Contextualisation is to think about or provide information about the situation in which something happens.
To put your work into a context or framework. This could be historical, social, cultural, political or philosophical.
The process of assigning meaning to your images. Part of this process involves interpreting the environment within which this work was executed.
HOW DO YOU CONTEXTUALISE OTHER PEOPLES IMAGES
Who took the photo ?
What is there ethnicity ?
When and where did they takes this photo ?
What are their political beliefs ?
What is their social status and background and dow does this relate to their subject matter ?
What was happening in the world when the images were taken and how these events influence the work ?
In what decade or century was the work taken ?
Were there events happening at the time that may have influenced this work ?
What were the social norms at the time
HOW IS THE WORK PRESENTED ?
Where are you viewing this work and how does this effect your reading of it ?
IN THIS EXERCISE WE TALKED ABOUT JONO ROTMAN WHO TOOK PORTRAITS OF THE MONGREL MOBRogue and Mighty Mongel Mob from New Zealand. Rotman who now resides in the US, is showing these works of the gangsters without context or settings, which creates an almost heroic portrait of these hardcore criminals.In the 1960s, a gang of variously disaffected youth sprang up in Hawkes Bay, New Zealand. They didn't ride bikes, but they quickly developed all the trimmings of an outlaw motorcycle club: patches, club colors, and a fiercely violent process of initiation. They came to be known as the Mighty Mongrel Mob and today they're the largest gang in the country, with around 30 chapters across both islands.
Media access to the Mob is rare, which is why this photo series by Jono Rotman is kind of a big deal. Jono, who is a Wellington born photographer now living in NYC, cut his teeth capturing New Zealand's prisons and psychiatric wards, before he took on gang life in 2007. We asked him how he convinced hardened gang members to sit for large format photography, and what he learned along the way
We discussed how we felt about these images and covered the questions above.
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We viewed these photographs on the projector in class. They appeared large and were quite intimidating to us but taking their photos separately and in a studio environment we discussed, changed the feeling to a more understanding and different way of seeing these men. You look at them more as someones father, brother , uncle , son , but if the photos were taken in there pads and they were altogether that would be a very different situation a more intimidating , scary image.
Very strong images in my opinion but I have grown up, and was around similar company and these photos are very much the same as I took many years ago .
Actually at the time these were shown in a gallery there was a lot of unease as one of the Mongrel Mob members were accused of a crime and the people the crime was against weren't very happy about the showing.
QUESTIONS TO ASK MYSELF WHEN CONTEXTUALISING MY OWN WORK
What was I thinking when I made this work ?
What was going on in the world and did any of these events influence my thinking at the time ?
What photographic genre and subgenera does my work fit into ?
Who are my photographic influences ?
What photographic genre do these photographers fit into ?
What ideas or techniques do I take from these photographers into my own work ?
Am I influenced by artist working in other discipline ?
( ex. film or painting )
IN THIS EXERCISE WE TALKED ABOUT JONO ROTMAN WHO TOOK PORTRAITS OF THE MONGREL MOB.
We discussed how we felt about these images and covered the questions above.
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