Instinctive Portraits
This project was inspired by the visual artist and teacher Hicham Benohoud. It was created partly to allow encourage to become more collaborative, persistent and imaginative in their approach to portraiture. The students were encouraged to look at and 'read' Benohoud's photographs. We started with a class discussion about the visual and formal elements. We concentrated on framing, light and space. We then explored cultural references and time. We also discussed subject matter (genre) and 'focus'.
Born and raised in Morocco, Benohoud's portraits of school children are a reaction to the restrictions that he felt as a young man. He opposed the strict religious views of his culture. His photographs aim to show a sense of freedom within an authoritative climate. He wanted to show that when habits are changed, and challenged, we are able to consider something new and this will be expressed in a new visual language.
Born and raised in Morocco, Benohoud's portraits of school children are a reaction to the restrictions that he felt as a young man. He opposed the strict religious views of his culture. His photographs aim to show a sense of freedom within an authoritative climate. He wanted to show that when habits are changed, and challenged, we are able to consider something new and this will be expressed in a new visual language.
Hicham Benahoud - The Classroom
Benahoud asked students from a school in Marrakesh to improvise and create a sculpture from materials provided. He encouraged the students to break through the rigid patterns of behaviour imposed by society and religion. He would select a pupil at random, who would strike a pose. As the photographs reveal, the other students in the class continued with their work and were not at all distracted by the sculptural performances occurring in front of them. The photographs present layers of visual information.
Task #1:
The first task encourages students to 'read' a photograph from Benohoud's classroom series. How does the photograph work visually? What meanings does it generate for viewers?
Visual Literacy - Hicham Benohoud | |
File Size: | 184 kb |
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Task #2:
In small groups, follow the instructions provided.
Instinctive Portraits instructions | |
File Size: | 154 kb |
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Props & materials:
Example outcomes:
Here is a small selection of the images produced by the students.
Tasks
- Investigate the work of Hicham Benahoud - The Classroom'. What information can you gather from the artist? The country he lives in and the context of the work.
- Analyse one of the photographs from the series using the following questions asa starting point;
- Describe what you see in the photograph.
- 1. What is the genre of this picture?
- 2. What do you find unusual or surprising about the subject matter?
- 3. How would you describe the relationship between the foreground and background?
- 4. Make a quick sketch of the photograph. What do you notice about the composition?
- 5. How does the photograph make you feel?
- 6. What ideas do you think are explored in this photograph?
- Create a series of images inspired by the artist using found materials from the department.
- Evaluate your images.
- Choose a selection of successful images from this series.
Collaborative Photobook
- If necessary, create a few more portraits and make them personal and meaningful, think about what you want to portray, who you want to photograph and how you want to photograph them.
- Choose 2 images from your selection of portraits. Choose images that you think best represent the brief-be strict with your selection. Print the image onto A4 paper. Write just a paragraph on your chosen images
- Place your image with the others so that we can form a group selection.
- As a group. We will select from the images to form a book and make a collaborative photo book using the 5 hole pamphlet method, instructions are attached.
- Design a cover for your book and give it a title.
- Print your cover and begin to make your book.
- Photograph your book and upload this to your website or print and put it into your book.
- Evaluate the process.
Viviane Sassen
Viviane Sassen is another photographer who sees photography any sculpture closely entwined. Her work is a combination of fine art and fashion photography and it crosses many boundaries including photography and sculpture. She has also used the human figure as an element of her scluptures, her work which includes some staged photographs is diverse, new and interesting. Sassen studied fashion at the Royal Academy in Arnhem, Amsterdam. She then began to study photography. Her photographs are mainly portraiture based with her fashion and commercial photography both incorporating the genre. She has said that the bright, intense colours stem from her childhood, growing up in Kenya she was surrounded by bright colours, light and shadow. All of these visual elements are clearly visible in her work. A lot of her characters are reduced to shapes, almost sculptural pieces rather than human beings. Often with a colourful background or a natural element such as the sky, the sea or the earth.The props used in her fine art photography are simple, found objects, a chair, a leaf, fabric, a body but all of the pieces have been placed in such a way as to form part of the 'sculpture created by Sassen.
An excerpt from an interview with Hansi momodu-Gordon, 2015:
HMG: I guess my question was also around the fact that lots of the devices that you use – the shadow, for example, or body paints – are things that you’ve been using since really early on, before you returned to Africa, and so I guess they are formal concerns that have been yours since the beginning. I was reflecting on your work in relation to the idea of photography as writing with light, and it occurred to me that at the same time you are also drawing with bodies and that in your photographs the body becomes a prop or materials and the kind of formal sculptural qualities are accentuated. Is that important to you in the work?
VS: It is but it’s more … sometimes I feel more like a sculptor than a photographer. I’m just in love with these kinds of body sculptures because for me they also express an emotion; they might seem very formal but there’s not only this formal aspect to it, there’s also an emotional aspect to it, at least to me. When I take pictures of these body shapes, for me there’s not really a difference between the white skin and the black in that sense. If I were to go back to Africa now I would probably stage less than I did in the past. But in the early 2000s when I went back to Africa and started taking these pictures, I think I was one of the very first – or at least I hadn’t seen it anywhere before – to stage my pictures. At that time I was trying to show a very personal and different view on Africa, my own personal experiences, my childhood experiences in Africa, because I think back then I only knew the pictures of National Geographicor the black and white grainy pictures of famine and, you know, hunger and disease and all these kind of stereotypical images of Africa … And at some point in my subconscious I was thinking, well, if you go to Africa you have to be at some level a documentary photographer. And then, when I went back to the places of my childhood and the villages, suddenly it made a click in my mind that I could also stage my pictures and make them more personal.
From 'Elephant magazine:
In the last decade, Sassen has successfully blended the worlds of art and commerce. Taking full advantage of fashion’s transitionary nature, she uses the space to play and go wild; she explains: “Editorial work for magazines is my testing ground. It’s a blank canvas for me to experiment.” While her art practice is deeply cathartic, focusing on personal histories and her fascination with the inner workings of the human psyche, she has a lifelong affinity with surrealism. She credits the movement with shaping her gaze and personal philosophy. “For me, surrealism is the ability to experience or look at things in a way that’s unbiased, free of judgement and convention—almost like looking through the eyes of a child.”
““For me, surrealism is the ability to experience or look at things in a way that’s unbiased, free of judgement and convention—almost like looking through the eyes of a child” (Viviane Sassen)
An excerpt from an interview with Hansi momodu-Gordon, 2015:
HMG: I guess my question was also around the fact that lots of the devices that you use – the shadow, for example, or body paints – are things that you’ve been using since really early on, before you returned to Africa, and so I guess they are formal concerns that have been yours since the beginning. I was reflecting on your work in relation to the idea of photography as writing with light, and it occurred to me that at the same time you are also drawing with bodies and that in your photographs the body becomes a prop or materials and the kind of formal sculptural qualities are accentuated. Is that important to you in the work?
VS: It is but it’s more … sometimes I feel more like a sculptor than a photographer. I’m just in love with these kinds of body sculptures because for me they also express an emotion; they might seem very formal but there’s not only this formal aspect to it, there’s also an emotional aspect to it, at least to me. When I take pictures of these body shapes, for me there’s not really a difference between the white skin and the black in that sense. If I were to go back to Africa now I would probably stage less than I did in the past. But in the early 2000s when I went back to Africa and started taking these pictures, I think I was one of the very first – or at least I hadn’t seen it anywhere before – to stage my pictures. At that time I was trying to show a very personal and different view on Africa, my own personal experiences, my childhood experiences in Africa, because I think back then I only knew the pictures of National Geographicor the black and white grainy pictures of famine and, you know, hunger and disease and all these kind of stereotypical images of Africa … And at some point in my subconscious I was thinking, well, if you go to Africa you have to be at some level a documentary photographer. And then, when I went back to the places of my childhood and the villages, suddenly it made a click in my mind that I could also stage my pictures and make them more personal.
From 'Elephant magazine:
In the last decade, Sassen has successfully blended the worlds of art and commerce. Taking full advantage of fashion’s transitionary nature, she uses the space to play and go wild; she explains: “Editorial work for magazines is my testing ground. It’s a blank canvas for me to experiment.” While her art practice is deeply cathartic, focusing on personal histories and her fascination with the inner workings of the human psyche, she has a lifelong affinity with surrealism. She credits the movement with shaping her gaze and personal philosophy. “For me, surrealism is the ability to experience or look at things in a way that’s unbiased, free of judgement and convention—almost like looking through the eyes of a child.”
““For me, surrealism is the ability to experience or look at things in a way that’s unbiased, free of judgement and convention—almost like looking through the eyes of a child” (Viviane Sassen)
- Investigate the work of Viviane Sassen from either one of these series' of works; 'Flamboya' or 'Parasomnia' series.
- Read the interview with Sassen, an excerpt from this interview can be found above.
- Watch the short film by Sassen which was made when she exhibited at The Photographers gallery, London.
- Sassen explains how she was inspired by Nan Goldin. Compare and contrast Sassen's images with those of Nan Goldin. Can you see the influence of Nan Goldin in her work? Explain and describe how those influences are displayed in her work, it may not be an obvious visual reference but rather an approach to photography in terms of capturing subjects, or another more personal element.
- Can you identify any links to documentary photography within her work?
- Using any of the diptychs below, compare and contrast an images from Nan Goldin and Viviane Sassen. What are the similarities and the differences of the work of both photographers? Write onto the paper as many common themes as you can. View both images closely and write about stark differences or opposites.
- Sassen mentions the fact that fact that the concept of surrealism is in her work. From your understanding of surrealism can you describe an image that looks surreal to you? Where might she have seen the images before, in your opinion?
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- Investigate the work of Viviane Sassen - There are two series of her works are hyperlinked 'Flamboya.' and 'Parasomnia' What information can you gather from the artist? The country she lived in and the context of the work. How do you think that the work reflects her experiences?
- Analyse one of the photographs from the series using the following questions as a starting point;
- Describe what you see in the photograph.
- 1. What is the genre of this picture?
- 2. What do you find unusual or surprising about the subject matter?
- 3. How would you describe the relationship between the foreground and background?
- 4. Make a quick sketch of the photograph. What do you notice about the composition?
- 5. How does the photograph make you feel?
- 6. What ideas do you think are explored in this photograph?
- Create a series of images inspired by the artist using found materials or objects, furniture or buildings around you.
- Evaluate your images.
- Choose a selection of 10 successful images from this series.