Summative Assessment Commission Unit-Part 2

Neda Mockeviciute

Introduction
From the brief start I knew that my project will be about this notion of person being worthless, in other word being considered to be waste but only after a while I decided I want to focus on foreigners and how they are seen by some UK citizens.
Therefore, my body of work is about foreign people living style, this sense of temporariness, movement, being 'homeless' because you neither belong in foreign country nor in your home country any more, longing for familiar environment or subjects. The fact I am foreigner myself had a major input into this decision too. Moreover, it helped me to gain access to certain people and their surroundings.

Contextual research
Overview: The size of the foreign-born population in the UK increased from about 3.8 million in 1993 to over 7.8 million in 2012 (see Figure 1). During the same period the number of foreign citizens increased from nearly 2 million to 4.9 million. The UK population was 11.4% foreign-born and 7.2% non-British citizen in 2012.
http://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/briefings/migrants-uk-overview

Romanians and Bulgarians oppression : Overall, Cameron said immigration is still too high and he wants to reduce it to a "responsible" level but he did not repeat his key election pledge to get it down to the tens of thousands. Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, he also held out the prospect of efforts to increase immigration controls on any newer EU countries, saying he wanted "longer transition periods". Dozens of Tory MPs are backing an amendment to extend travel controls on Bulgarians and Romanians for another five years, even though the restrictions were already lifted while the immigration bill was delayed over Christmas.
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jan/27/cameron-romania-bulgaria-immigration-reasonable

 Romanian and Bulgarian students challenge: The government suspended the grants and loans after ministers said they had noticed a rise in the number of students from the two countries applying for maintenance support. Officials stopped all financial support in November last year, requesting fresh proof that students had been resident in the UK for the qualifying three years. Luhan met more than 500 Romanian students during his visit to London and said he was shocked by some of their stories. "Many of the Romanians who I met are scared to admit they come from Romania. They are sometimes treated like criminals or beggars simply because they are Romanian. This is leading to a phenomenon that is clearly against European democratic principles." David Willetts, the universities minister, announced the initial crackdown in a written statement in November. This was subsequently extended to cover other EU students at private colleges who claim maintenance allowance. But it is only Romanians and Bulgarians at both private and public universities who have been affected. Alexandra Garabetanu, 33, is one of those considering taking legal action. She has lived in the UK since 2007 with her husband, Cezar, and their son. In September, she got a place on a two-year business course, but a couple of months later she got a letter saying her financial support had been stopped; months later, it remains suspended.

"It was a shock but I didn't really think it could be right," said the 34-year-old Romanian in a break between studying and looking after her six-year-old son, Rares. "I called the student finance people and they said it was a new law and that the government had said to stop all finance to Romanians and Bulgarians."

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/feb/26/romanian-bulgarian-students-challenge-loans-grants

Migrants will have to pay at A&E and all patients will have to prove they are not foreigners to get free NHS treatment As part of proposals to recoup up to 500m from visitors from outside the European Union who use the NHS, hospitals will be required to identify those patients who are not eligible for free care - and make foreigners pay for lifesaving treatment they receive on accident and emergency wards. Under the changes to the NHS charging regime announced by the Government today, GP and nurse consultations will remain free for foreign visitors - but other primary care services such as minor surgery and physiotherapy referred through a GP will be charged for. Overseas visitors will also have to pay higher charges for services that are subsidised for patients entitled to free NHS care, such as visiting a dentist or an optician.
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/migrants-will-haveto-pay-at-ae--and-all-patients-will-have-toprove-they-are-not-foreigners-to-get-treatment-free-on-the-nhs-9029586.html

Visual references

Hine Lewis Wickes, Negro dying of tuberculosis, Washington, D.C.

Hine was photographed at the immigration station between 1904 and 1909, capturing the new Americans pouring through on their way to cities, factories, and farms. This particular Hine Lewis Wickes photograph was inspirational for me because of composition. This notion of isolation from my point of view was really helpful and I will try to achieve it by squeezing the photographic subject amongst furniture, doorway, walls, house constructions and etc. like in the image below.

Hine Lewis Wickes, Negro dying of tuberculosis, Washington, D.C.

Maurice Gunning - Encuentro

In 2008, Maurice Gunning travelled to Buenos Aires and began interviewing and photographing the Argentine Irish Diaspora. The shot is not a close up, which allows the artist to communicate with viewers not only through posture, gesture , lighting and also through the composition, environment in which the person is positioned and captured.

Isabelle Pateer - Unsettled

The project Unsettled focuses in a metaphoric way on the worldwide phenomenon of industrial expansions and its consequences, shown in the study of the Belgian village Doel. It shows portraits of young inhabitants alternated by landscapes which bare witness to the transformed state of the area. I chose these images as a reference point because of no direct eye contact with the camera which provides image with this notion that portrayed subject is not aware of photographer . It made me try to convey my idea of recreating a moment of despair while secretly watching and capturing the subject.

Natural lighting is important because I am recreating the moment and to keep this notion of 'reality' is one of my main goals.

Dinu Li Secret Shadows

The images become portraits of people whom we cannot see. It's only through the spaces in which they exist and the objects which they possess, that we can start building a picture of them. We will never know their real identity; this work plays on the idea of anonymity. This series was keystone for me while searching and developing how I want photograph the immigrants environment and what should be presented to the audience. The photographed objects proclaim how temporary the home space and the life of foreigner might be. This notion of movement is transfered by empty spaces, small details such as box used as a table or a clip used as a curtain holder.

Rory O'Neill - 19.10 & OTHER STORIES

This work seeks to examine the complex system that is Direct Provision (DP). DP is the name given to the practice that governs the lives of Asylum Seekers applying for refugee status in Ireland. 19.10 is the weekly sum of money that they receive while in the care of the State. These photographs of asylum seekers were quite influential while searching for the best angle to photograph my subject rooms. Close-up shots allows the audience to explore every little detail of the environment which testifies about people lives.

Zolton Jokay- Mrs. Raab wants to go home

Mrs. Raab wants to go home is about solitude of old people suffering from dementia.

What I really liked in these series is attention to details and textures. These little things that at first sight might be seen as insignificant details becomes important while trying to document people lives. Therefore, I have decided while taking photographs of people environments try to unclude the drawbacks such as fractures on the walls that suggests the hardships they experience.

Zoltn Jkay, Ohne Titel aus: Mrs. Raab wants to go home, 2009-2012. Zwei Inkjet-Prints, je 30 x 21 cm Zoltn Jkay.

Edmund Clark - 'Killing time'

Edmund Clark work caught my attention because in series Still Life Killing Time he explores the notion of relationship between the man and his surroundings, space and time. There is not a lot of objects in the pictures therefore we sense this notion temporariness and lack of search of significance in subjects life. Unevenly painted walls,fractured glass and the duct taped corner of the frame in second photograph might suggest the necessities subject experienced during his lifetime, it also might imply temporariness (nobody changed the frame, they just attempted to fix it).

Todd Hido - Interiors

The interiors that Todd photographs are of foreclosed homes, occupied homes, and motels. The foreclosed homes create a sense of a used space. The interiors have only traces of the previous owners. They are empty spaces, but still have a human presence. I find Todd Hido's work interesting due to the notion of sadness and emptiness being transferred through the composition of image and lack of objects in his work.

What caught my eye was that Hido employed all the shadows and highlights to work for him. What I wanted to say is he utilized casted long, exaggerated shadows on the objects to strengthen the drama is his photographs. Therefore, I am going to play around with highlights and shadows in my pictures to fully underpin my idea.

Karena Hutton
Karena Hutton is currently studying a BA (hons) in Photography in IADT Dun Laoghaire. The bulk of my photographs examine the inherent relationship between circumstance and identity. These photographs caught my attention because of this notion of emptiness and solitude which was achieved by photographing small amount of objects. Most of the spaces appears to look like hostel rooms where the person stays just for a while.

Miriam O'Connor- Attention seekers

We spend much of our daily lives caught up in busy routines, unobservant of the curious details that make up the visual world we are passing through. Attention Seekers is concerned with the representation of everyday scenes, spaces and people encountered by the photographer. Miriam's work attracted my attention due to her choice of strict and clear composition. Objects in the photographs appear to be aligned with horizontal and vertical lines. My interest in lines for this project is not an accidental thought. I choose to photograph my objects or the environment itself straight and clear because I am keen to show the space people live in as non-chaotic (many lines without a clear subject point suggest chaos in the image) but rather still and dull place.

Test shoots

 Experimented with the distance from the camera to the object.

Took full-lenght shots while searching for the right angle which would support my idea better. Took pictures of sentimental belongings from their home country. Unfortunately, none of those images completely underpinned my idea and I had to search for other ways.

Contact Sheets

I have decided to take photographs on eye level to provide the viewer with notion of him/her actually being in the scene rather than viewing it as a photograph.

The photographic choices of 50mm lens was essential to me because the space in which I had to take photographs was small and this lens allowed me to photograph as much space as I possibly could in two-byfour rooms.
Close-up images appeared to be stronger and communicate my idea better.

Final Prints
I chose to photograph it on black and white film because color often overpowers content. In almost every image, color catches our eyes first, disrupting the delicate balance between the decisive moment and the geometry. In a blackand-white image, without the distraction of color, we see the subject and its context more directly and can connect with the photographers intent more easily

 I chose this picture due to the dark curtain with clips and a piece of string holding it together, also because its contemporary appearence suggests movement.

 The use of horizontal lines in this photograph creates a nonchaotic,still and dull scene. Use of flash allowed me to take photographs on faster shutter speed (freezed the motion), therefore the images are sharp.

 The orchid in this picture is not a symbolical gesture (although it has sentimentally symbolical meaning to the photographed subject) it is used in this photograph to hide the face of the person.
I have used natural lighting while taking portrait to keep notion of reality in the picture. Sharp focus is on the person because it is the main subject of the photograph and the attention should be drawn to it.

Self Evaluation
Project is based upon my and other foreigners hardships of being seen as waste, being something ' not permanent' useless in the eyes of UK citizens. It may not be seen as a major issue and probably it is not an issue after all, nevertheless, this point of view humiliates the minorities. In my estimation, I managed my studies better than the last time. I have learned from my mistakes and this time had couple of participants which made the work flow much smoother than during the object & body project. Although, I had some troubles with the flash in the beginning of the project but later on I managed to overcome it. I had no major problems while printing the images this time. However, I confronted few difficulties when I started to dodge and burn certain parts of the images. As one of the technicians advised me next time when I feel the need to dodge or burn some parts of the photograph my exposure time should be longer than 10 seconds. According to this I will be more considered in the darkroom next time.

 The most challenging part of this unit was searching for a suitable idea which would completely underpin the brief question and wouldnt be too literal. Furthermore, controlling all the photographic choices to communicate the same thing was also a dare for me. From my point of view, images could be stronger in conveying this notion of empty space. In my estimation I have done fair amount of test shoots, nonetheless, I could have done more which would have allowed me to explore space even more and reach better final results in the end. I am planning to continue these series and the first thing I should do is add one more portrait that would balance the sequence. I found visual reference research quite challenging for this project due to idea change partway through the project.