Sophie Calle
After returning to her home country of Paris, she 'sought to construct identities by offering documentary ‘proof' in the form of photographs. Her work was seen to have roots in the tradition of conceptual art because the emphasis was on the artistic idea rather than the finished object'. I think that Sophie Calle's work probably has the clearest representation of 'evidence' out of the photographers that I have researched - her photos document the settings of different places. She places photos from the same scene next to one another for a final product - this can be considered similar in the way that police document evidence from a crime scene, as multiple photos are taken from the crime scene to record the evidence there, and the photos are then kept together for future reference.
The photos I've chosen to look at are from a project of hers, called 'The Hotel', in which she was assigned 'chambermaid' for 12 different rooms in a Venetian hotel. She took pictures of the people's hotel rooms to document their style of living, to 'construct identities'.
The photos I've chosen to look at are from a project of hers, called 'The Hotel', in which she was assigned 'chambermaid' for 12 different rooms in a Venetian hotel. She took pictures of the people's hotel rooms to document their style of living, to 'construct identities'.
The photo above shows several photos from the room '44' from the Venetian hotel. The photo shows different features of the guest's property and personal belongings, giving us an insight to their lives. The photos above show different things that can be interpreted differently, which allows the viewers to try and construct the guest's identities and personalities.
The middle right frame, for example, shows nursing equipment on top of a desk - a stethoscope and a blood pressure monitor is shown. A black bag lay next to these things, and it can be assumed that other medical equipment is in that bag due to the other two medical instruments next to it. The middle frame shows a cross necklace sitting on top of a desk. which could indicate religion, or could be fashion. Due to the fact this person is a doctor the cross is likely to represent religion, to 'pray' for peoples health. The top right frame clearly shows pairs of women's shoes - the left pair could be male shoes, however, due to the fact this woman is a doctor, they are likely to be nurses shoes. The mask in the middle left frame also indicated a female. Other pieces of information can be picked up from these photos for us to construct an image/identity of this person. So far, I have found out that these photographs were taken from a hotel room of a religious, female nurse. Due to the size of the photos, it is difficult to analyse the technical side of the photographs, such as use of aperture and lighting. It seems that no particular lighting has been used in these photographs - this means it can be assumed that the white balance setting is set to sunlight - the lamps shown in the bottom middle and right photos are off, and in the top left photo, the white, glowing curtain indicates sunlight. A very wide range of textures and patterns are shown in each frame, from the textures shown in the unmade bed to the shiny textures of the tables, and the patterns on the wall to those of the clothes on the bed. Skills/techniques/ideas to reuse? - The idea of normality - I could place my evidence in a completely normal setting - Multiple images placed together - Black and white photography - Using actual real life places instead of hand making my scene |