dehumanisation | George Cooper

“Vitalism is a doctrine that describes living organisms as fundamentally different from non-living entities, because they are governed by different principles.”

I started to think about vitalism and what kind of principles are most commonly applied in peoples lives, which after a bit of thinking and exploring the web, lead me to social acceptance, a key area of study that fits in perfectly with the title of this project. I started to research a bit more into social acceptance within our lives, and why exactly people feel the need for it to exist.

Now, most people thrive social acceptance because they feel left out, or not ‘normal,’ which then can effect their confidence and personality. To become socially acceptable, they then adhere to specific styles of clothing, hair styles, brands and so on, which will then deem them more normal and acceptable in the eyes of the general population. I find this very fascinating and I must admit, it is not a concept that I myself can say I do not participate in. It’s an issue that affects the majority of our society today, and I think the fact that the worth of a human being measured via clothes, style and brand of possessions is ridiculous.

I think the biggest issue within our culture is the social hierarchy that has been established due to fashion and brands, and therefore the unacceptability of clothes, and people who wear said clothes, that do not possess a label or a significant brand. Of course fashion will never die down and people are allowed to have their own individual fashion tastes, however the victimisation of people not adhering to ‘popular’ conventions is unfair and outrageous.

Now after looking into social acceptance and branding I developed my thoughts to focus further on the unacceptability of unbranded items, and the prejudice of individuals based on their fashion style. People are no longer judged via their personality, they are judged based on their clothing choices, which I think is completely dehumanising. The value of a person is decided simply upon whether or not they wear branded items, and therefore I thought this would be a very interesting area to focus my practice in. It is also something that really irritates me, so I think I will enjoy expressing myself in the form of photography.

PREPARING FOR PRODUCTION

As this project doesn’t care about the identity of the subject, I will be using the same person to feature in all of my photographs, and he will be male as I feel that not only do more men wear (visibly) branded items, but due to me owning some of the clothes I would like to feature, it will be much more convenient. I intend to use a dull backdrop, either a grey or black, as I feel this suits the mood of the images – I think brighter colours would give off the wrong vibe. I will experiment in the studio, however as the images have to be in a triptych format, I would prefer if all the backgrounds were the same colour, or if only the middle image’s background was different to the two side images, that way it would be symmetrical and more aesthetic in my opinion.

After the previous project, I have had a much better experience with the lights, so I expect my photographs to be correctly and professionally lit. Below I have listed the images I intend to get, in order of left to right, to give a better picture of how I want my triptych to look. ALL images will start just above the waist to include maximum amount of the brand.

1. Adidas
Subject will be wearing white Adidas t-shirt
A printed Adidas logo will be stuck to the subject’s head, hiding their identity
Subject will wear Adidas boots on hands, for further branding
Backdrop will be black, allowing contrast

2. Fred Perry
Subject will be wearing black Fred Perry t-shirt
A printed Fred Perry logo will be stuck to the subject’s head
Backdrop will be grey, allowing the t-shirt to be visible

3. Apple
Subject will be holding Apple MacBook and iPhone (Plus other accessories if possible (iPad, iPod))
Subject will be wearing a white t-shirt, with the Apple logo stuck onto it
A printed Apple logo will be stuck to the subject’s head
Backdrop will be black

FINAL IMAGES

I really enjoyed producing these images, I had a lot of fun with the flashes and lighting in the studio, and a lot more success than I have before. I can definitely feel an improvement in the quality of my images, and hopefully this is reflected within my grades. Below I have separated each individual image, followed by all three collated in a triptych.

For the first project I feel I may have over-thought the complexity of my idea and tried something slightly overambitious. For Creatures I want to do something much simpler, but hopefully equally effective.

I started to think a lot about what exactly characterises something as a ‘creature,’ so what things make something look alive as opposed to an inanimate object, and the first thing that came to mind was the eyes. This gave me many ideas about what I could photograph, however my basic idea was to humanise everyday objects by giving them a set of eyes, so I started to look more into this type of humanisation within photography.

After looking around I first found a website called Eyebombing. As explained within the websites ‘about’ section, Eyebombing is the art of sticking “googly eyes” onto an inanimate object in the public sphere, in a way that cleverly lends the object the appearance of a living creature. The purpose of doing such is to bring joy and happiness to people passing in the street, and to make them smile. It is not at all for the artist to gain recognition, it is for the benefit of the public, which I find very interesting. I see it as more of a movement searching for the involvement of other individuals and aiming to please the community as opposed to one or two artist’s trying to become popular and gain money. BBC News covered a story on Eyebombing, which explains the process in more detail, and includes some public responses to the act:

Not only do I find this practice intriguing, but the concepts and reasoning behind it really appeal to me. I like to spread happiness and joy so this work really connects with me.

The only difference between what I hope to do, and the act of Eyebombing, is that my work will be studio based, however I think this allows for more creativity and various technical choices to be made instead. This also means that I can not approach everyday items in public, I will have to acquire my own objects to take into the studio which led me to develop a few ideas.

I feel that fortunate people have household objects that they take for granted, primarily electronics: phones, phone chargers, laptops/computers and the internet (represented by a router), but also everyday items that we actually need, such as water, clothes and even plants and trees. I will need to select items specifically, however applying googly eyes to items like these, which are rarely appreciated unless broken or lost, will personify them, giving them an identity. I think this is important as all creatures, both animals and humans are appreciated much more because of their personalities and sense of life, so hopefully humanising these everyday objects will make people who view my images appreciate their personal good fortune and luck, and consider treating their belongings with more respect and care.

PREPARING FOR PRODUCTION

Unlike the previous project, I have (thankfully) planned to only spend 1 or 2 pounds, and this will be on the googly eyes alone, as all of the objects I will be photographing will be my own personal belongings. The objects I will be photographing in the studio I have listed below, in a similar fashion to my preparation for the first project:

1. Apple MacBook
Googly eyes will be located above the Apple logo, implying it is the mouth
The case on my laptop is a bit dirty, so this will show misuse/lack of care

2. Television remote
I have a really grimy remote that I have had for years, that will be perfect to represent a lack of care
Googly eyes will be positioned on either the top or bottom (if upside down) of the remote
Batteries and back piece will be used as either arms or legs

3. Flower
Either a flower from a supermarket or from my back garden
Soil and dirt over the flower
Wilting due to lack of water
Stem will be cut and used as arms and legs

ALL googly eyes will be positioned in a way to make the objects look sad/concerned.

For this project I want to focus so much more on my lighting, as it was terrible in the previous project. I have made sure I have booked the appropriate equipment, and also as this project doesn’t require as much preparation, I will have so much more time to experiment and play around with the lights, which will allow me to create the correct mood with my images. I want to use the flashes, and understand them a bit more, as it will benefit my future projects if I can comprehend how the lighting is used to set a certain mood.

FINAL IMAGES

George Cooper

A collection of work, ideas and thoughts.

Tag Archives: dehumanisation

Project 3: People are Things

Project 2: Creatures