THE TASK

The final brief we were given for our Photography module was titled ‘Home’, and the task was to take six images in response to the brief, interpreting the idea of ‘home’ in whichever way we pleased.

For my idea, I wanted to try and do something slightly different.  For me, moving three hours away to come to university was a big step, and due to the cost of train fare, I haven’t been able to visit home yet.  The more I thought about this, the more I realised that home, for me, is currently represented by the possessions that I have with me that hold old memories.  I therefore decided that I wanted to try and create a series of still life images, capturing the one item that represents ‘home’ to different people.

I began by asking my flatmates and neighbours what these items were for them, but I found that a common answer kept popping up: teddies.  I found this quite interesting, as it showed that although we’re essentially becoming more independent and “growing up” by moving to university, we still cling onto the things that remind us of our childhood and comforting memories of home.  From this realisation, I decided that I wanted to focus my project on teddies instead, and the stories that stick with these teddies.

Furthermore, I wanted the project to remain anonymous to external viewers.  By this, I mean that I didn’t want to include the faces of the people who own the teddies.  I did, however, still want their voices to tell the stories and memories behind it, so I began research into photographers who use unique methods of linking things like audio or video to their photographs.

RESEARCH

After I began researching for my project, someone in my workshop group gave me a name of a photographer – Lynn Cazabon – which helped to steer me in the right direction.  Lynn Cazabon is an artist who experiments with a variety of different mediums (such as photography, video, mobile applications, web, installation art etc.) within her work.  Her project that interested me the most was her “Immigrant Landscapes” series (see below).  In this series, she and photographer Clark Patterson printed photos on paper they had made from the plants appearing in the photographs.  They then included a QR code at the bottom of the print, so that when it’s scanned, it directs the viewer to a corresponding web page that contains information on all the plants in the photo.

Although the actual content of the photograph is not at all related to my area of interest, what grabbed my attention was how Cazabon includes a QR code to link information to her photos.  It was then that I decided exactly what I wanted to do for my ‘Home’ images – I wanted to photograph the teddies that symbolise home to different people, and then ask the person why it symbolised home to them and record it.  I then planned on putting this audio on a separate webpage and linking each image to that web page using a QR code, and this page would contain the audio clip.  This way, the viewer will see the teddy and hear the story, but the person remains anonymous.  The only name that is exposed is the name of the teddy, which is only personal to the beholder.

Therefore, you initially see the image and it doesn’t mean anything to the viewer, but when you scan the QR code and look deeper, it gives the photo (and teddy) meaning.  This shows how our personal possessions only have sentimental meaning to us because of the memories they hold – to anyone else, they’re nothing special.