This exhibition was a part of the Victoria and Albert museum and examined the authority given to photographers by their camera. It examines the examination of life that the camera enables and the way in which photographers are given the opportunity to have an objective look inside life.It was particularly interested in the lack of defined form that much of contemporary documentary photography takes and delighted in its lack of constraint form generic conventions. It too looked upon a documentary style image as an insight into the mind of the photographer; a look from their eyes outwards, and upon the way that it informs the viewer of the contexts that surround it. They also invite the viewer to examine force that could be driving the photographer, be it emotional, political, aesthetic, and use that interpretation to further understand the images.
One particular photographers work that is worth noting was that of Clare Richardson, who visited a small community in Harlemville in North America who follow the teachings of the early 20th Century philosopher Rudolph Steiner. This was particularly entwined wit the photographic medium as it specialised in the mobilization of imagination in children developing the importance of story telling in the community, much like a photographer can do through this medium.
Richardson did not initially arrive with her camera, though it soon became apparent through the sheer delight she found in the village, that she wished to capture its separation from metropolitan society. Those in Harlemville understood the importance of a union between self and environment and using that to discover who they are as individuals. An interesting parallel arises here as we can see the way in which Richardson, as a person raised in a more urban landscape, discovers herself while behind her camera, and simultaneously examiners the way that this community evolves without one.
Richardson did not initially arrive with her camera, though it soon became apparent through the sheer delight she found in the village, that she wished to capture its separation from metropolitan society. Those in Harlemville understood the importance of a union between self and environment and using that to discover who they are as individuals. An interesting parallel arises here as we can see the way in which Richardson, as a person raised in a more urban landscape, discovers herself while behind her camera, and simultaneously examiners the way that this community evolves without one.
This image is particularly interesting as it displays a group of young people, coated in mud, after having watched the rabbits. This mud, as a form of camouflage, really accentuates the unity the children in the community had with nature which Clare Richardson marked as extremely different to those who grow up away from nature, often being quite apprehensive of something they have little contact with. The central framing and very natural lighting and colour scheme, really cause the individuals to blend in with their background, and the audience is really given a sense of the way that they are closely interlinked with their surroundings as a community. We not only get a sense of the way they live therefore, but also an understanding, due to the nature of the photographic medium, of the way this beautifully comes across to an outsider like Clare Richardson.
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Here again we really get a sense of community and togetherness. Particularly with the similar hairstyles of the individuals and the un-flashy or boastful attire they wear, one is given a sense of the humble family atmosphere that permeates the group. The way that both of the subjects are turned away fro the camera does however separate the viewer slightly from them meaning that we are not wholly connected with their environment. This separation form metropolitan society is key to understanding the dynamic of the village as it is, while not smug, very different and far more natural than much of the world in a way that is perhaps perfectly captured here, in a familial hug. The wedding ring on the woman's hand also reinforces this sense f traditional values to combine with the flowers she holds, for an all together very rustic idea of the kind of reality they inhabit.
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We are here confronted with the emphasis placed on children in this organisation and one can relish in the beautiful framing of the piece. The way that the tree extends to the limits of the audience's vision truly encapsulates the childlike view upon the world, as though Richardson creates a naturally grown bubble, reminiscent of the games so often played amongst nature by the children who live in Harlemville. The beautifully innocent way she observes her hands and the dappled sunlight that plays across them again almost perfectly sums up the way in which residents use their interactions with nature to understand themselves in accordance with their environment. The low angle of the shot is also explanatory of the way that the photographer looked upon the scene, never quite a part of it, but always deeply in awe of the almost perfect relationships she viewed.
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