Week 7: Sea Of Changes
Reproduction of imagery in a Photographic or Artistic landscape, is I believe principally a commercial and exploitative exercise for individual or corporate gain. We take photos for many reasons, primarily to exert some form of control over our surroundings or life in general. For the majority the reproduction of those images is to act as aide memoir and to take ownership of the moment. As SONTAG says by converting an experience into an image, it becomes a souvenir. How that personal image is then reproduced within a digital world is often to extend our experiences to others we know, such as family and friends. This evidential representation of our existence and use of time, can not be better demonstrated than through a photograph. Verbally it is not possible to describe such extreme or significant situations, and the written word often relies on a sense of interpretation which the captured image does for us.
Reproductions reach us in our homes and lives via the world of print and digital transfer. How much we choose to breathe in remains our choice, although avoiding it can be hard. We have seen a lot of image cloning through iconography, the Che Guevara portrait being a prime example where its life far exceeded the original photographic intention. Used for good and bad, it has assumed a life beyond its origin for commercial and political gain. It’s uses or reinterpretations seem to have no boundaries.
Fig 1: (left) Korda with Original Photo (1960), Julio Etchart/ullstein bild/Getty Images
Fig 2: (middle) Scott, Che Guevaro (right), Camilla Guevaro (left), Irish Times
Fig 3: (right) Cover of MAD Magazine, Image Resourcing
There are of course even more literal reproductions of images, some for art and some for fun. And although reproductions can become valuable in their own right (particularly in the art world) often the cloning is for entertainment. I speak here of Marco Pece and his lego reinterpretations of modern masterpieces.
Figure 4: Pece, The Last Supper
Pece aka ‘Udronotti‘ calls his work “the physical representation of a thought, which sees through the dissemination of art and culture the salvation of the individual and perhaps the most difficult task of mankind”. Make of that statement what you will, I just look at the compositions and enjoy them for the bravado of deconstruction from a unique and ultimately rare piece of art, into a completely available and achievable facsimilie using differant materials.
I think there is an overabundance of imagery in the world, and with subsequent reproductions it is hard to break down the noise to the quality and relevance. Personally I never set out to take photographs which reproduce or reinterpret past references. My work is original, and although the subject matter may have been photographed before, I am not looking to replicate or exploit what others have produced. Originality for me is crucial and defines my work, rather than be informed by another’s. In a digital world there is no possibility of scaling down the volume of photographs, in fact the exponential curve will eventually perform a full circle and to break that revolution will be impossible, this I believe is why so many are returning to analogue to find once again the purity and significance of photography.
Bibliography:
Figure 1: Image and article available at: //www.history.com/this-day-in-history/iconic-photo-of-che-guevara-taken (Accessed 7/3/21)
Figure2: Image and article available at: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/son-of-che-the-life-of-camilo-guevara-1.3013285?mode=sample&auth-failed=1&pw-origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.irishtimes.com%2Fnews%2Fworld%2Fson-of-che-the-life-of-camilo-guevara-1.3013285 (Accessed 7/3/21)
Figure 3: Image and article available at: https://www.imaging-resource.com/news/2013/06/06/the-extraordinary-story-behind-the-iconic-image-of-che-guevara (Accessed 7/3/21)
Figure 4: Marco Pece image available at: http://www.udronotto.it/daily-mail/