The LensCulture Review of 'Send in the Clowns' Project:

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Jacqueline, thank you for sharing your work for the Circus competition! Below I have described the strengths, questions, and areas for improvement I noticed while looking at your series:

 

Conceptually, I find this project is stronger as a series than as singular images. My reasoning is that you were photographing in response to an event, which naturally lends itself to the passage of a longer period of time, and an unfolding narrative. These ideas are more logically represented and aligned to a grouping of photographs, as opposed to single image. 

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Generally, I find the colour in images #1 to 5 to be a strength in the series. The red, purple and blue hair is unique, and accents the white clown make-up and white outfit the performers are wearing. There is also an immediacy to colour images that gives me the feeling of being present in the photographic moment as a viewer. In contrast, black and white images tend to make me feel displaced in time and space from the events pictured. 

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Another strength in the series is the nondescript location, and the looming environmental darkness of the background. This ambiguous sense of the scene leads to a mysterious quality in the images that makes me question what is going on in the series. I find this is a strength because it has the impact of keeping me engaged as a viewer; The photographs ask more questions than provide answers, which is intriguing. 

 

 

Questions: 

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How is this work shown in physical space? Has it been printed? If it has, what size are the prints, and how are they displayed? What substrate are they printed on? Do you consider this a collaboration between yourself as a photographer, and the performers as actors? 

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Stage work is an interesting subject matter for photography because the assumption of it is that the body is participating in some form of movement. In contrast, photography is about freezing a period of time, which often results in the freezing of movement (though of course movement can be registered in several ways via the photographic medium). These two forms of expression can be posited against one another, conceptually, or made to dovetail quite nicely. How do you conceptualize your own photographs of this stage work? Do you see them as documentary, or are you using another framework for their construction and analysis?

 

 

Are you familiar with the artist Wolfgang Tillmans? If not, I suggest you research his photographs, as I feel you might be interested in his work: http://tillmans.co.uk/ 

 

 

Generally, I find your photographs compelling and hope you continue to photograph moments that speak to you visually and culturally. Thanks again for sharing your work with us Jacqueline, and best wishes as you continue to make powerful images!

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-31 July 2017