Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Top Ten Posts of 2012
Happy New Year to all my readers. As a recap of 2012, allow me to self-indulgently list the ten most visited posts on the Visual Culture Blog.
Breaking the Image of Mother and Child
By far the most visited post was my article on the controversial TIME Magazine cover photograph, depicting Jamie Lynne Grumet breastfeeding her three-year-old son. Jeff Miller, a regular reader of this blog, contributed a nuanced and thought-provoking additional reading of the image in the comment box.
James Nachtwey for Vogue Magazine
This post analyses a set of images by the legendary photojournalist James Nachtwey who was commissioned by Vogue Magazine to photograph the Assad family. Since Syrian opposition groups were brutally massacred by Assad’s regime, the ill-conceived Vogue article and it’s propagandistic images have magically vanished from the archives.
Banning the ‘Amateurish’ American Apparel Ads
Written in response to a series of American Apparel ads that were banned because they were deemed ‘amateurish’, this post seeks to investigate the relationship between vernacularism and sexualization in advertisement. This is a topic I habitually return to as advertisements continue to push against the boundaries of cultural and social taboos.
Samuel Aranda, World Press Photo of 2011
The post deconstructs a photography by Samuel Aranda who was awarded the prestigious World Press Photo award. The image shows a Yemeni woman holding her injured son.
Hisaji Hara, A Study of ‘Therese’, 2009
Voyeurism and the Photographs of Hisaji Hara
Hisaji Hara’s highly voyeuristic photographs are a visual response to the work of the French Polish painter Balthus. The post seeks to deconstruct the work of Hara not only in relation to Balthus, but also in relation to very specific visual (e.g. optical) aspects of the photographic apparatus.
Paint bomb attack on Larry Clark photograph at C/O Berlin
Photography, Obscenity and a Public Intervention
The post highlights an ‘attack’ which took place at a Larry Clarke exhibition in Berlin. The image in question, printed on canvas and hanging high above the entrance of the ℅ Gallery, shows a woman’s pubic area – or ‘shame zone’ as it is called in German. With reference to Germany’s complex and troubled history, the post highlights the fact that Berlin has always been at the forefront of interrogating cultural norms of taboos.
Yurie Nagashima, Yurie Nagashima (Tokyo: Fuga Shobo, 1995)
The irony of a top ten list featured in a top ten list. As part of the New York Art Book Fair, I was amongst a group of ten online curators who were asked to highlight ten Japanese photobooks.
Masters on the roof of the Bauhaus building, c.1926
This post is an in-depth critique of the much visited Bauhaus exhibition at the Barbican in London. Photography, one of the key artistic mediums at the Bauhaus, embraced because it stood for modernity and renewal, did not receive nearly enough recognition in this exhibition.
Namsa Leuba, Statuette Ndoki, Saleou, Guinea, 2011
A New Encounter of Contemporary Art and Anthropology
This exhibition review highlights the magnificent work of the young Swiss-Guinean artist Namsa Leuba. Straddling the boundary between photography, art and anthropology, Leuba’s images are self-referential, mythical and highly ambigious.
Massimo Vitali, Sarikiniko, 2011
Bathing in Massimo Vitali’s Sunshine
Last but not least is another exhibition review, investigating the large-scale photographic works of Massimo Vitali. His super large and extremely detailed photographs of people bathing in the sun are as much voyeuristic as they represent a type of fetishism – the fetishism of focus, detail and photographic accuracy.
I am looking forward to provide you with many more blog posts in 2013.
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Tokyo Photography Map
SCAI the Bathhouse Gallery as listed on the Tokyo Photography Map
After launching our popular London Photography Map, I am pleased to introduce the Tokyo Photography Map which lists photobook stores, libraries, museums, public and private galleries in one virtual resource. As announced in the previous post, I am expanding the photography map concept to other major cities in the world. If you are knowledgable of the photography scene in any major city in the world, I would be delighted to host your photography map on this blog. Photography map administrators have independent control to create and update the maps themselves. As acknowledgement of their contribution, administrators will be provided with a link to their own website or blog, as well as email address so that others can provide feedback. Feel free to get in touch (marcus.bohr (at) network.rca.ac.uk) if you are interested in launching a photography map of your city. I would be delighted to hear from you.
View Tokyo Photography Map in a larger map
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Call for Photography Map Administrators
I am pleased to introduce you to our newest feature on Visual Culture Blog: the London Photography Map. The map lists bookshops, libraries, museums, public and private galleries where you can view photography. Feel free to share the map with your friends and colleagues and get in touch if you think that I missed some important venues. Yet for the time being, the map lists places that I personally recommend and frequently visit myself.
View London Photography Map in a larger map
I am planning to expand the photography map concept to other major cities in the world. If you have intimate knowledge of the photography scene in any major global city (New York, Sao Paolo, Paris, Seoul, Jakarta, Sydney, Bangkok, Berlin, Mumbai etc.), you are invited to create a photography map yourself. I would be delighted to host this map on this blog. My plan is to create a global network of photography maps for those interested and enthusiastic about photography. All you would need to do is to create a photography map by following our London Photography Map as an example, and send us the code provided by Google maps. Photography map administrators have independent control to create and update the maps themselves. As acknowledgement of their contribution, administrators will be provided with a link to their own website or blog, as well as email address so that others can provide feedback. Feel free to get in touch (marcus.bohr (at) network.rca.ac.uk) if you are interested in launching a photography map of your city. I would be delighted to hear from you.
Support this blog to help us keep going, and going, and going ….
