Amber is for Caution

An exhibition called 'Amber is for Caution' by the photographer Valerie Phillips is currently at Leeds College of Art in the Blenheim Walk Exhibition Space, from 5th September- 3rd February 2012.

It shows a model, Amber in a series of photographs with captions. Not particularly a well known one, so the viewer is made to think about who she really is, what is the exhibition showing and are the text captions quotes from the model herself?

“I met Amber when she was 15. She came to my studio for a casting. She was quiet and feisty at the same time, and kind of bratty and fascinating. I loved her slow-paced, drawn out Kentucky sentences, so perfectly out of place in East London. And I really liked how she didn’t seem to give a shit. She was just Amber and that was good enough……” Phillips says in her book 'Amber is for Caution'   

 What does the Title of the exhibition refer to? How does it influence the way we understand/read the work? The word 'Caution' suggests that Amber is a bit unruly, feisty, cautious, undecided. Should we be cautious of Amber, is she not what she seems?

I chose the above image from the exhibition to think about. It shows Amber stood with her tongue sticking out, sticking her fingers up at the camera! Her hair is messy and un-styled, she has a hair bobble around her wrist suggesting she tends to pull her hair back avoiding effort to keep it looking 'model perfect'. Amber is wearing a casual T-shirt also, not high couture clothing. She is stood in what looks like a housing estate where all of the plant life is well trimmed and the houses clean and white with shutters. This makes Amber look rebellious!  The view point of the shot is  head on eye level with the subject looking straight to the lens, it's as if the image was unplanned, just a casual spur of the moment friendly shot.
The main colour of the image is red, the text is green, these two complimentary colours draw the viewer in to the work very well, was this Phillips' intention?

The Nude Image analysis

The Body/ The Nude

Surrealism Paraphrase

Surrealism and Photography

Constructivism Bauhaus Dada image analysis

Constructivism Bauhaus Dada

Pictorialism image analysis

Pictorialism

Library Task: find an academic text

Post-Modernism in Photography

Modernism Image Analysis

Modernism in Photography

Context of Practice Brief

Module Brief	LEEDS COLLEGE OF ART
Programme Title BA (Hons) Photography		Level 4
Module Title Context of Practice 1		Module Code OUph401
Brief Title Histories and Genres
Weighting of Brief within Module 100%		Module Credits 20
Tutor(s) Helen Clarke

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Context

This module provides an introduction to the contextual and historical background of art, design and media, alongside considering relationships between theory and practice. Students enhance their contextual knowledge and understanding, together with their own critical awareness and develop the ability to situate their practice within a global context. Through seminars, lectures and tutorials, students investigate their own discipline and also the broader cultural and contextual frameworks that are influential to the fields of art, design and media. For example, questions around identity, values, class, race, geopolitics, globalisation, sustainability, technology, materials and creativity form part of that investigation.

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Brief

You will develop an understanding of the several ‘histories’ of photography and of it’s genres.  You will also look at how these function in a wider cultural context (in relation to other creative and technical fields both inside and outside of art, design and media).

In doing so you will learn to develop a visual language, which can be used to analyse your own work and that of other photographic practitioners.

These skills will be demonstrated by the production of :

·         A photographic work based on the ‘Histories and Genres’ brief

·         A portfolio of notes from lectures and seminars, and from tasks completed in class

·         A photographic/critical notebook or blog

·         A 1,000 word essay on an appropriate subject that demonstrates that you have understood the nature of academic writing.  In particular this essay should aim to include the following:

A logical structure that has an introduction, a developed argument that is supported by reference to at least four different academic sources and a conclusion.

A bibliography of at least 8 academic sources that uses the Harvard referencing system.

The use of Harvard conventions within the main text of the essay when using paraphrase or quoting from other authors.

Useful Reading

Berger, John (1972) Ways of Seeing, London, Penguin books

Clarke, Graham (1997) The Photograph, Oxford University Press

Newhall, Beaumont (1982) The history of photography: from 1839 to the present, Secker

http://www.theory.org.uk/

http://www.genderads.com/Gender_Ads.com.html

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Preparation/Research Suggestions

• Sylvan Barnet’s book A Short Guide to Writing about Art is an excellent source to use for this brief when writing your essay. See pages 29-31 on ‘context’, pages 53-53 on ‘form’ and ‘content’, pages 113-116 on doing ‘formal analysis’, and on writing clearly and economically, pages 187-219.
• Use your module handbook which should guide you through the module and have useful information such as, bibliographies, glossaries etc.
• Use the OU website for learning how to use Harvard referencing in depth : http://library.open.ac.uk/help/howto/citeref/
• Use good quality dictionaries and specialist art and design dictionaries for difficult vocabulary.
• Use On-line Journals Database information – in particular http://www.jstor.org/  you will be able to search keywords and get references to written articles in back issues of journals.
• Use current art and design journals.
• Leeds College of Art & Design Regulations Handbook for Undergraduates, section on ‘Plagiarism’.
• http://www.studyskills.soton.ac.uk/studytips/reading_skills.htm for help with how to read academically