Possession

In life we are obsessed with out material possessions by spending much time focusing on what we have, what we want, and if what we do have is better than what others have. Due to this we are fueled by a want for money in order to gain these new objects. But does it really matter? We can't take it with us. I feel this focus on possession has a lot to do with my series. The subject wants the light and isolates herself in order to keep it as just hers. No one else's. This is due to the preciousness that the subject puts on the light and resorts to cutting herself off in order to keep it hers. Through this decision, the subject is no longer in charge and is yet again dragged back into this obsession with attaining material.


"In the underground of the museum, down where the digs took place, one can physically see the layers of city and settlement on Pointe-à-Callière, from the initial aboriginal inhabitants through the founding of Ville-Marie, to the governor’s mansion that was once located there, through urbanisation, industrialisation, and so on.  The physical remnants of the buildings, and artefacts are there for the viewer to see." (Spatialities)


"Brighton has the remnants of the material culture of the Irish immigrants and Irish-Americans.  Finding glasswares with symbols of Irish nationalism on them suggests that the movement had some traction amongst the tenement dwellers of the Five Points."(Spatialities)


"Urban Archaeology & Material Culture « Spatialities." Spatialities. Web. 02 Dec. 2010. <http://spatialitism.wordpress.com/2010/04/21/urban-archaeology-material-culture/>
This article was a nice informative recount of the author's experiences with archaeology. It was interesting to see how she and others in the field interpreted the material they found at these sites. She also talked briefly about the museum that is centered around three sites and how the found material is on display in the museum.

Addiction

This has a lot to do with my project due to its new conceptual turn, in which it deals a lot with obsession and purposeful isolation. The movement of the photographs has this addiction undertone by showing first the subject controlling the light, but soon one sees the light is what drives the subject to draw themselves back and into isolation. This is the same pattern addictions follow. First it is something some one thinks they can control and monitor, but soon the tables turn and the addiction overcomes them, isolating them from friends, family and their life in general. The article talks about how prior to the development of modern psychology, people saw people with addictions as morally flawed, instead of having a serious mental disease. This idea of being morally flawed i think could extend to my series, due to this obsessive, magical quality to the images.


"It is considered a brain disease because drugs change the brain - they change its structure and how it works. "(Drugs, Brains, and Behavior)


"Those views shaped society's responses to drug abuse, treating it as a moral failing rather than a health problem, which led to an emphasis on punitive rather than preventative and therapeutic actions." (Drugs, Brains, and Behavior)


""Drugs, Brains, and Behavior - The Science of Addiction"" Web. 02 Dec. 2010. <http://www.nida.nih.gov/scienceofaddiction/>.
This article had a lot of information, but it did get a little too Above The Influence as it went on. It focused a lot on the psychological aspects of addictions and it briefly stated past opinions on addictions. The first two pages were very informative from a general psychology standpoint, by explaining the reasonings behind addictions as well as the actual brain's illness when dealing with addiction. On the next pages though, the focus was much more on preventing teen drug abuse and awareness of the harmful effects of drugs which didn't really have anything to do with my project. 

Tamara Lichtenstein

Biography:
Lichtenstein was born in Bolivia but grew up in Houston. Her work deals mostly with females in a fashion photography style, but she does have some images that include couples. She says Ryan Mcginley is a major influence in her work which one can see from the style she shoots in. She says she photographs everything which is very apparent when looking at her large flickr stream (http://www.flickr.com/photos/tamgutlich/).


Like Sofia Ajram's work, her style in using the light in certain photographs is similar to how I am looking to have my last photographs look. While Sofia's was more fine art, Lichtenstein's have a much more fashion feel to them. I especially like the use of the light to block out the models face in the first picture. This idea could work within my series when it comes to showing how the subject is more controlled by the light.


"Inspiration is never forced, it just happens."- Tamara Lichtenstein


"Lately, I have been shooting a lot of people, which is my favorite thing to do. Everyone looks completely different, especially when it’s in a different environment, so there’s always countless ideas in my head." -Tamara Lichtenstein

http://www.tamaralichtenstein.com/

Interview