Name: Hayley Evans

Student Number: 1217257

Assessment Number: H17553

Essay Title: How are notions of time and place, melancholia and memory condensed

simultaneously in the past and present in photographs? How are these significant in

photography?

Word Count: 3175

Module Title: Contextual Practice

Module Code: AD5301

Module Tutor: Dr Cian Quayle

How are notions of time and place, melancholia and memory condensed simultaneously in

the past and present in photographs? How are these significant in photography?

Photographs can stimulate a visual memory of a particular time and place concerning

events, objects and people. In terms of vernacular photography they capture a still frame

image of a life experience, or a family history that you can look back and reflect on. In terms

of documentary, photographs can bring alive a lost era - of something that was, but no

longer exists. Reflecting on these memories can be associated to ‘emotional and sensual

experiences which are reflected within contemporary thoughts, feelings and circumstances -

we photograph so that we remember.’ (Roberts, 2011)

One contemporary photographer who collaborates both past and present in vernacular

photographs is Nicky Bird. Her project ‘Beneath the Surface/Hidden Place (2007-2010)

explored the physical and emotional effects of economic changes in Scotland. Nicky Bird

collaborated closely with people who had a significant connection to the original site.

(http://nickybird.com/) Working with the collaborators memories and vernacular

photograph, they would return to the exact location in the old photograph to locate the

same spot that the photograph had been taken originally. Nicky Bird would later merge the

two images together to express the change in history. Working with history that is still

within living memory can have deep rooted emotion and often the collaborators would feel

quite emotional in terms of their personal loss and remembrance of their connections.

Nicky Birds collaboration with Jan McTaggart’

‘Back of Springvale Drive, 2007’ shows the

destruction of her childhood home. Where

houses once stood, now sits an empty field.

The opacity settings of the vernacular

photograph on top of the present day image

appears like a ghostly reminiscent of a

community that no longer exists. The same

can also be said for Nicky Birds collaboration

with Mary Kennedy, ‘Lethanhill, 2008’. The woman in the photograph is Mary

Figure 1: Nicky Bird & Jan McTaggart: Foxbar, Paisley. Back of Annan Drive, 1977? / Back of Springvale Drive, (2007).

Kennedy’s mother. A forest was planted on top of the village where Mary’s mother once

lived. Now the only sign that the village existed is two world war memorials.

The way Nicky Bird draws attention to hidden histories is fascinating and has quite an

emotional impact of looking at what was, and no longer exists, and how this may have

impacted you in your own life. In an

interview with Sharon Boothroyd, 2013,

Nicky Bird states, ‘I think photography is a

great mediator of past and present. I hope

that the viewer – when they look at my

work – does hear the voices and histories

of others, but also recognizes their own –

and asks questions about what we value

in our culture, and what we don’t’

As part of an outsider to these communities Nicky Bird found that these vernacular

photographs became a way to communicate stories of the past to share with others in the

present day.

An earlier project established by Nicky Bird from 2004 - 2006 titled ‘Question for Seller’ also

dealt with vernacular found photographs. The project was based on buying batches of old

photographs that she found being sold on Ebay. She would then ask the seller what they

knew about these images to try and gather

some background or meaning to these

photographs. The replies that she got were

sometimes funny, sad, or very matter of fact.

Often not much was known about the

photographs.

Figure 3 shows the collection that began the

project ‘Question for Seller’. Nicky Bird was

curiously drawn to these photographs, and the

response that the seller gave was this:

‘The town I live in is predominantly black –

about 75%. A friend had them for about 15

Figure 2: Nicky Bird and Mary Kennedy, Lethanhill, Dunaskin. Middle Pad, 1930s? / Lenthanhill, (2008)

Figure 3: Nicky Bird, Question for Seller (2002): The first purchase from Newport News, USA. Winning Bid $ 8.70

years sitting in an old breadbox. I helped him move and he gave me the breadbox and that is

where I found the photos. His mother had passed about 20 years ago and he was given the

breadbox. He does not know who they are, because his mother was- well let’s say she was

not a saint – active in the community and they could be some of her ‘friends’? Newport

News is somewhat of a military town – Army. And that is all I know about the photos.’

Over a period of time the photographs original meanings can no longer be established.

‘Diverse meanings are accrued and original context and meanings are obscured or

forgotten.’ (Roberts, 2011) The seller can only assume the meaning behind the photographs.

No one can know for sure because the original associations regarding experiences and

memories cannot be retrieved. As a result the photograph becomes an object that can only

be appreciated. However research by Edwards, 2006 suggests that if a photograph is a

creation of the ‘here now’ which then becomes the ‘there-then’ that even If the photograph

represents the passing of time and the conveyance of death, it also means that a moment

from the past comes alive for us in the present. Benjamin’s theories are important here

because in contrast to the studies of Barthes, Benjamin wanted to make the past active in

the present. ‘For him, nothing in the past had truly disappeared forever; it’s traces could be

rediscovered and put to use’ (Edwards, 2006, p. 119-120)

This is exactly what Nicky Bird did with her collections of vernacular photographs off Ebay.

She understood the sentimentality of the photographs. Nicky Bird represented the archive

material into a large family album. Designed to be turned and looked at. The photographs

were also displayed on the wall and upon tables. Instead of an opening night, a closing

down show was held, where the photographs could be sold in an auction. Nicky Bird had not

only gave these photographs a new sense of meaning and preciousness that they had lost;

but she also explored what the value of people’s lives meant and how people of the present

are interested in people of the past.

Nicky Bird recently did a lecture at the University of Chester, which was very inspirational

towards the development of my own vernacular project in which I gathered my own archival

collection of vernacular snapshots that explored the life of my Nan and Grandad. Whilst

Nicky Bird played the part of the outsider and relied closely on her collaborative partners for

the basis of her ‘Question for Seller’ and ‘Beneath the Surface/Hidden Place’ project, my

project was very personal.

Looking at old photographs of my Nan there is a very strong melancholia relationship that I

have with the images. They are precious but at the same time make me acknowledge the

fact that my Nan has passed. Research by Edwards suggests that even if the photograph is a

vision of happiness from the past; reflecting on the photographs in the present day is an

example that ‘all things pass and fade.’ (Edwards, 2006, p. 118) For Barthes he is not

interested in the ‘life’ of the photograph but the way that the ‘photographed body’ touches

him ‘with its own rays…hence the Winter Garden Photograph… is for me the treasure of

rays which emanated from my mother as a child, from her hair, her skin, her dress, her gaze,

on that day.’ (Barthes, 1981, Chapter 34).

Figure 4: Nicky Bird, Question for Seller, (2006): Installation View. Belfast Exposed, Northern Island.

For me the photographs of both my Nan

and Grandad are like open windows to

explore. In that window is a stranger that I

know and love and call them ‘Nan’ and

‘Grandad’, but in that photograph they are

not my Nan and Grandad. They are in a time

period of their lives where they had not

even met each other yet. The photographs

allow me to meet them at a point where the

history of their lives was yet to be written.

In my Nan’s youthful photographs I discover a

person that used to enjoy travelling with her

friends. That she was in fact once engaged to

someone else. My Grandads photographs

show his services in Germany. He was one of

the lads, mostly seen with a pint in his hands.

This is a hobby that he still enjoys today.

Particularly with the photographs of my Nan I understand the ‘rays’ that Barthes speaks of.

Everything about her at that period of time seems to shine out of the photograph. I wonder

if this is because she was such a central character to my childhood and it is the absence that

her death has had on my present life that makes me take in everything about her. Or that it

is simply because her character is different here compared to the family orientated

grandmother that I knew.

For Barthes a photograph does not make him reflect on the past. That it does not ‘restore,

what has been abolished (by time, by distance)’ but that it is evidence that what he is

witnessing actually existed. (Barthes, 1981, chapter 35) I think for those who can recall upon

the memory of the photograph (for example my Grandad) that it does reflect the past. My

Grandad can use his photographs as a talking point as he remembers that part of his life.

When asked any questions about my Nans photographs he would say ‘I don’t know, it was

before I met her.’ As a result for those whose memory it doesn’t concern they can only use

Figure 5: Photograph of my Nan, taken from my Family archive- Christine and Friends. Location unknown, Date unknown.

Figure 6: Photograph of my Grandad (end left) Germany, date unknown. Taken from my Ron-Germany archive.

it as a evidential existence of that person, at that time and that place.

Inspired by Nicky Bird’s archival work with Vernacular photography, I separated the

collection of my Nan and Grandads photographs into separate archival groups: Ron-

Germany, Christine-friends, Marriage, and Family Life. As a result it showed a documented

course of the history of their lives.

These vernacular photographs were fascinating for me, as I had never seen them before. My

Grandad brought them to light whilst photographing him for a different project ‘Domestic

Landscape.’ This represents how photography can easily become a talking point to share,

reference and bring light to future projects. The photographs had previously been stored

away in a draw in my Grandads room. I desperately wanted to give them the sentimentality

that they deserved and that my Grandad wished they had. It was also nice to know that by

using these photographs for my project I was bringing them out of the darkness of the draw

and letting other people know that these photographs existed.

The archives represented the changes over the course of time and documented the

traditional milestones that people tend to photograph so that they can hold on to

memories:

From holidays, weddings, and the growing of your children. My Grandad has a heavy shade

of melancholia as he looks through photographs of my nan. Often he can tear up and say,

‘You’re nan was very beautiful.’ Which expresses his memory and recurrence on looking and

re-looking at the photographs, again with the reminder of what was, and what is no more. It

also establishes how photographs can become more precious once an embodiment of that

photograph has deceased to exist in the present day of re-looking. ‘As we survey the image,

Figure7: Taken from my ‘Family Life’ Archive. My Nan, Grandad, and Uncle David. (1960-70s)

past associations and emotions are recovered and ‘brand new’ thoughts, perceptions and

feelings stimulated.’ (Roberts, 2011)

Inspired by the words of Benjamin and the work of Nicky

Bird I wanted to trace the past in the present day by

using my Nan and Grandads vernacular photographs.

There were certain implications to the limit of my

Grandads memory of where a photograph may have

been taken. As a result any locations of photographs

belonging to my Nan could be unidentified which

expresses how the story and memory of a photograph

can disappear after time and the information that can be

lost once a person passes away. However collaborating

with my mother’s knowledge meant that we could locate

a handful of the photographs. The first one we did was

the photograph of my Nan stood on Broseley Bridge,

near her childhood home. It was fascinating to see how

much the bank of the River Severn had receded over the

years. The river now stretches all the way across to the

wall where the road is. The bridge had been redeveloped

in recent times so what my Nan was standing on was the

original Broseley Bridge. You can see that my Nan was

stood on a curb side step and there was no real path

there compared to the present day. The person taking

the photograph would have been stood in the road that

is now extremely busy. I would not have been able to get

the photograph without using a zoom from the other

side of the bridge. Whilst I was locating the area where my Nan once stood and taking the

photographs I remember finding it surreal and emotional. There was where my Nan was

standing. However in reality she wasn’t there at all. It was quite a fundamental feature of

the project, however it was also fascinating to show how notions of time had transformed a

place over the generation. The changes are something I would never have known without

Figure 8: My Final Photographs representing the changes of the past in the present day, (2014).

the existence of these photographs.

Reflecting on the final photographs of the project where the past and present was visual in

one composition it was hard not to focus on the uncontrollable effect of time, again I felt an

emotional impact. I referred to the poem by Ben Johnson’s ‘On My First Son.’ 1603

‘Rest in soft peace, and asked, say here doth lie

Ben Johnson his best piece of poetry,

For whose sake, henceforth, all his vows be such

As what he loves may never like too much.’

It is a mournful poem lamenting the death of the author’s son. By writing this poem he was

moving the emotional connection from his son to a ‘literary object that in some sense

replaces and transcends the one it mourns.’ (Clewell, n.d, P 49) Sacks 1985, states that the

dead son has gone beyond death and has achieved immortality within a literary artefact. I

feel that the same can be said for vernacular photographs as well as the photographs I have

created framing the past and present; just like the creation of this poem where Ben

Johnson’s son is speaking out from beyond the grave. A photograph is often considered to

capture immortality. The existence of that person will always exist in that photograph even

after death and the photograph remains as evidential proof that the person lived.

Ben cauchi is a photographer who is drawn to photography’s association with memory and

the past. He is inspired by the work of the pioneers of photography and works with 19th

century cameras and the wet plate method.

Willemson, 2013 writes that every single photograph is

taken out of the ‘continuum of time and space’. The

photograph is a ‘phantom, the residue of what no

longer exists. This is because the photographed image

cannot change. Reproduction of prints will always be

the image that was before the cameras lens at the time

the photograph was taken. It is this theory that

interests Ben Cauchi. Certain photographs produced by Figure 9: Ben Cauchi, Untitled (Borderland) (2008).

ben Cauchi involve bare interiors of entrance halls and doors. They are either taken

diagonally from across the room like in untitled, (Borderland) or closed doors are

photographed frontally. With the way the light is used in the untitled photograph you

automatically feel an association with the symbolism for life and death. The symbolism is

represented as a passage from the light into the darkness through the door. Willemson 2013

writes that the ‘Photograph is given the task of evoking the mystery of reality in the same

way as one calls up spirits.’ Again photography has this spiritual connection. Just as Barthes

writes ‘photography has, something to do with resurrection.’ I believe this has something to

do with the everlasting existence a photograph can picture of a time, a place, and a

memory, even if the original context can no longer be restored and the photograph

becomes just an object.

The self-portrait has various implications when it comes to recalling the memory, the time,

the self-image of one’s identity and the feelings that can be stimulated from looking back on

photographs throughout the course of our lives. By looking back on photographs we may

begin a ‘personal life assessment. Roberts, 2011 writes ‘we may ask ourselves- ‘has

something been lost? Has something been gained? What has changed, what has remained

the same?

When it comes to the process of looking, and re-looking we may go through this life

analysis. This is because looking back on our vernacular photographs can trigger extremely

personal responses that we may not have expected. ‘The issues raised are complex,

challenging, even treacherous, revolving around the self and its representation, identity and

immortality.’ (Badger, 2007, p. 169)

Studies by West (2004) indicate that whilst we are going through the process of re-looking

at a photograph new meanings can be formed that we had not previously examined. At the

same time looking back on photographs of ourselves we are the viewer whilst viewing what

is our ‘double’ like a mirror image. We acknowledge the photograph as looking at ourselves,

but it’s also like looking at someone else. This is the same thought reflection I had when

looking at younger photographs of my Nan and Grandad. ‘These qualities make self-

portraits both compelling and elusive.’ (West, 2004, p165)

Social Documentary and Portraiture such as street photography and other related sources

become an insight into the era of the current time that the photograph was taken. They can

be used to compare how much has changed in the present day. An example of a

photographer who has captured an era in time perfectly is Stephen Shore. He captured the

70’s by documenting every single encounter he had, from the people he met, buildings, the

hotels he stayed at, phones, and food. Inspired by the documentary work of Walker Evans,

Shore would intentionally include objects in his compositions that set a timer marker. In an

interview with Aaron Schuman (2004) Shore stated:

‘In Evans, the cars were the little time markers,

which I found fascinating… It put it in a time

perspective, and I would often include cars for that

reason. I was intentionally putting a tag in for a

general era.’ Shore did it for this purpose only,

however for Evans he wanted to ‘photograph the

present as it would be seen as the past,’ he didn’t

want his photographs to become old fashioned

because for Evans they were contemporary images.

(Schuman, 2004)

Like vernacular photography, Documentary photographs are a means to record something

before it disappears. Eugene Atget, considered as the pioneer of documentary photography,

is established for photographing the streets and architecture of Paris before it was lost to

modernization.

Photography is a means to create connections that can forge the past, present and future.

(Roberts, 2011) Every photograph that we take is a document of what was, and they

become part of history. They can be used as a point of reference in a world that is ever

changing. ‘To take a photograph – an attempt to ‘capture a scene… is itself, part of our

realisation that we ‘lose’ memories. (Roberts, 2011)

Figure 10: Stephen Shore, Church Street and Second Street, Easton, Pennsylvania, June 20, (1974).

Bibliography

Badger, G (2007). The genius of photography: how photography has changed our lives. London: Quadrille

Barthes, R. (1981). Camera Lucida. New York.

Bird, N. (2013, May 9th) Nicky Bird (S. Boothroyd, Interviewer [Forum]. Retrieved from http://photoparley.wordpress.com/2013/05/09/nicky-bird/

Clewell, T. Mourning Beyond Melancholia: Freud’s Psychoanalysis of Loss. Retrieved from http://www.apsa.org/portals/1/docs/japa/521/clewell.pdf

Edwards, S. (2006). Photography: A very short introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Roberts, B. (2011). Photographic Portraits: narrative and memory. Retrieved from Forum: Qualitative Research website: http://www.qualitative-research.net/index.php/fqs/article/view/1680/3203

Sacks, P. (1985). The English Elegy: Studies in the Genre from Spenser to Yeats. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press

S, Shore. & Schuman, A. (2004) An Interview with Stephen Shore Retrieved from http://seesawmagazine.com/shore_pages/shore_interview.html

West, S (2004). Portraiture. Oxford: Oxford University Press

Willemsen, P. (2013) In Absentia: The Work of Ben Cauchi Retrieved from http://bencauchi.com/paul-willemsen/