Identity- Nikki S Lee

A persons identity is of poignant interest in photography. Often photographers and artist question what identity is and how society has an effect on ones identity. How are identities formed? Is identity something we can change?

Nikki S. Lee is a photographer, however the work in her book 'projects', presents Nikki S.Lee as an artist who performs. Her presence is significantly important in each photograph, even if it is not immediately obvious to the viewer. Her photos are often taken like family snap shots, giving us the impression that these are truthful documentations of her day to day life. Supported by the date stamp which gives the images an amateur quality, due to the sort of cheap camera which would produce this. One could argue that in a way these are a true documentation of Nikki S Lee's life as her work is far more than just going out and taking photos, she spends months preparing for these images, getting to know and trust the people she is working with and gaining their approval.

"my life and my work are not separate. I just have more roles than other people. And I have photographs." Nikki S Lee, 'projects' - P17 

Nikki Lee's work raises many issues related to identity and groups within society. Her work highlights the segregation of certain groups in America, however the acceptance of her in each of these chosen groups shows another warmth and closeness to society. The people next to Lee more often than not look relaxed and comfortable with her even though she has made them all aware of her real identity and the projects she is working on.

Nikki S. Lee
The Exotic Dancers Project (4)
2000 | Chromogenic print | 21 x 28 in.
Fujiflex photograph. Signed, titled and editioned 3/5 on print verso.

Inevitable we begin to address the subject of Nikki Lee's identity, she is a Korean woman who moved to America in 1994 and changed her name to one which was based on a model in Vogue. Inspired by this idea of taking on another persons identity she questions her own identity and what it means to her. Her images portray a woman who is socially accepted into a wide number of groups which are mainly based on something she is not. She takes adapts to these people so well, creating bonds and close relationships, convincing us that she has a confident and strong personalty. However on the other side one could say that her inability to keep the same identity or her real identity, presents a person who is insecure and unsure of who or what they are.

Identity does presents its self as something that can change, often things change unwillingly, for example disability is not something one can prevent, however it does form part of ones identity. Age, again is something we can not prevent, therefore many people choose to disguise this by having plastic surgery or wearing makeup. Nikki S Lee shows that one can change their identity however it presents its self as perhaps only temporary. Ones identity is formed though circumstance, time and the choices we make.

Installation Art- Nam June Paik

What is Installation Art?

My interpretation of installation art as a whole is art which is site specific, which is designed to provoke an expression or interpretation specific to it's place or sorroundings. Often involving a variety of senses i.e. site, vision, touch.

Nam June Paik is considered to be one of the first video artists. He is a qualified composer and studied history of music. Leading him to the exploration and experimentation of tv, musical compositions and avant-garde art as a combination.

Some of his most famous pieces of work, 'TV Buddah', 'TV Plant' and 'TV Cello' involve science and technology with natural beauty, whether it be nature its self, music or spirituality. Personifying the nature of the human form through different types of media/instalments and sculptures.

"he insisted that the video camera was not so much a technological device as a brush for creating images, which could freely be used by anyone in any country. He believed that when technology could be used like an artist's brush, this would humanize technology so it could be applied for the true benefit of mankind. "

Lee Yongwoo,
	Technotogy as Art: The Legacy of Video Artist Paik Nam June
SOURCE:	Koreana 20 no2 36-9 Summ 2006
COPYRIGHT:	(C) Korea Foundation. Web address: http://www.kofo.or.kr/kdata.htm.

Video Fish (1975). Three channel video installation with aquariums, water, live fish, and variable number of monitors.

Paik humanises technology my removing the interior of the tv and replacing it with something else. He provokes his audience by allowing them to question technology and it's possibilities and limitations. With a world around us becoming increasing dependant on the use of technology in all aspects of everyday life, he endeavours to dig deeper into the mind and sole of technology. By extracting ones original connatation of a tv or a fish tank and replacing it with something else, Paik has given the piece of technology a new form. One that is open to interpretation, therefore being installation art.

Nam June Piak also plays with the notion of time passing and repetition, often giving something a different meaning or perception after some time has passed. The monotony of watching fish is like that of watching the TV or playing a repetitive computer game. The idea of placing a fish tank with live fish in front of video screens of fish swimming, planes flying and other moving images creates a literal crossing of mediums, giving the live fish a tv like feel and the tv's themselves a  three dimensional sculpture form. 

           NAM JUNE PAIK, TV Fish (detail), 1975–88, three-channel video, 24 monitors and aquariums, live fish, 1158 × 147 × 99 cm. Courtesy Nam June Paik Art Center, Yongin.

This iconic piece

http://www.paikstudios.com/gallery/18.html

References:

AUTHOR:	Carla Hanzal
TITLE:	Traversing the Worlds of NAM JUNE PAIK
SOURCE:	Sculpture (Washington, D.C.) 20 no5 18-23 Je 2001

• Source Citation

Dillon, Brian. "Outside the box: turning television sets into art is a compelling conceit, says Brian Dillon." New Statesman[1996] 10 Jan. 2011: 53. Gale Power Search. Web. 6 Feb. 2012.

Document URL

http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA247975819&v=2.1&u=stock&it=r&p=GPS&sw=w

Gale Document Number: GALE|A247975819

The Scene of a Crime

The Scene of Crime: Web

The Scene of a Crime




Photography is used as a forensic instrument to record evidence at the scene of a crime. However the aim is to produce an 'objective' photograph, which can sometimes can be produced and received as something else.

Arthur Felling (1899-1968), known also as Weegee, after the Ouija board, due to his prompt arrival at the scenes of crimes. The work that Weegee produced between the 30's and 60's  inspired comics and gangster films all over the world.






Source: http://www.amber-online.com/exhibitions/weegee-collection/detail

You can see in Weegee's photos that there is a perspective, we are looking from a persons point of view (Weegee's) giving us a biased view of the crime or criminal. He had an wonderful way of capturing the scene of the crime, with an element of beauty and style. Paying attention to things like the reflections in mirrors and the framing in the car window, changing peoples view of the crime scene.








http://www.slate.com/slideshows/arts/weegee-murder-is-my-business-at-icp.html




Inspired by Weegee, photographers have continued to capture crime scenes in a similar way, giving the dark and what one would think should be unbiased and unemotional images an aesthetic beauty. These photos slowly become more focused on the detail in the composition and the lighting and shapes than that of its original forensic origin.
Photographers such as Paul Seawright and David Farell, produced a series of work based around old crime scenes.

Seawright went back to the places where sectarian murders took place some time after and photographed them. Using text from paper reports at the time he placed it underneath his images to explain to the viewer that these are more than just images of places. The images allow us to be in the photo, viewing it from Seawrights point of view, which becomes more and more sinister as you look at them for longer periods of time.

Paul Seawright -'Sectarian Murders' 1988

 These images draw a close connection between the scene of the crime and the crime itself. The sinister tone, shows that these places are still after so many years absorbed by a sense of a process of an event. Charged with a sense of history and context.

Unlike Weegee's we are not shown the crime it's self so the text at the bottom allows us to recreate the crime scene in our minds, which feels quite unnatural and apocalyptic.

http://www.paulseawright.info/sectarian2.html




David Farrell followed the work of Paul Seawright and produced a project called
'Innocent Landscapes' - 
He produced a series of work, made at the 'sites of the disappeared.' They are of the burial places were 8 people were 'disappeared'(murdered and buried) by the IRA in the 70's and 80's. Like Seawright his photographs are haunted by a sense of happening in both a historically political and personal way. Thus giving the viewing a strange familiarity with the landscape.

http://www.galleryofphotography.ie/exhibitions/davidfarrell/sections/intro.html




His photos are supported with marked maps, indicating the precise place the bodies were buried. Giving the images a more forensic, crime style. This is not what we get when we first look at the images alone, due the bright colour and quite often picturesque scene.

Todd Maisel

-a crime photographer from the New York Daily News. He has quite a controversial way of working which provokes the viewers. He arrives promptly on the scene of crimes and sometimes gets up closer than the police. He often tweets his photos after sending his chosen image to the NY Daily News. 

You can see that Maisel was heavily influenced by Weegee, using his fast approach of arriving on the scene and working closely with the police. His style is similar in that he captures what is going on around the crime scene not just the deceased or the criminal. He includes the people that arrive on the scene and the crowds that begin together and there responses to the crime.

 

 

CHASING CRIME WITH A SPOT NEWS PHOTOGRAPHER TUESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2012 BY STEPHEN NESSEN

“I look for those nuances, those moments when people are not ready to see, or the perpetrators trying to hide,” he said. “You try to get their personality out of the photo, that’s always a pretty important thing.” - Tod Maisel