Critical reflection

For my final project I wanted to explore the idea of the politics of self. My idea was to employ masks to act as a form of metaphor for the ‘front’ that we put up, like a mask, to both disguise and project our identity to others. My original idea was to provide my subjects

Summary for Part 6: Pre-Assessment Tutorial.

Untitled, (2021) Shaun Mullins. For my final assignment I had decided to explore ideas of the politics of self with masks as metaphor for the front that we all put up when with others. This front is a kind of guard that protects as well as projects. At the time of preparing and conducting this

The Cruel Radiance

The Cruel Radiance, 2012, Susie Linfield, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. ISBN: 978-0-226-48251-4. This is a very interesting book and I found it to be a good read. Linfield writes in defence of photography against what she describes as a popular and institutional attack on the medium by critics and even other photographers. She

Image Makers Image Takers

Image Makers Image Takers, 2010, by Anne-Celine Jaeger, London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN: 978-0-500-28892-4. This book examines different subjects practiced in contemporary photography by prominent contemporary artists and Art Photography related professionals with interviews asking them about their philosophies? Inspirations and influences? Equipment and technical methods used? Etc. Subjects covered: Art, Documentary, Fashion and Advertising,

Between The Eyes, Essays on Photography and politics.

Between The Eyes, Essays on Photography and Politics, (2005) by David Levi Strauss, New York: Aperture. ISBN: 978-1-59711-214-7. Strauss looks at how politics has influenced art taking examples of the Vietnam war, San Salvador, The Gulf war, Rwanda, 911, etc. Notes. Journalists working for the largest news media outlets in America operate under the institutional

Planning and Preparing for Assignment 4

For my essay I chose “Using case studies, discuss whether single images can ever fairly represent others or self? I began by looking through my books for appropriate essays that has explored this subject and I took notes of book titles and page numbers to refer back to in preparation for the essay. From this

Planning and Preparation for Assignment 3

Shaun Mullins (Untitled) 2020, Different Selves My brief The readings, research and exercises should have led you to think about self portraiture in a variety of ways. Some practitioners deliberately play with ideas of fluidity and multiple selves, whilst still being anchored to a nominal self. Selfies, often used as self promotion, are intimately linked

My Tutor’s assessment – Assignment 2

In my video conference with my Tutor we discussed the style of work that I am using which is a controlled and planned method, my Tutor thought that this style worked for this project’s narrative. He could see the influence of artist such as Cindy Sherman and Jeff Wall who both create contrived pictures in

Exercise 3.2 – Four Image-Repertoires

Exploring Roland Barthes theory regarding four image-repertoires, (Barthes, 2000, p.13) I have asked my friend (Graham) to pose for me with the intention of presenting himself as, ‘who he thinks he is’, and how he wants to be perceived. Graham asked that I photograph him cleaning his shotgun, as he sees himself as an outdoors

Preparing, producing and editing Assignment 2

For this assignment, the social theme was based around a current social issue that is affecting millions of people, myself included, being furloughed from work as a result of the COVID pandemic. I therefor used myself as the subject and my home as this is the location of my furlough. I used a Nikon with