Francesc Torres
As a group we visited the Imperial war museum. This trip was very appropriate for my 'City' project within the second part of my study of environment photography. I am going to carry on with the work that i started about the effects of WW2 in London that was not suitable for the landscape project.
The first photographer that we looked at was Frances Torres. His exhibition 'Memory Remains' Was a collection of 150 projected images to mark the 10th anniversary of the attacks on september 11th. The images were of items and materials that were recovered from the World Trade Centre after the attaccks.
The items photographs range from personal belongings to steel girders and burnt out viacles. These were all stored at hanger 17 at JFK international airport. This was a personal project for Torres as he lived only two blocks away from the twin towers and had to watch the destruction. He said that there was an emotional power of what remained and that 'though remains of history memory remains' which beautifully sums up the intentionas of this exhibition.
Although i did not find the images within this exhibition asthetically pleasing i could fully appreciate the point that they were making. I feel that its is very admirable to photograph the remains as a mark of respect because although the even has ofcourse not been forgotten, by photographing the remains this shall remain remembered. I personally found the images of peoples personal belongings most emotional because it bring to light the realisation that although many died they were individual people.
This links to my project idea as i hope to look images of remains from the bombings in the 1940's. This idea however is not as emotional as Torres's work as this is about looking to the past and capturing the remains so that the momory is not lost. With my project I want to look at the development and how London has been reconstructed since then.
Don McCullin
The other exhibition that we looked at was Don McCullin 'Shaped by War'. McCullin was a photojournalist and was sent to document wars and conflicts across the world in places like Vietnam, Lebanon, Cyprus, Berlin and Cambodia. His powerful collection is shocking but is to show the 'truth of war'.
McCullin put his life in danger on a regular basis as he would live in the same conditions as the solidiers and to be able to take his photos he would have be be amongst the fighting and gunfire. One thing that gave me a great respect for this photographer is that he said that it felt good to feel pain as he was photographing others pain as he had clearly been injured over the years due to the nature of his work. Although this may seem slightly insane it shows his great respect for thoses that he was photographing. His work is quite intrusive in the way that he is capturing people on their death beds and in moments of extreme despiration and i feel that the only way that he has managed to do this in a repectful manor is by becoming a part of what he is photographing and completely surrounding himself in these situations.
The image above was of a family after the news of a death of a family member.McCullin has managed to capture an extremely raw moment. I think this is what makes his images so powerful.
When human beings are suffering, they tend to look up, as if hoping for salvation. And that’s when I press the button."- Don McCullin. To me this quote shows that although he can never predict what is about to happen, his images are well thought out and intentional.
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