A final montage

November 12, 2015 by paul490280 3 Comments

Its been a little while since I last posted but as I have come closer to the end of this module I have found myself more absorbed in working on the final outcome of this body of work than needing to keep an update on progress here, particularly as most things have been progressive rather than big issues to show and share here. However, there is one thing that I have been working on that is new and something I want to include at the end of my book; which is a Kennardphillipps inspired montage.

This idea came about following a Scotland study visit to an exhibition ‘Here Comes Everybody’ by kennardphillipps (a collaborative practice of Peter Kennard and Cat Phillipps), held at the Stills Centre for Photography in Edinburgh between 31 July and 25 October 2015. One of the key messages I took from this visit was to not be scared about drawing attention to the political element within your work and, as they do, have a go at ‘playing’ with montages of images to help project that message.

I was inspired to have a go at this and after some thought began to play around with a montage of the images found within my work Land Values, to project my thoughts on what this means to me and the underlying message of this work. I decided early on that I didn’t want this to become a polished Photoshoped montage where all the elements seamlessly merged together as though it was a single panoramic image, and thus wanted to it to be clear that this was a collection of images placed together to create a new message. Each element is therefore relatively crudely cut out and placed within the image. I have put some effort into refining this but also held back in being too precise. I had thought about printing each image out and then cutting and gluing them together but felt that this was a bit too cumbersome.

The interesting aspect of creating a montage is the further significance that each element is given through the act of selecting it and placing it within the montage. There becomes a metaphor associated with each individual element as well as how and where it has been placed within the image. Even though I now appreciate that the viewer will bring their own interpretation on this, some of the features and connections I have tried to bring to it include the associations with the dominant fence which is an object to keep things in or out, the No Ball Games No Cycling sign being on the opposite side to the bike and football; the contrast between modernist pylons dominating the skyline on the left and today’s skyline filled with wind turbines on the right; the seats which allow you to sit and view the scenery pasted on to a coffee hut; and the idealistic parkland where people can relax but which is surrounded by the temptation of fast food shops, cafes and restaurants. These are just a few of the thoughts I have had when creating this, which I hope and anticipate will create many more; whilst acknowledging that this is a fairly light and playful message about our relationship with land.

The final outcome is something that I have now decided to include at the end of the book as a four page layout spread to become a final surprise element . I haven’t had chance to get any feedback on an audience’s perspective on this therefore I intend to include it within my final Assignment 5 submission but may then review further at the next stage.

For now, here are the set of images that make up the montage: