the 60s. However I have been told, I may be bias when making this comment - which I disagree with, but after all an opinion is just that, an opinion.
Out of the lectures this term, one in particular resonated with me on a personal level. This was Andrew Slatters lecture (2015) titled ‘Who Are Dan
Friedman and Andrew Slatter?’. It stuck with me because I found it relatable in the way Slatter was talking of being hyper-self aware and self reflective. I often find that I am my own greatest inhibitor as well as enabler. I am consistently checking in with myself in many different ways, I take time out of my schedule to reflect on my identity, sexuality, artistic credibility/ direction. However I find comparing yourself to other individuals can have poisonous side effects, if it is not done with a clear and healthy mind. So when I realised that Slatter was comparing his life to Dan Friedmans, I was pleased in the way he did it. Slatter made comparisons and contrasts in a formative way, which meant he did not idolise Friedman in an unhealthy manner. But instead constructively highlighted similarities and differences in their lives. While Slatter was also talking of how Friedmans path of life had influenced and impacted his own.
During the lecture Slatter mentioned Friedmans work in relation to ‘Art Against Aids’. This subject is what I found to have the most relevance on a personal level, to the topic of ‘Power and Control’. HIV and Aids are a force to be reckoned with. A positive diagnosis will
change a persons life, but with modern day science and medicine the magnitude of that change is being reduced at a rapid rate. HIV is no longer a death sentence, those who take medication can expect to live to an age of a normal life expectancy.
“Like many other HIV+ people, life can often be divided into pre and post-diagnosis, so fundamental is the shift in perception of ourselves.” -Richard Sawdon Smith (2012) Being diagnosed as HIV positive is talked about as such a transformative and definitive experience - and this is how Friedman seemed to react to his positive diagnosis. Although instead of it letting his status becoming an inhibitor, it became something that enabled him to be passionate about the essence of life, and not to take it for granted. Meaning he began to create work that he engaged with and put more personality in to his style which was reflected within his outcomes. As before this revelation Friedman was just working for commercial clients that commissioned him for a particular style that he had become known for, a style that didn't represent him as a person but instead the idea of post-modernism. The way Slatter spoke of this made it seem like Friedman was unfulfilled by his earlier work. Which is completely relatable to all creatives working with commercial clients, and even understandable to those who work in more experimental fields. This compromising nature, of trying to find a balance of doing what you love and trying to make a living, is what forces many creatives into a box they do not want to be in. Resulting in them having a representation of themselves precede them.
People being represented in a unrealistic way was also a topic of power and control that was covered it the ‘That’s Not Me’ workshop led by Jona Piehl and Mark Ingham (2015). It is evident to me that framing is the majority of the image, and “the medium is the message” (McLuhan 1964). Although this is not known by the masses, many people are sponged to media of all forms. They do not do further research from an instantaneous source, instead many just take what they are given for truth and gospel. This is often how representation is mangled into somethings it is not. This part of human nature is where we begin to
contradict our position of power, control and reason. As a race we differentiate ourselves from ‘animals’ with the concept of free will and individuality. Although how we utilise this intellectual point of standing is what I find fascinating. We are supposedly the most intelligent creatures that roam this earth, but we still fight like dogs. This force of responsibility over the worlds state, of which we hang over our heads, is what snowballs existentialism into war and turmoil. Liam Sielski Waters, managed to represent this concept of oppression from power and control through a photo series titled just that; Oppression (2015). I conducted an interview with Sielski Waters to get another view of power and control, direct from another creative mind. Furthermore from someone who had researched the topic in depth, while also experimenting with ways of visually interpreting a subject which has such such a rich field of reference. The work from Oppression pays homage to propaganda from post soviet countries - such as Russia - and even up to current affairs of these countries, in regards to the consistent violations of human rights.
“With my series I wanted to try and capture the feeling of being controlled and marginalised, and perhaps not even knowing it.” -Sielski Waters (2015a) This series resonates the idea of being represented as something you are not. All of the people who modelled in the images I know in real life, and within these portraits they are almost unrecognisable as themselves. The models had no control over how they looked, how they were represented or the way they might be perceived. However this point is transferable to anyone who choses to let another person photograph them. We have no creative control as an individual in this situation. Furthermore as a creative society we are gradually loosing control to the technology that we use. The more we advance with image making technology, the more we become automatic, with taking the same image one thousand times over.
The following page is the aforementioned interview with Liam Sielski Waters, which was conducted in person.
Sielski Waters, L (2015b)
What in your life has the most power over you? For me power in essence is control over the masses, or the individual. There is the kind you are aware of, the influence of those around you for example, and the kind you are unaware of, such as rules and restrictions bought onto you by the nameless people in power, and how it effects you unconsciously.
“I crave control over my life and surroundings”
-Liam Sielski Waters
In my life I’d say it’s the things I’m unaware of, or have no influence/control over, such as government and enforced rules in society, I am totally at the whim of these things. Do you consider yourself submissive or dominant?
I’d always like to consider myself dominant, I crave control over my life and surroundings, and I believe that you have to do that yourself, I need certainty and something concrete. Realistically though, as dominant as one may think they are, there are always elements of submissiveness in their behaviour or actions, you are never going to be truly dominant.
Who has the most power over you? Are you compliant with their power?
For me the people who are always going to have the most power over you are going to be those close to you, those whom you open up emotionally to. They know your weaknesses and strengths,
and you know theirs, you function both on the understanding that you respect each other to never use this against each other, yet there is always the possibility they will. It is this element of doubt and opening up to someone which gives them power over you, and it is always complaint because that is the foundations of human relationship. Do you want more power?
In a sense I guess I do, I guess we all do. Power is control, and having more control means you can live life the way you want, other factors in life don’t have as much influence as you and your actions do. Do you have control over your own life?
Nobody really does, you can never have absolute autonomy.
I would give a great deal to be free from power and control. Although to be free from it would mean I would have to be the distributor of power and control, giving me responsibility, which in turn is still a controlling factor. So essentially power and control are a part of human social hierarchy, no matter where you sit within the metaphorical pyramid, that social construction uses as its scaolding. Believing that we are subservient members of an intricate system called society, is something I find terrifying. The idea of losing my identity and individuality is something I find extremely hard to comprehend. My greatest fear is being forced into something I do not want to do, I don’t want to be a piece in another persons grand scheme. Loss of power is loss of creativity in my mind. So power to myself I guess.  
References McLuhan, M (1964) Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. Place of publication: McGrawHill. McNutt, B. (2014) Available at: [http:// benmcnutt.tumblr.com/post/96851400105/ benmcnutt-newspaper-clipping] (Accessed on 1/12/15). Piehl, J & Ingham, (2015) Thats Not Me [Lecture to Design for Art Direction, Year 1], PU001655: 15/16 Contextual and Theoretical Studies 1 (CTS 1). University of the Arts London. 20th November. Sawdon Smith, R. (2012) 'RICHARD SAWDON SMITH', OutThere, Issue 4 September, PG 20-23. Sielski Waters, L (2015a) verbal conversation with myself (Jam Steward), 5th December.
Sielski Waters, L (2015b) Courtesy of the artist, Also available at [http://liamwaters.viewbook.com/ oppression]. Slatter, A. (2015) Who Are Dan Friedman and Andrew Slatter? [Lecture to Design for Art Direction, Year 1], PU001655: 15/16 Contextual and Theoretical Studies 1 (CTS 1). University of the Arts London. 6th November.