Examples of relay in contemporary photographic practice include Sophie Calle’s Take Care of Yourself and Sophy Rickett’s Objects in the Field (see interview in the Appendix to this course guide) where clashes of understanding or interpretation work together to create a perhaps incomplete but nonetheless enriching dialogue between artist and viewer.
Look these pieces up online. Investigate the rationale behind the pieces and see if you can find any critical responses to them. Write down your own responses in your learning log.
- How do these two pieces of work reflect postmodern approaches to narrative?
- Another way to incorporate text into an image-based project is to include interviews or audio.
Sophie Calle – Take Care of Yourself
I found it quite difficult to access online, but did find a YouTube video. From what I have seen and have read, this series focuses around an email that Sophie Calle recieved from her then boyfriend telling her he was ending the relationship. The series is her response. She sent the email to 107 different women (all professionals in their careers) and recieved their different responses. These responses were then framed and displayed in an exhibit in 2007.
The Guardian in 2007 posted an interview with Sophie Calle discussing this work and the writer, Angelique Chrisafis states “The ex’s grammar and syntax have been torn apart by a copy editor, his manners rubbished by an etiquette consultant and his lines pored over by Talmudic scholars. He has been re-ordered by a crossword-setter, evaluated by a judge, shot up by a markswoman, second-guessed by a chess player and performed by actress Jeanne Moreau. A forensic psychiatrist decided he was a “twisted manipulator”. The temple to a woman scorned is entitled “Take care of yourself” (Prenez soin de vois), immortalising lines that Calle, if she hadn’t had recourse to the international art world, might have read again and again in tears.” which is an interesting way of discussing the work. It shows that Sophie Calle turned her “pain into art” (also a quote from Chrisafis).
Frieze states “With the exception of a parrot repeating ‘Take care of yourself,’ the respondents are all authorities in their respective disciplines. The only weakness in the work lies here: where is the anonymous, everyday woman, who would surely have something to say as well? In any case, the expanded act of reading rewrites the coordinates of failure. What was at first limiting and destructive, through this joint effort produces a library of responses with an almost encyclopaedic versatility: viewers can reference this library to redefine other kinds of apparent rejection or failure. In this sense Take Care of Yourself is a generous, humanist and even an emancipatory work.”
I haven’t been able to view more than a small selection of images online, but will try my best to right my thoughts, as well as my views on the question. Sophie Calle’s work is an interesting response to a break-up, but shows that emotions can fuel unique and interesting projects for a photographer or artist. My initial reaction to this was that I was surprised that she was not really the main focus of this project, despite it being something extremely personal. Instead, the focus was on different reactions to the email her ex partner sent and they came in a wide variety. This project seemed to almost be a type of therapy in a way, but could it also have been a way of revenge? As her ex partner would most likely have recieved a lot of criticism, had he not been kept anonymous, but he must have seen the reactions of others.
The project itself has different types of responses, varying from videos, photos and text which helps all link it together. Yet I do not think it really comes across as a ‘story’ which does link it to postmodernism. It has some sort of narrative but there is no linear story line, it is just the reactions of others to her breakup and them also demonstrating how they may have responded in the same/a similar situation. She has removed her own emotions from the project and transferred them to others, but in general it gives her response to the breakup. Although it would be down to various interpretations.
Sophy Rickett – Objects in the Field
Objects in the Field is a project by Sophy Rickett during an artist fellowship at the instute of astronomy, university of Cambridge. She was inspired by retired astronomer Dr Roderick Willstrop and got hold of his negatives produced in the 1980’s, when he built a 3 mirror telescope camera.
When reading the appendix of the course notes, we discover her difficulty in this project. Beginning with an interest in the 3 mirror telescope, and connecting over their enjoyment of the sky and working at night, to clashes with her seeing it all as art and him as science and her not feeling like she is giving anything back to Dr Roderick Willstrop with this project.
After looking at the images, I realise they make no sense on their own. They appear very random, but a lot of art does. There is no context, until you read the accompanying text which I think is important to the understanding of the work. She includes a memory from her childhood of getting glasses and then about the working relationship with Dr Roderick Willstrop.
There is also meant to a video accompanying this which is read by the Dr himself, but unfortunately this is not on the same website so I have been unable to discuss it. Yet I think just the understanding of its existence would help with the project, as we would have context of it from the man himself who originally created the negatives.
Again, this has a story but not specifically a beginning, middle and end, so is postmodern in that way. If anything it is bringing the past back into the present.
How do these two pieces of work reflect postmodern approaches to narrative?
As previously stated, neither of these pieces fit into a linear narrative. There is no strict beginning, middle, end yet they do tell a story.
Also in terms of authorship, Sophie Calle heavily relies on her story and reactions to her breakup being told by others, 107 other women to be exact. It is there reactions and the ways they portray these that provide the narrative of this project. With Sophy Rickett, again, the authorship is not 100% in her control, the negatives themselves are produced by another person, but she is bringing more context to them and allowing them to be displayed in a different manner to how they should have been originally. She does however control what we know of the context by providing the text piece alongside it. She fully acknowledges and allows Dr Roderick Willstrops work to be displayed and credited as him, while also discussing and displaying the difficulty in working together when art and science clash.
References:
YouTube. (2007). Sophie Calle / French Pavilion / 52nd Venice Biennale 2007. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAZtzI0cJQ8 [Accessed 6 Sep. 2019].
Chrisafis, A. (2007). Interview: Sophie Calle. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/jun/16/artnews.art [Accessed 6 Sep. 2019].
RØED, K. (2013). Sophie Calle. [online] Frieze.com. Available at: https://frieze.com/article/sophie-calle-1 [Accessed 6 Sep. 2019].
Rickett, S. (n.d.). Objects in the Field — Sophy Rickett. [online] Sophy Rickett. Available at: https://sophyrickett.com/objects-in-the-field-1 [Accessed 6 Sep. 2019].
OCA Context & Narrative – pg. 130-137
Laura's Learning Log 2 