Photography between Labor and Capital - Essay Example

Photographic Project: Holy Wear The word “sacred” envisages meanings that are hard to define and it encompasses many connotations that go beyond the traditional concepts of temples, mosques or churches to embrace notions such as holiness that stands out from “commonplace and interrupt routine” (Park 2004: 20). Philosophical concepts about sacred relate not only to places such as the shrines of gods that are sanctimonious but also extend to clothes, grails and texts such as the Vedas in Hindu, Quran in Islam and Bible in Christianity. Similarly, every religion has certain designated places that the believers in the faith consider as sacred, such as Gaya in Buddhism, Kasi in Hindu religion, Mecca and Medina in Islam and Jerusalem in Christianity. Conventional philosophy believes that sacred or holy things exude “potent meanings and significances” to believers and the presence of such things offers some “inherent benefits” (23). On the other hand, the postmodern view on the sacred deviate drastically from the traditional view, which contends that the meanings to the holy are not inherent but attributed by the believers as an outcome of their “cultural practice” (23). It, therefore, transpires that illogical or irrational notions such as sacred derive from communal and social practices of certain dominant cultures like Greek civilization as well as the customs being followed within various religions. My photographic project called “Holy Wear” incorporates the philosophy of Roland Barthes, which identifies culture as the “contract arrived at” between the creators of art and its consumers (Barthes 1981:27). In this context, the photograph of the monk illustrates the Lama culture and imbibes in the viewers a sense of holyness in his attire, which represents sacredness for the believers in Buddhist religion. Thus, irrespective of logic or rationality, the audience of the photo associate holynesss to the clothes worn by the monk because the cultural practices have informed them that the attire of the monk is a “Holy Wear.” Similarly, the attire and appearance of the Hindu saint will inspire awe and a sense of holiness in people practicing Hindu religion or those who understand various cultural nuances relating to that religion. Therefore, it can be construed that the emotions and sensations that these photographs emulate derive not from any logic or rational appreciation of the meaning of sacred or holy but due to the association of the images to various cultural practices. The photographs also validate Barthes’ theories of studium and punctum. The former proposes that the photographic “image directly communicates” a meaning that becomes obvious to the average audience (Allen 2002:1). All the images in my project “Holy Wear” communicate the aspect of religious practices to the average viewer. In the latter theory Barthes postulates “symbolic meaning” to the image, which the viewer perceives according to his or her “unique response” to it (1). Therefore, viewers who are aware of the practices in various religions can perceive the element of holiness attached to the attires of saints in the photographs. On the other hand, Foucault lauds the advantages in eschewing the ability to distinguish between and “designate” works of art as photographs or paintings unless one determines them “outside of a single medium” (Hawker 2009: 272). Philosophers like him associate photography with a typical medium that encompasses and enables the visual presentation of “contemporary culture” (280). He further contends that photography, which can reproduce perceived images of objects, encompasses “realism and naturalism” in the art forms (Medeiros n.d: 1). In other words, a photographer can capture only an image that currently exists in material form unlike paintings that can depict the imagination of the creator. Thus, photography is mostly the representation of the current culture prevailing in the human society either in the form of religious practices, traditions and customs or the clothing and fashion among many other things. This becomes evident from the Vla Crucis photograph, which demonstrates the dress code for nuns in the procession, bearing the Holy Cross, representing a current tradition among the Christians in the Italian society. Similarly photo # 3 in my photography project shows a lady clad in a traditional sari and wearing ornaments in the Hindu culture and she reflects the most natural down to earth image of an Indian female. On the other hand, Indians who are aware of the Hindu marriage traditions will associate holiness with this attire and ornaments, which is worn by traditional Hindu brides. On the other hand, the photographic project on ‘Holy Wear’ has made me understand, as Allan Sekula proposes, that photographs are art forms that “transmit immutable truths” (Sekula 2002: 445). Each one of the photographs that I have included in the project speaks of a truth, a fact of life and tells the story of a culture within different societies in the world. Photograph 9 captures the essence of a holy place in the Lama culture, with the saint clad in a ‘Holy Wear’ sitting and reading a book. The image depicts the tangible reality of the holy place and illustrates the truth within that shrine, which exudes an aura of holiness about it. Primarily, the visual evokes the sense in the viewer, who is conversant with the Lama culture, of a holy place not because the place is holy in any logical or rational context but because he or she is acquainted with the social customs and religious practices of the person in the photograph. Sekula further suggests that the meaning that a photograph conveys, like any other form of art, inevitably is the subject of “cultural definition” (452). My appreciation of this philosophy also reflects in my work, especially in photo # 13 that portrays a hermit, whose whole body is smeared with ash as per the cultural practice among some Hindu saints. The photography project on ‘Holy Wear’ overall has made me recognize the fact that though photographs in reality reflect the truth of human existence, the messages they put across may become distorted due to various cultural practices that the viewers are familiar with. Similarly, nonexistent meanings and connotations are associated with the images beyond logic or rationality is often associated with the images due to various social customs that humans follow. This is one of the reasons why people consider certain places as being sacred or holy while others, that do not follow a specific religion, do not perceive any holiness to it. This is the reason why one group of people consider particular places as sanctimonious due to their religious beliefs, while others attempt to desecrate it because they refuse to tolerate the faith of others. Therefore, the concept of sacred or ‘Holy Wear’ is merely a faith based practice rather than fact of life based on logic or rationality. During the process of compilation of photos for my project, I have come to realize that the concepts of various philosophers do amply reflect in the pieces I have collected and, thereby, I have been able to gain an in depth understanding of various tenets relating to the art of photography. References Allen, G. 2002. Roland Barthes: Camera Lucida. Retrieved May 7, 2014, from Barthes, R. 1981. “Camera Lucida” Reflection on Photography. Trans. Howard, R. Monoskop Publishers. Hawker, R. 2009. Idiom Post-medium: Richter Painting Photography. Oxford Art Journal, 32 (2): 263-280. Medeiros, M. n.d. Nostalgic and Powerless: City Life, Photography’s Surveillance and the Influence of Foucault. Lisbon: University of Lisbon. Retrieved May 7, 2014, from Park, C. 2004. Religion and Geography. Chapter 17 in Hinnells, J. (ed) Routledge Companion to the Study of Religion. London: Routledge. Sekula, A. 2002. Reading an Archive: Photography between Labor and Capital, in Wells, L (ed). The Photography Reader. London: Routledge. Sekula, A. 1975. On the Invention of Photographic Meaning. In Vicky Goldberg (ed.), Photography in Print: Writings from 1816 to the Present. University of New Mexico Press. Read More