Exercise 1.
Why do we gravitate towards certain social groupings? What enables us with a sense of belonging when we find some tribe that we identify with? These are heavyweight questions that sociologists search for answers to. I’m not wholly convinced that Nikki Lee’s exploration is anything more that voyeurism. I know that she spends time with the groups (up to three months) and shares experiences with them, but she doesn’t live their life, she becomes a bit part in it. A more convincing way for me to understand specific social groups is to see long form documentary work based around them and more importantly, made by someone from within the group. I might be putting my own bias on my reasoning (I surf and am and always will be a Punk), but it takes shared experience and friendship to become part of or to understand such social dynamics. I would also question why she needs to be in the photograph herself. To me it just feels as though she is engaging in roleplay and the series felt like a charade. You have to have the scabs of a skateboarder, understand the racism experienced by the Hispanic community or make money like a Wall Street yuppie to understand better what is involved with theses groups. I don’t know why she needs to be in the picture if it is a sociological investigation.
It’s funny, although Trish Morrissey engages in a similar type of practice, that being a stranger within a group, I don’t feel such animosity towards her as I do towards Lee. Maybe animosity is too strong a description? I feel that Trish’s work attains a more genuine outcome. There appears a relaxedness in the pose and expressions from her participants and she seems to slot into the group setting without becoming a focal point within it. The images hold a sense of playfulness and ease about them and knowing that the female of the group whose role she is taking, even to the act of swapping clothes, is involved in the act of collaboration with her, gives the images a greater sense of purpose. Regarding the question of whether I’d agree to participating in her images if ever asked, I think I would. I think her work poses interesting notions regarding intrusion into physical and psychological boundaries and group assimilation, giving more meaningful connotations.
I am fast become a fan of Trish Morrissey. There is a great deal of originality in her explorations of human condition and mental reasoning. The subjects she chooses to engage with contain many complex issues. In Seven Years she uncovers the often fraught tensions and paradoxically joyous interactions between siblings and parental influence. The gait and poses adopted delineate these familial interactions in succinct way. Acting as a reminder of our own past.
Bibliography
Trishmorrissey.com. (2020). Trish Morrissey. [online] Available at: http://www.trishmorrissey.com/works_pages/work-front/workpg-01.html [Accessed 11 Feb. 2020].
Mocp.org. (2020). Museum of Contemporary Photography. [online] Available at: https://www.mocp.org/detail.php?type=related&kv=6723&t=objects [Accessed 11 Feb. 2020].
Context and Narrative 