Chapter 34 pages 380-386 of The Photography Reader - The Vertigo of Displacement by David A.
Bailey and Stuart Hall is the final essay to be analysed. It seems much easier
to read than previous essays but having said that there are still sections
which make me stop and think “you could have put that in 3 words not 20!” and
still a fair few “isms”.
I felt I had a lot to say about this essay so will cover the
questions posed in the coursework during my ramblings and trying to work
through personal feelings and impressions which formed my responses to these.
As a whole, The
Vertigo of Displacement was very interesting but also challenging on
several levels for me. In many respects I could identify with a huge amount of
it but was also annoyed by some parts, this annoyance made me question why was
I annoyed, what did that say about me and my own cultural upbringing and
attitudes? Would this affect my review of the essay and it made me more aware
that what Liz Wells had intimated, with regards to people’s baggage influencing
exhibition reviews, was totally justified.
In one sentence: The essay is concerned mainly about the
representation of blacks in photography and how this and the number of black photographers had changed in 1980's Britain.
Born in Croydon into a multicultural society, possibly described as from a working/middle class white background, lucky to have open –minded non racist parents who didn’t indoctrinate me with stereotypes, I accepted people as people and never saw the colour of their skin. It was only as I got older that my eyes were opened to the overt and institutionalised racism which existed, and I was horrified. Having said that I still get angry when terms like “institutionalised racism” and “empiricist” get bandied about because I want to yell “we aren’t all like that” but then I have to accept that a lot of essays, whilst pin pointing specific artists or incidents, do work with generalisms and sadly society does suck when it comes to discrimination/representation in its many forms. Historically in art/photography blacks were represented in certain ways, for example as slaves serving the upper classes, as interesting, exotic cultures through National Geographic or in documentary form as an influx of immigrants during the 1950’s. The 1980’s saw a shift in these practices which Bailey and Hall sought, through this essay, to discover how it had happened.
Born in Croydon into a multicultural society, possibly described as from a working/middle class white background, lucky to have open –minded non racist parents who didn’t indoctrinate me with stereotypes, I accepted people as people and never saw the colour of their skin. It was only as I got older that my eyes were opened to the overt and institutionalised racism which existed, and I was horrified. Having said that I still get angry when terms like “institutionalised racism” and “empiricist” get bandied about because I want to yell “we aren’t all like that” but then I have to accept that a lot of essays, whilst pin pointing specific artists or incidents, do work with generalisms and sadly society does suck when it comes to discrimination/representation in its many forms. Historically in art/photography blacks were represented in certain ways, for example as slaves serving the upper classes, as interesting, exotic cultures through National Geographic or in documentary form as an influx of immigrants during the 1950’s. The 1980’s saw a shift in these practices which Bailey and Hall sought, through this essay, to discover how it had happened.
Thinking about the extent that the arguments are limited to Britain
in the 1980’s and the usefulness of other references, this is where the
narrowness of the essay grated slightly. I had to keep reminding myself that
the reason only blacks and the 1980’s kept being spoken about was that it was
an essay to do with the change in black photography during this period.
Although it wasn’t written from a point of view that blacks and black
photographers were the only ones who suffered discrimination or where there was
an obvious shift in perceptions, I was still shouting in my head “but we also needed
more poor/women/openly gay/disabled/insert minority photographers.” Then
reminded myself yet again, these were not apparently areas up for debate but why not a
nod? Another limitation of the essay was the geographical area under
discussion. The coursework states the argument is limited to Britain but for me
it pointed the finger mainly at England: Bailey and Hall referring to “Englishness”
and the GLC (Greater London Council). Were other parts of the UK going through
similar changes or were the influences taking place in London via the GLC the
only ones that mattered? Or were these alone strong enough to affect the entire
country? Having been to the Figures and
Fictions: Contemporary South African
Photography exhibition in 2011 @ V&A museum attitudes and influences
have altered across the globe (although F&F deals with work produced 20
years later than the 80’s) it would have been interesting to know if there were
any other outside influences.
Becker, when writing about the tabloid press acknowledges influences
from the US and also touches upon other publications so I do think it would
have been useful to refer to related movements in other countries as well, not
just comment on the south-east of England. The GLC was well-known for
supporting minority groups and it was a running joke (rightly or wrongly) that you
wouldn’t qualify for a grant unless you were a single-parent, one-legged, black
lesbian. Ken Livingston was the leader of the GLC during the 80’s, in favour of
and a strong supporter of the recognition of gay rights and measures to address
inequality faced by women and ethnic minorities. It seems odd to me, living and
working in London during the 80’s, that policies which were treated as a joke
by some, and introduced by a man described by the Sun newspaper as "the
most odious man in Britain" are being cited as an important factor in the development
of black photography. Good to know they worked!
Much of the discussion is set within a larger
socio-political framework (of or pertaining to the interaction of social and political
factors) do I feel this is justified by the evidence presented? This is another
area where I find my own stance and personal experiences, my grandparents at
one point lived in Brixton, may temper my reply. Being a Londoner of “that
generation” I am fully aware of the socio-political atmosphere at the time- and historically - and
can read between the lines of what has been written or fill in the gaps where
not much has been evidenced. From the evidence given there is no real
background provided to the unrest in London at the time, the riots, the resentment
of positive discrimination, the ridicule of political correctness, (which is still
ridiculous at some levels even now). Any evidence provided seems anecdotal,
there are no citations used or referencing to validate the arguments made. Some
comments are vague: “institutions, academic bodies, black individuals” where,
which ones, what makes them good examples? Bailey, Hall, Armet Francis and
Vanley Burke all trace back to the West Indies - Jamaica or Bahamas - it would
be interesting to know if the black population at the time was largely of this
heritage, I suspect it was although many Ugandans and Nigerians were starting
to settle due to political unrest across the world.
This link gives an interesting potted account of black
community history in London
Knowing what I do, having experienced first-hand London in
the 1980’s I can totally agree with their justification for the shift being based
around the socio-political. On trying to distance myself from that knowledge I
think their writings heavily suggest it but they don’t provide validation.
Finally we come to eligibility – should you be black to
photograph black subjects? A wider implication of anti-realism and the increase
in black photographers was the possibility and need for critics to be honest,
to have the ability to be negatively critical of bodies of work created of//by black
photographers. My simple answer to eligibility is no, you don’t have to be black
to capture black subjects, a conclusion that Bailey and Hall also reach. They
do so, and correctly in my opinion, by exploring the fact that people just aren’t the sum of the colour of
their skin. They are influenced by their social class, gender, sexuality,
occupations and personal experiences. American photojournalist William Eugene
Smith was neither Welsh nor a miner but has been accredited for taking “one of
the most significant images of 20th Century Wales". Don McCullin was in
the RAF during his national service, never a soldier but his war coverage is second
to none.
Bailey and Hall also justify this conclusion by citing work
by Robert Mapplethorpe and Rotimi Fani-Kayode. Both photographed black men, one
was black the other white, both captured black male masculinity, both were gay,
both died from complications of AIDS. I can understand why they chose to use
Mapplethorpe, he was a friend of and influenced Fani-Kayode, he was a white
photographer capturing black subjects but playing devil’s advocate surely if
talking about a shift in the portrayal of blacks within the UK it would have been
better example to show a change in how a British white male did or did not
undertake this shift?according to the essay critics even now will try to argue that Mapplethorpe shows submission and therefore doesn't break some of the ideas surronding the portrayal of blacks. A possible implication of choosing Mapplethorpe is that Fani-Kayode
was influenced by an American rather than the socio-political changes within
the UK which partially undermines the argument.
They also fail to tell us that Fani-Kayode was from a
wealthy family of Nigerian heritage. Born in Lagos, Nigeria in April 1955, the
second child of Chief Babaremilekun Adetokunboh and therefore part of a prominent
Yoruba family, they moved to Brighton in 1966, after a military coup and the
ensuing civil war. Rotimi attended a number of private schools before moving to
the USA in 1976 to complete his education. He read Fine Arts and Economics, gaining
a BA, at Georgetown University, Washington DC and gained an MFA at the Pratt
Institute, New York in Fine Arts & Photography. Whilst in New York, he
became friendly with Robert Mapplethorpe and later admitted to Mapplethorpe's
influence on his work. Returning to the UK in 1983 he lived in Brixton with his
partner Alex Hirst until his death in 1989. A co-founder of Autograph ABP - a
British based, international, non-profit-making, photographic arts agency I don’t
think Fani-Kayode is good example of how under-privileged, disenfranchised
black photographers were given opportunities to thrive or be influenced by the
changes in Britain even if he is a good example of a black photographer portraying
aspects of black/gay/culture.
If we believe that certain sections of society can only
photograph “their own” we limit the creative possibilities of photography and
the chance to see from an outsider’s perspective. Where do you draw the line of
how you define things? Just because cultures/situations/places are seen from a
different point of view does it make the portrayal wrong? It helps to have an
understanding of a topic to both capture it and write about it. Something that
I become increasingly aware of the more I read, the more I write the more I
photograph.
Sources/References
http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/f/figures-and-fictions-contemporary-south-african-photography/
Becker, K. E. (1990). Photojournalism and the Tabloid Press. In L. Wells (Ed.), The Photography Reader (pp. 291-308). Oxon, England: Routledge.
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