Idea: Repression

Psychologically, repression is when an individual attempts to stifle one’s own desires and motivations towards pleasurable things.  This act mainly derived from a fear that an outside force will prevent an individual’s desire from coming to pass; in an attempt to prevent suffering the desire is eliminated from one’s consciousness.

I’ve recently noticed that in a lot of my recent work there has been a subtle release of various memories of events from my past that I have not thought about in a very long time. Repressing memories as a means of self preservation, a defense mechanism, is not an uncommon occurrence in families today. I know many families, including my own, who have suffered from an uncommon and/or tragic event that quite nearly destroys the family structure then, as quickly as it happened, the event is swept under the rug.  While this is not “true” repression, it is a stifling of memory in fear of a negative circumstance continuing in one’s life.

"...horrific experiences are stored but 'forgotten.' Some of these memories later return in flashbacks...The body keeps store, but the brain doesn't always remember."-B.A. Van der Kolk

Robinson, B.A. "Quotations about repressed memories and recovered memory therapy (RMT)." Religious Tolerance.org. N.p., 14 Feb 2009. Web. 23 Sep 2010. <http://www.religioustolerance.org/rmtquote.htm>.

"We obtain our concept of the unconscious, therefore, from the theory of repression… We see, however that we have two kinds of unconscious — that which is latent but capable of becoming conscious, and that which is repressed and not capable of becoming conscious in the ordinary way"-Sigmund Freud

"Sigmund Freud - Wikiquote." Wikiquote. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Sep 2010. <http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sigmund_Freud>

Taken From: http://www.concurringopinions.com/archives/images/Great%20Repression%20Human%20Brain%20in%20Cage.jpg

Artist: Bradley Peters

Bradley Peters' work focuses on staging photographs to seem like snapshots of a moment in peoples' lives. His work often takes place in a home life situation. He places people in a scene then waits for "something to happen," his directed spontaneity motivates the viewer to discover. Each photo seems like a memory the viewer has recalled about a specific moment in his or her life. Essentially, each photo is an investigation of memory, ritual, materiality, neurosis, and the world itself. I find this work especially captivating since there is such a similarity in the chaos of his work with that of my own.

"Bradley Peters was born in Columbus, Nebraska, in 1979. He received a BA from the University of Nebraska—Lincoln in 2004, with degrees in both Psychology and Art. In 2002 and 2003 he was awarded the UNL Creative Activities & Research Experiences Grant. He is also the recipient of the Jean R. Faulkner Memorial Award, the Gold Award from the Midwest Society for Photographic Education, and the Richard Benson Prize. He is a 2008 graduate of the MFA program in Photography at the Yale University School of Art."

Clark, Tim. "1000 Words Photography Magazine: Bradley Peters." 1000 Words Photography Magazine. N.p., 21 Oct 2008. Web. 20 Sep 2010.




"Sometimes it feels like it's about the idea of how everything is connected and pulling on everything else, or how destruction is just really transformation — where there is a change in form but not in energy."

Clark, Tim. "1000 Words Photography Magazine: Bradley Peters." 1000 Words Photography Magazine. N.p., 21 Oct 2008. Web. 20 Sep 2010. 




"It is kind of like hearing a strange sound coming from another room that seems both at once recognizable and unfamiliar. It is the compulsion to discover its source. Although this pursuit may seem to be inevitably elusive and fruitless, I am hoping to gain whatever understanding I can through the process."

Clark, Tim. "1000 Words Photography Magazine: Bradley Peters." 1000 Words Photography Magazine. N.p., 21 Oct 2008. Web. 20 Sep 2010. 

All images from Bradley Peters' series: Home Theater
No information regarding name, dimension or print type available.

Interview
http://www.zoodisk.com/post/a-conversation-with-cpc-2009-winner-bradley-peters/7163

Gallery Link
http://monet.unk.edu/mona/exhibitions.html

Artists Website
http://www.bradleypeters.com/

Artist Lecture: Wafaa Bilal

"Iraqi born artist Wafaa Bilal has exhibited his art world wide, and traveled and lectured extensively to inform audiences of the situation of the Iraqi people, and the importance of peaceful conflict resolution. Bilal's 2007 dynamic installation Domestic Tension placed him on the receiving end of a paintball gun that was accessible online to a worldwide audience, 24 hours a day. Newsweek called the project “breathtaking” and the Chicago Tribune called the month-long piece "one of the sharpest works of political art to be seen in a long time," and named Bilal its 2007 Artist of the Year. Bilal has exhibited worldwide including in Baghdad, the Netherlands, Thailand and Croatia; as well as at the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago, the Milwaukee Art Museum and various other US galleries. His residencies have included Montalvo Arts Center in Saratoga, California; Catwalk in New York; and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. In fall 2008 City Lights published “Shoot an Iraqi: Life, Art and Resistance Under the Gun,” about Bilal’s life and the Domestic Tension project."

Bilal, Wafaa. "Bio." Wafaa Bilal.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Sep 2010. <http://www.wafaabilal.com/html/bio.html>.

Questions:

Why do you  believe it is important for you to make art that comments on your heritage in America?

Do you believe that your work influences the American public's view on what is happening/has happened in the Middle East and Iraq?

Lecture Response:

Bilal's work is extremely controversial, with that said, it's very well thought out and meticulously planned to make the viewer think, it's not simply controversy for controversy's sake.  The work specifically deals with human (American) ignorance, forces the viewer to consider their own ideals and question their own personal practices.  I find this effect amazing, as an artist one of the greatest achievements is influencing the viewers outlook on life and belief system. I, personally, have not witnessed art that has engaged me or challenged me in such a relatable manner.

Idea: Identity

The factors that determine one's identity have been debated and discussed for centuries. 

“Identity is conceptualized as a broad biopsychosocial self-definition that encompasses the individual’s self-representation in the areas of physical functioning, cognition, personality, relationships, occupation, and social roles broadly defined. Normal, healthy(nondepressed) adults attempt to maintain positive views of themselves in these realms, preferring to see themselves as loving, competent, and good. This set of positive self-attributions is maintained primarily through the process of identity assimilation, which, as in Piaget’s theory, is defined as the interpretation of new experiences through the existing schema of identity. When experiences become sufficiently discrepant from an existing identity, the individual may then begin to make appropriate shifts through identity accommodation. According to the theory, as in Piaget’s, it is assumed that the ideal state is one of balance or dynamic equilibrium between identity assimilation and identity accommodation.” (Whitbourne, Susan, Joel Sneed, and Karyn Skultety. "Identity processes in adulthood: Theoretical and methodological challenges." Identity An International Journal of Theory and Research. 2.1 (2002): 29-45. Print.)

The concept of identity and who I am plays a huge role in my work. Specifically, my family has had a great influence on determining who I am and why I am the way I am.  Ideally, I want to use my research to communicate how family influence one's development as a person and as an artist.

Artist: Larry Sultan

Larry Sultan is an art, commercial, and editorial photographer. His intended to look as if he happened upon a situation despite the fact that it's entirely staged. While his work is composed of a varying number subjects, Sultan has a way of projecting himself into his own work. As his father said regarding a photo from the series Pictures from Home, "That's not me sitting on the bed, that's you sitting on the bed. That's a self portrait." His ability to project self into an image and make it a commentary about the subject and place within the photo is quite astounding.

Born 1946 in the state of New York, three years later they moved to California where Sultan graduated from the University of California in 1968 with a B.A. and from the San Francisco Art Institute in 1973 with an M.F.A. Ten years later, he began work on  what became one of his most well known projects Pictures from Home. It took him a full decade to complete the project. During the later years of his career he battle ferociously with cancer until he passed away in Dec. 2009.

"The difference of course is that my own pictures figure predominately in Pictures From Home and stand in contest to the image/artifacts of my parents. But similar to Evidence the intentions of the project are to push at and extend notions of documentary practice.”

Gefter, Philip. "Larry Sultan's California Dreams" December 17, 2009.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-12-17/larry-sultans-california-dreams/?cid=tag:all1

“What happens when – as I interpreted my father’s fate – corporations discard their no-longer-young employees, and how the resulting frustrations and feelings of powerlessness find their way into family relations”

"Larry Sultan."

http://www.mocp.org/collections/permanent/sultan_larry.php

Interviews:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlUau7LcpEE

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=121605471

Gallery:

http://www.wirtzgallery.com/bios/bio_sultan-2.html

Website:

Larry Sultan does not have a personal website.