After going through the unit’s aims & scenario, it was time to take a visit to the V&A South Kensington. I hadn’t visited for a while so it was great to revisit this wonderful museum. The purpose of the visit was to take a look round to kick off my initial research, hoping that something would ‘jump out’ & provide those initial grains of idea inspiration.
The one exhibition I really wanted to take a look at was Into The Woods: Trees in Photography. What I did discover is that trees were among the first photographic subjects collected by the V&A as a learning resource for artists and designers. The museum has acquired, & continues to do so, “photographs of trees in various contexts: within landscapes and forests, as lone subjects, in relationship to humans, in rural and urban settings, and as symbols of cultural significance.” (V and A, 2018).
Trees are a particular favourite subject of mine & have proved to be a major wealth of inspiration in my own work. I was certainly not disappointed. From the sepia-toned photos of Edward Fox to the delicate & inventive work of Tokihiro Sato, this was an inspirational collection of work that was a real pleasure to see first hand.
Just a bit of a shame it was tucked away in a narrow gallery. Minor detail. Onto the photographs.
Tokihiro Sato
The first work as you walk into the gallery is a piece by Japanese photographer Tokihiro Sato. He created the bright spots in the image my using a mirror to reflect the sun’s rays back into the camera during a long exposure. As for his motives behind the image, these beech trees suggest the ancient origins of the Japanese people & represent both masculine strength & female sensitivity.
As the image is a long exposure, the tree itself is highly detailed while the surrounding foliage is slightly blurred due to its movement during the exposure. One could take desipher this that the ancient origins of the Japanese will always remain a constant within the country’s culture despite the passing of time & changing external influences.
Here is a selection of the other works on display, including those by:
- Aaron Siskind
- Abbas Kiarostami
- Agnes Warburg
- Alfred Stieglitz
- Alvin Langdon Coburn
- Ansel Adams
- Awoiska van der_Molen
- Bae Bien U
- Benjamin Brecknell Turner
- Denis Brihat
- Edward Fox
- Edward Steichen
- Henri Cartier Bresson
- Jerry Uelsmann
- Johann Carl Enslen
- Mark Edwards
- Michael Kenna
- Neil Drabble
- Oscar Louis Forel
- Phillip Jessup
- Sheva Fruitman
- Simone Nieweg
- Sophie Rickett
- Stephen Shore
- Tal Shochat
- Veronique Rolland
There are a few other pieces that caught my eye & imagination, such as Jerry Uselmann’s surrealist shoots. I’m not sure at this stage whether this will be relevant to the current project, but am very glad I went to see this exhibition of tree photography.
What I did find pertinent to this unit that the majority of works on display were single pieces. As I have to only produce one or two final images, its something to think about. There were a few series of twos & fours, but there were very tight in their combination. For example, Veronique Rolland’s quartet featuring the same yew captured at the four seasonal peaks of spring equinox, summer solstice, autumn equinox & winter solstice. Each image has it’s own quality of tones & light, but the subject itself is exactly the same.
Having visited this exhibition, it was time to explore some of the other parts of the V&A.
References
V and A. (2018). Into the woods about the display | V and A. [online] Available at: https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/into-the-woods-about-the-display [Accessed 10 January 2018]
Photo Arcturus 