Xenophobia =/= Ignorance

Ota Benga and the Worlds Fair

1904

Although nowadays we would consider the exhibition and exploitation of humans in a socially accepted way to be wholly inappropriate, in 1904 it was considered a form of entertainment at the Saint Louis World's Fair. Although there were many exhibits on show at this event I feel that the most shocking and disgraceful was the Human Zoo. After the Spanish-American War the United States gained new territory, such as Guam, the Philippines and Peurto Rico – in order to show their ‘achievements’ they took the people from their homeland in order to place them on display in Human Zoos.

Ota Benga with an orangutan named Dohong at the Bronx Zoo in 1906

These exhibitions were designed to make people think that the white race was superior; many of the world’s leading scientists swore by the anthropologist Alfred Cort Haddon’s theory when he said that, "on the whole, the white race has progressed beyond the black race." People left the World’s Fair fascinated by these ‘uncivilised savages’ as they were initially described - it’s hardly giving them the respect, equality and civil rights that the human beings deserve.

I was first aware of the World’s Fair after seeing a documentary telling of the poignant story of the Batwa pygmy Ota Benga and his struggle to secure his own independence and identity within the western world. His harrowing tale is both upsetting and fascinating, from being born in the Belgian Congo he was brought into the public eye and described as being a savage and a primitive human, when in actual fact he was friendly, kind, peaceful and gentle - if anything he was more of a human than the people exhibiting him were.

The lessons we have learned throughout history have taught us that no good has ever come from any of this pseudo-research, just more reasons to oppress and persecute others. We are all human and we all express the same feelings and emotions, therefore we all deserve to be treated equally without fitting into the stereotypical categories that the society we live in has created.

A Christmas Memory

Adam Barsby

People think I’m nosey, I disagree. I just have a keen interest in people and maybe this translates as a bad thing, I consider my work to be very people-orientated. I am influenced by the world around me and what is happening in that world. Celebrities and scandals don’t do it for me I’m afraid; but things that are closer to home, things that are more REAL.

Another artist for whom I have gathered a love is Adam Barsby, his paintings look to be actual moving scenes, from a distance. His portfolio is very varied; it consists of some Dali-esque pieces and some pieces that resemble Paul Klee’s style of work. I personally much prefer his ‘observational’ paintings, things that look like they have taken place. His way of painting is very delicate and neat, his landscapes are stunning and a joy to look at. The characters that he portrays are all individuals and have their own unique personality and purpose. The trees are not all in focus – it is very true to life and what you yourself would expect to see if you were stood in the same position observing people having fun on a snowy day.

Looking at this the feeling I get is a slight chill, the kind you would feel on a cold brisk morning; looking at people enjoying the weather and making the most of the snow is humbling to see, if this were a photo I probably couldn’t give two shits about it, the fact that it’s a painting shows that the artist has considered every minute detail and laboriously breathed life into each character with the intention of making the audience ‘feel’ the image rather than just look at it, give it a passing thought and dismiss it – this painting stays with you.

Catch Me If You Can

Love, Love, Love

HELP!

I severely lack the ability to go with the flow. This collaboration project has really took it out of me, at least I gave it a good go and now realise that unless I have at least some say in the matter it won't work in the future. Anyway, The Leeds Debacle said they'll publish some of my stuff again, Raisetheroof have let me get involved to do a mini-exhibition/installation and Ryan Larvin said some really nice things about my work and writing, he seems like a bloody great bloke to be honest.

I purchased a new camera yesterday, it's a purple lomography fisheye, it is absolutely gorgeous and hopefully the pictures I take with it will look good too. I also got a Polaroid book - basically a collection of Polaroid photographs by 200+ artists, the photographs in it are breathtaking I realised some things about myself while looking at them and that's what art is about, challenging perceptions and preconceptions in order to evaluate new ways of thinking and observing the world. The book 'People I've Never Met & Conversations I've Never Had' by Nick White was £12.00 well spent I reckon, it genuinely made me laugh out loud on the train, that is a rarity in itself!

So for the past three days I have been cutting and sticking for this Manifesto, the blisters and boredom were not what I expected, but the results seem to please my collective even if I myself am not bowled over by my endeavors.

R.I.P TV

Well, this is nice

Ryan Larvin

I first discovered Ryan Larvin’s work when I went to the Red Brick Mill, my intention was to see one of street artist Blek Le Rat’s works – but what I found was an inspiring and interesting artist who has perhaps made a profound influence on my work and practice.

These relatively basic figures are beautiful in their simplicity. The colours that Ryan Larvin has employed create a sombre mood, the image itself reminds me of summer when the colours in the sky become vivid and intense. The figures themselves are going about their lives, quite similar to L. S. Lowry’s matchstick men and matchstick women. The myriad of blobs that make up the leaves on the tree contrast starkly in comparison with the plain surroundings. I♥U which is inscribed upon the tree looks very childlike, very reminiscent of what almost everybody did when they were younger – carve or draw the name of their first love onto anything solid.

Love Can Be Busy

What makes Ryan Larvin’s paintings so interesting and delightful to look at is the scale, 40 X 16 in this case, they are by no means huge in proportion but they allow the viewer to be completely absorbed within the warm, little, peaceful worlds that he creates. A reoccurring theme in Ryan Larvin’s work is love; this is explored by variations in tones and shades of colour. Love is something that everybody seeks and these paintings help to portray the feelings that love can produce, the Beatles wrote songs about love, well Ryan Larvin paints about love – and like the Beatles he is bloody damn good at it.

Joy Division - She's Lost Control

Sorry I Forgot About You Martin Parr, Please Forgive Me? You Got Me Begging You For Mercy, Why Won't You Release Me?

On 17th February 2011 we went to see Martin Parr give a lecture about his work and how he became the prolific photographer that he is today. My knowledge of Martin Parr was very limited, I know he is a photographer and that he photographed a woman by a petrol pump - other than that I was simply clueless.

The trip was compulsory and free so we had to go. It was at the Galpharm Stadium in Huddersfield, it is a rugby or football stadium which I have never and probably will never step foot in again - with not being a football or rugby fan and all that.

The lecture began with Martin Parr talking in front of a powerpoint presentation about how he was influenced by his uncle to start taking photographs. He showed us some of the pictures from the beggining of his career, looking at these images it was clear that people interest him and that they are at the forefront of his work. The photographs he began with were of a group of bird-watchers, including his uncle, the images like much of his work didn't include birds, but people instead.

He went on (quite a bit) to explain about some of his favourite projects, they included peoples living rooms and a period where his black and white film photographs were laboriously hand coloured. I enjoyed listening to him talk so enthuisiastically about his love for photography and determination to capture the moment. There were a lot of highlights from this lecture, I was pleasently surprised to see that his first solo exhibition was not conventional at all - the way he laid it out was more like an installation, it was a reconstruction of a living room complete with shoddy wallpaper and tacky photo frames from Woolworths, it injected humour into what could have just being another arty-farty-poncy run of the mill exhibition.

Another highlight was an on going project 'Auto Portrait' where he travels the world having his portrait taken, in Russia he had his photo taken with Vladimir Putin - it was a back-drop, not the real deal unfortunatley. The bizarre and interesting customs of world portraiture are represented within these works and it is delightful to see them embraced rather than shunned as is stereotypically presumed with the British tourist. In the Parrworld segment he told us about his collection and fascination with 'odd' memorobillia, for instance he has amassed a lot of Saddam Hussein watches, he exhibited these during his Parrworld exhibition. I also found the Boring Postcards rather witty - Boring is a town in the USA, so he played on the name and created an ecclectic book with postcards of a 'Boring' town.

The lecture was topped off with a question and answer session, I didn't feel like subjecting him to my monotone voice; although one girl asked, 'What if people don't want their picture taken?', to which Martin Parr replied, 'The good thing about this country is we have the freedom to take pictures unlike places such as France', this wasn't a good enough answer as she responded with, 'But that doesn't make it right!' - the microphone was then swifty taken away from the girl. Martin Parr's response was much better than what my GCSE photography teacher told us - Just tell them to fuck off and take it anyway.

Parrworld

Picture courtesy of The New York Times

2008

Just Draw! Part 1

My drawing book. I haven't done one before, but they are very helpful as a repository for ideas, thoughts and general doodles. After doing several quick one-off ideas I know how I'm going to weave a narrative for my illustrations. As I have so many drawings these posts come in parts, naturally.

HMI visit

To say I was insulted would be an understatement, I think this review helps to sum up how I felt when seeing the dross that the Henry Moore Institute had to offer. Enjoy!