The second week of the course.
Photography has an interesting relationship with the many disciplines that make up history. Looking at interdisciplinary influence in photography I am consistently in awe of staged realism, specifically the Vancouver School of photoconceptualism. It is something I would love to work towards as an influence on my practice. Below is “Abbott & Cordova, 7 August 1971” by Stan Douglas (2009) — a 30 by 50 foot photographic mural depicting a staged version of the Vancouver Gastown Riots of 1971.
To create this photograph, Douglas sifted through public archives, newspapers and video to piece together his representation of the riots. Creating this image from multiple disciplines, he produced a very cinematic photograph filled with its own small vignettes that contribute to the the overlying historical narrative. The work is heavily influenced not only by the multidisciplinary resources of images and video from journalism, photo and video documentary, but also his own interviews with some of those who witnessed the riot. Having this pool of information and memory across different disciplinary formats gave Douglas the ability to present a very personal yet broad field of interest for the viewer. Viewers can appreciate the photo on a purely aesthetic level, or appreciate its scale, its technical achievement in composition, or as a fictional document of a historical event.
The two story image is now installed in the area where the riots took place as a piece of public art. It’s now an ongoing social narrative between the real location, the art, and the new community that is built up around it. Like history, the photograph has a social element that links these disciplines together.
Interdisciplinary Approaches In My Current Practice
Music and film are very influential in my inspiration, visually or at least in terms of an atmosphere. In the same way that some of my favourite photographers are influenced by cinema, I will research their favourite films or directors, then in turn their favourite films, books, music. I find it amazing to see the connections between people who I greatly admire and influences they greatly admire; Gregory Crewdson and David Lynch for example.
The image below is a still from Rabbits by David Lynch.
The image below is taken from Beneath The Roses.
Seeing the two images together, you can see a direct influence from Rabbits to Crewdson’s image. Crewdson’s is more fleshed out but the feeling is the same, the poses and narrative are the same.
In pouring over the influences of my influences I am using their work to influence my own. I find myself wanting to experience same inspiration and not so I can create a Gregory Crewdson or a Stan Douglas image, but so I can absorb it into my own image.
Above image is my own.
CRJ 