Sarah Hobbs
'Hobbs constructs psychological space that explores the human psyche. She relishes the idea that we are all beautifully flawed.' Sarah Hobbs focuses on the mental traits and illnesses of people, believing that these traits apply to everyone in one way or another. She wanted to show viewers things that are not visible, but are only thought about or seen through those who suffer with the mental illness. She shows different phobias and disorders, such as OCD, in her work as it is her main focus, and she is trying to give others an insight as to what it may be like to see or feel certain things that they don't experience. I like her work a lot. This is because her work is slightly strange, however has the ability to relate to its viewers, rather then simply appearing to be a 'pretty picture'. Her work is thought provoking - I found myself thinking about the meanings behind most of, if not all of, her photographs. She demonstrates the phobias and/or disorders in abstract ways - such as the cups on the walls in her photo 'Noisiness'.
The photo above is a visual representation of the phobia claustrophobia, the fear of small and confined spaces. To capture this idea, she has placed a curtain of net around the visible area of the room, as if to make it seem like the camera is complete surrounded by a net, as if trapped. The net surrounds the person (camera) placing it in a confined space, representing the said phobia. Hobbs chose to use a net, which clearly has large holes in. This gives the person (camera) the ability to see outside of their confined space - a door is visible beyond the net. This could symbolize freedom from the restricting phobia. Once beyond the net (phobia), they will be free. The holes of the net could symbolize her path to freedom - the photo has not been taken in a completely sealed room to show claustrophobia, but with a net instead for this reason. This may mean that the freedom is visible, and a possible idea that the holes of the net will get bigger and bigger until there is no net left, and then she can therefore walk straight to the door of freedom with no trouble. The telephone may represent a need to call for help - since we are unable to see whether the phone is plugged in or not, we are unable to see if she is actually able to call for help or not.
A wide aperture has been used to enable the whole picture to remain in focus, along with a fast shutter speed (to prevent any blurring due to camera shake). The location is plain and has a simple colour scheme in order to draw attention to the abnormality of the net, representing the abnormality of claustrophobia. Few textures are distinguishable in this photo - the main difference in the textures presented to us lay in the textures of the telephone and the pale curtains, the contrast of the textures being hard and smooth (telephone) with soft and bumpy (curtains). There is also a contrast in the lines of the photo. The door frame and photo frames have very straight, rigid edges, whereas the net is very wavy. Although the curtain is also wavy, the lines down it are still very straight, matching the other rigid lines. I like how Hobbs has created this photo, I like how the meaning is subtle. Without the title 'Claustrophobia', I, personally, would not have found the meaning of this photo. I would have grasped the idea of feeling trapped due to the net, but the original meaning and aim of this photo would not have been discovered by myself. I like the simple colour scheme, how everything is pale - I think this makes the photo a lot more effective as it gives a more serious tone, which would not have come across with bright, vibrant colours. Skills/techniques/ideas to reuse? - Simplicity, both in ideas and appearance - Evidence for things that cannot be seen (mental disorders, phobias) |