Lewis Hine - various websites and books - One good example of how artists help change society and how it operates. Hine was photographing child laborers around 1908 and his photos helped enact child labor laws.
As I am reading through the conflict in Rwanda in Collapse, I find myself forgetting the catalyst behind the conflict several pages into the section. The most impressive account of this genocide is the faulty interpretations on both sides. Diamond explains how it is often that a Hulu would protect his Tutsi spouse but would go forth and slay hundreds of other Tutsi. Because the two ethnic groups are so closely related, the boundaries between what makes someone a Hulu tribesman and a Tutsi tribesman are extremely vague. Because of this, people within the tribes would kill off one another based on confusion, doctors would slay their patients, and teachers kill their students. Essentially, this mass genocide which ends when the Tutsi organize a military, is fought completely by local militia and local citizens of Rwanda. The original conflict began with a misunderstanding amongst the two tribes with the Hulu, having the larger population, wishing to simply eradicate the Tutsi. After the Tutsi hold their territory, the UN establishes a unified Rwanada. This entire agreement was destroyed when businessmen from the Hulu tribe purchase machetes (they are cheaper than guns) and passed them out to their locals. With a new set of weapons and a false hatred fueled by dirty politicians, the Hulu citizens venture one their own to slay as many Tutsi as possible. Often times, they would find where the Tutsi refugees would use as their safe haven and would then lock them inside to burn the entire building. The violence included numerous rapings and the cutting off of limbs and other body parts. Overall, 800,000 Tutsi died in very savage fashion. The entire conflict puts the meaning of hatred into concept for me. I will often times find myself furious at a classmate or a buddy for whatever reason. After a while, though, that “hatred” steams off and I simply accept them and myself for whom we are. I would never have the intention of killing those who do me wrong. This genocide would be different had it been a territory conflict without personal influences. To kill 800,000 people, including another third ethnic group in the package over personal distaste is far from anything I can compute. Even though much of this conflict occurred in my present generation, this is the first time I hear of such a conflict. I find amazing how the US involves itself in countries such as Vietnam or Afghanistan, but fails to settle a violent dispute amongst tribes’ people. When asked to intervene in the conflict, the US simply brushed the event off as a regular occurrence in African culture. I find that involving ourselves in this sort of event would be a far more useful use of our resources than half of the conflicts we involve ourselves in.
Is it wrong for me to not be concerned if our society collapses? Stewart Brand's lecture at Penny Stamps put things in perspective for me when he showed the timeline, and how small of a portion we actually took up on it, and the mass of activity that came before us. If our society collapses, its because we were too stupid to change it when we could, and you can't save a civilization by looking back and saying, 'oh yeah we should have done this or that instead'. So, sure we can try to prevent it by improving our standard of living now, but if our society collapses one day it will be for something we didn't have the foreknowledge to change. Many of the infamous societies that collapsed, did so gradually, it wasn't an immediate thing, which made it harder to detect what was going wrong at the time. So the only way to prevent this decline is to improve areas across the board, like Diamond suggests. Furthermore, I think it would be extremely difficult for our society (American) to collapse within the next few hundred years. Unlike societies before us, we have the power to be connected to almost every other form of civilization around the world. And if we maintain our economic and political involvement within most of those civilizations, we don't need to worry about collapse. Because if we go down, we're taking everyone else down with us. Not in a dramatic nuclear holocaust kind of way, but the collapse will effect every area of the world at the same rate. Not unlike our recession affecting other countries' economies at the moment. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if our society collapsed. In terms of the environment, we had a big part in fucking up the planet. Maybe its time something stopped us from hurting ourselves even more. Though I'd like to think that we will change for the better (we're starting to realize our hypocrisy when we try to stop China from polluting) if American society collapses, I say it was our own fault and I hope other civilizations learn from our mistakes.
I thought it was really interesting in lecture when Professor Trumpy put the life of world in 24 hours I imagine that my life is probably even less then a millisecond. Knowing that and then when you look at pictures of the Earth from space you realize what a little spec on the plant we are. What’s surprising though is that all of us together in that short amount of time have done quite a bit of damage. In Collapse the question of what was the person who cut down the last tree on Easter Island thinking? I think it might have been something like desperate times call for desperate measures. Human survival instincts must have came in of whether to die now or die later. At that point your not thinking about tomorrow you’re thinking about how to survive today. I think that our society is not much different we know what were doing is going to be bad for later generations but we continue to do it. Later people might ask us the same question “What was the last American thinking when he depleted all his resources?” I would say it something to do with that we were selfish we often just think about are current needs and as long as those are being met we think all is good. We say we want to things to be good for a grandchildren and future generations but if that were really true we wouldn’t be destroying everything for them. Another point that was touched upon in lecture was natural selection. I feel that in today’s modern world that really doesn’t happen with humans. We seem to want everyone to have a chance to live with modern medicine. Which I think has to do with the graph he showed about how a population has sky rocketed since the industrial revolution. There is less infant mortality and people are able to stay alive longer with the help of technology.
I thought that this week’s artist is amazing because he made beautiful photographs but also made a tremendous difference in his life. I think there is something so beautiful about classic black and white photographs, and with the fade of the paper due to years of existence is really interesting.
I wonder on this topic a lot as an artist: why should I become an artist, why am I so damn important, what can I do to make a difference in the world? Because drawing a mountain everyday can only do so much. Last year I asked myself those questions and I responded: I’m most passionate about animals, and I want to fight for them through my art to make a difference about something I care about. Lewis Hine made a difference by taking photographs about something he has passion about, and showed the world that child labor is terrible. I think a good artist does this.
I’ve always wondered why people do not use old cameras more often to make similar images, but in contemporary settings. Why should we all use the hippest, newest, technology when we could explore more with the old cameras? I guess when I first became interested in art we had to draw first. Within drawing, we learned with no color, just charcoal and paper to understand to most basic elements of drawing. Of course there are students in the world that do it from the beginning, start with basics, but schools like even our own, do not. Because everyone can own a digital camera, it is much easier to just start with that. Composition, knowing how the camera works, color: are all new elements to make a piece of work. Without understanding how each works and jumping to conclusions can be frustrating.
Finally we are on the last week of this class. I personally am very excited about this, as this class didn’t really excite me artistically. Then again neither did ADP 1 or 2. I personally think this class was just “how to be eco-friendly”, not really on how to work with the environment to make art. That’s just me.
On to Collapse: I finished the book and had some mixed feelings as well. The book completed itself with a topic discussion about Australia and how they are milking their resources dry. Their coal and iron are being depleted faster than they are regenerating and their ecosystems are feeling it. Australia is doing this because they are a leading producer of these things for the rest of the world and are trying to keep up.
I, for one, am going to disagree with the book on this because I will be able to write more, and I think that one is supposed to use their resources to the limit. Australia has materials sitting there that the world needs and wants. There is an opportunity for the Australians to make tons of jobs for its citizens, for it to compete in the world economy, and for it to lead the market. But, because the book says they would be hurting the environment, they shouldn’t do it? No, this is totally wrong. I am a very shortsighted person and it has treated me very well. We need to use all of our resources rapidly and to their fullest extent. When we need new technology or materials, we will find them, or we will discover a technology around them. We have never failed at this, and all of our great technological discoveries have come out of necessity, not out of aimless wandering and tinkering around.
Am I saying to go out of our way to hurt the environment? No, of course not, but I am saying that we as humans need to act like every other animal and crank out what this planet has to offer and to stop worrying about tomorrow. Today is hard enough, let’s maximize our output and hope for the best.
In Collapse when reading Why do Some Societies Make Disastrous Decisions?, I was not surprised that societies still make detrimental decisions that have in the past proved to be bad. Such as deforestation, or farming practices that obviously cause erosion and other practices of the like. Although there are reasons behind this, creeping normalcy, or false analogy, humans have been presented time and time again with issues that have happened in the past, which we’ve failed to address presently. Perhaps because problems may be realized too late, or we naturally put off issues, or are waiting for someone to do something, but regardless, we’ve been given information and tools on how to improve the future. Another part of the book I found very interesting was the chapter on Rwanda. I’ve taken a class on genocide in high school and felt very informed on the conflict that happened there in the 90’s however, this book presented new perspectives that I hadn’t heard before. I was so surprised when I read, “It is not rare, even today, to hear Rwandans argue that a war is necessary to wipe out an excess of population and to bring numbers into line with the available land resources.” Pp. 326. I was unaware how interconnected the country’s population was and how a major cause of the war was the limiting resources that are a severe problem. The fact that resources had to be that limited that people could justify war to bring equilibrium of resources to the country, is amazing. I know we’re so lucky to live in such a prosperous country as America but I suppose I was naive in thinking that other countries weren’t struggling that much. In the lecture I just became much more aware that the human population is a severe global pest that cannot persist and is actually causing the next major extinction. Our species has been present for what, a mere second or so in earth’s history of existence? We exist in every area of the world, are consuming resources at an unsustainable rapid pace, and it seems that within the next few seconds of earth’s life we probably will not be here anymore. That’s kind of depressing.
Looking at Lewis Hine’s photography, I am fixated on the paradoxical clash between the beauty of the photography and the tragic but compelling message behind it. It is rather unsettling, seeing a photograph of children in horrible working conditions and yet being so overwhelmed by the incredible aesthetics of the thing. However, I think that is why the photographs are so effective. For instance, the lighting in a few of the pictures of young girls working in factories is absolutely stunning; the entire picture glows in a seemingly enchanting radiance that creates a delightfully soft contrast (though certainly part of that feel comes with years of age) and yet these are children working far too long for far too little under far too horrible conditions. In this way, Hine literally and metaphorically brings light to the situation at hand. Herein lies the power of these photographs, and it is far too unfortunate that after his contributions to the changing of child labor laws, his work was largely ignored or forgotten. Without doubt, the world needs more artists such as Hines. As an artist, I feel like I am being hypocritical when I say that, because most of my current art does not push for social justice in any way, shape or form, but I’d like to think I will make a difference with my art somehow in the future. On another note, I loved the perspective that Professor Trumpey brought to class these past few lectures. What really struck me was his pixilated color graph of the planet’s species. As humans we do not even own an entire pixel of that huge spectrum, and yet we manage to influence and change our vast world in dramatic and often devastating ways. For such a relatively small species, we have enormous power and I think we often times forget that. Yes, sometimes I do wonder to what extent it all matters. Isn’t the creation and extinction of species a very natural part of life? However, because of our tremendous influence, maybe if we did live in the present a bit more, stopped over-thinking the possibilities of the future and started actively aiming to help those living right now, our actions will naturally have beneficial consequences. Every step we make reverberates across the earth’s historical timeline, and because we have many times failed to recognize this fact over the course of our brief existence, I think finally doing so and proceeding with an open mind and an active heart may just be taking a step in the right direction. If not, well…I guess we’ll just be joining the dinosaurs. Hell, there’s certainly enough other species to keep Earth from getting lonely.
I’ve been advertently exposed to the work of Lewis Hine from the day I moved into my apartment this year. His image of the Empire State Building workmen sitting precariously on a beam, high above New York City hangs in the lobby of University Towers. It is the first thing you see upon entering and I have heard many less informed inhabitants question if the image was taken when U Towers was being built. The picture is absolutely incredible. Not only is the setting astonishing but Hine captured a complete value scale. I’ve wondered many times who took the photograph because it is clear that the workers are sitting comfortably teetering on the edge of death, but the viewer is unable to tell where the photographer is situated. Hine was clearly willing to put himself in grave danger for the sake of his work. I find is images hauntingly beautiful. They are aesthetically romantic because of the nature of old film and have a sad nostalgic sentiment. He didn’t seek to exaggerate the children’s working conditions like other documentary photographers of the time. He believed that people would support his cause if there was an element of reality to the images rather than an extreme and dramatized version. Many images remind me of the movie Metropolis, the silent German film about factory dystopia. Hine was a successful artist because he was able to use his work as a tool to bring about social reform. He combined his love of photography and passion for social justice to convey a clear and important message to the public in a way they could understand, relate to ultimately deem significant enough to act upon.
Brijit Spencer ADP III Weekly response James Rotz 12.07.09
Reading about Malthus in Africa got me really thinking about the overwhelming population growth we’ve seen. The fact that the population doubles in Africa every seventeen years is unbelievable. But even more unbelievable is the fact that we somehow are able to keep up with this population explosion, at least to some extent. You would think that naturally our population growth would level off as we run out of resources and food supply cannot keep up, however it is in fact the complete opposite. Our population is increasing so rapidly because we are able to keep up. We have broadened the African agricultural base and increased food production beyond what we have ever seen before. In addition to this we have improved hygiene and medical care, as well as opened boundaries for more occupational space in Africa. We have essentially created a profound conundrum for ourselves. Although we have made it possible for people to survive by producing more food at a more efficient rate and conquering much disease, this has lead to an exponential population growth that we already see becoming too overwhelming. But what can we do? We cannot stop feeding our species, or providing health care, or essentially saving lives. We are simply animals trying to survive, only we have adapted too well. Our efficiency in surviving has created a real problem for us. Not only is our population explosion surpassing our food production rate, and our space becoming so overcrowded and filthy that even we can’t fend off disease any longer, but conflicts will eventually only be able to resolved in violence. We have been struggling to support Africa, providing billions of dollars in aid every year. In doing so, we have disabled evolution by allowing millions of people to just barely live.
I think the black and white images by Hine are incredibly striking. I feel there is a sense of layered emotion that is often brought put by black and white images. However, I do wonder how these images may read in color? Would they still be just as striking? Would they be more relatable? While these are important documentation to the time, and helped create great change I wonder what images might provoke such after wave as these did in today’s society. I am full of questions when I look at his images. Where are these children today? What happened to them, Where, are their children, their children’s children? I always enjoy learning in lecture, but sometimes feel that the class is going in a different direction then an art and design course. It feels like more of an informative class to shape our perspective instead of a perspective on art and design. I sometimes wish there were more references to artists, simply because really gain a lot from looking at artwork and analyzing it, and listening to others analyze. I think that there is so much that we are able to take away from ADP III that it is sometimes hard to fit it all in our head. With all the readings, work, and lecture the information sometimes feels overwhelming, in the sense that I want to change something. I want to fix problems in the world and I get anxious not always being given a black and white answer on how to fix it. I then suddenly realize that that is what this class is about shaping our perspective so we can come up with how we want to approach a problem with our creative voice! I get it! …but I still wish it was all just a little more simple the that.
Seeing these photos by Lewis Hine make me think even more about what the artist’s role can be in society. This reminds me of Jacob Riis’ How the Other Half Lives and how the invention of the flashbulb helped him get images of the dark parts of the city where people lived. This opened people’s eyes the way we think about the living conditions for the poor. Issues like these are unfortunately not real to most people unless they can see it. I am so used to seeing photographs of the earth that I take it for granted. I have been trying to imagine what type of thoughts would be running through my head if I had been old as I am now in the late sixties and saw that first whole picture of the earth. After thousands of years of civilization on planet earth there is finally an image of where it all took place. This makes me wonder if it is even possible anymore for an image to effect peoples emotions the way those photographs did. Because of advances in technology, we see way more photos each day than people did back in the late sixties. The ease of which a photograph could be taken rapidly increased and as a result the standards of what is worthy to photograph decreased. We don’t see photographs the same way people did back then. To them, a photograph was the “truth” and hard evidence of the existence of something. Today, Photoshop and other forms of technology have enabled us to distort the truth behind photographs and these days the truth is usually not enough to get our attention.
There are several photographs that I can conjure up in my mind that were extremely impactful in their reach. Children running from an explosion, skin burning because of Napalm. The raising of a flag on mounds of rubble. These are photos that win pulitizers and end up sitting in the heads of Americans. Lewis Hine’s photographs were influential in their time but still strike chords in the heads of Americans now. We no longer have the issues of child labor in our own country but we see these photographs as universal atrocities. Even though they are portraying American workers we can still imagine them being the children working in sweat shops across the world. Some of his photographs inside the factory are almost ethereal. No matter how many harsh lines are seen in the factory equipment and in the details of the children there is still a large separation between the viewer and the scene. The lighting is airy and the children’s faces are eerie. All eyes coming from the photograph are piercing and almost hollow. You are confronted by their situation, forced to be a sideshow of it. To see the round faces of the children up against the callous machines is dragging on the soul. If these images were able to circulate years ago it is no wonder how they were able to make a difference. Like Dorothea Lange’s “Migrant Mother” we are/were approached with a reality that is less than ideal. When we realize that this reality is despondent we are struck to make change. With these downhearted children, came new legislation and a world that was a little easier to deal with.
I strongly believe that art can change the world, just like how Lewis Hine’s work helped enact child labor laws. Art is like the voice of the people and it is something that shouldn’t be ignored. It also helps to bring attention to things that people aren’t even aware that are going on. This is one of the reasons that I have chosen to work mainly on environmental pieces in my own art, dealing with things like mountain top removal that not many people know about. If there is going to be any change at all in the world, it is going to begin with artists and their work. One of the things that makes Hine’s work so noticeable is the expression that all of the children have. Saying that conditions are bad for working children is one thing, but what really makes an impact is the emotion that his photograph shows. Art is a way to make things real and bring emotion to issues that are otherwise ignored. You can’t look at that child’s face and say that everything is ok just like you can’t look at a mountain that has been destroyed and say that it’s for the best, because it’s not. These things need to change and it is up to the artist to make people notice what is going on around them and to elicit an emotional response from the people that view their work; enough of a response to actually go out and make a difference and change things that they don’t like. It all starts with art.
As I am reading through the conflict in Rwanda in Collapse, I find myself forgetting the catalyst behind the conflict several pages into the section. The most impressive account of this genocide is the faulty interpretations on both sides. Diamond explains how it is often that a Hulu would protect his Tutsi spouse but would go forth and slay hundreds of other Tutsi. Because the two ethnic groups are so closely related, the boundaries between what makes someone a Hulu tribesman and a Tutsi tribesman are extremely vague. Because of this, people within the tribes would kill off one another based on confusion, doctors would slay their patients, and teachers kill their students. Essentially, this mass genocide which ends when the Tutsi organize a military, is fought completely by local militia and local citizens of Rwanda.
ReplyDeleteThe original conflict began with a misunderstanding amongst the two tribes with the Hulu, having the larger population, wishing to simply eradicate the Tutsi. After the Tutsi hold their territory, the UN establishes a unified Rwanada. This entire agreement was destroyed when businessmen from the Hulu tribe purchase machetes (they are cheaper than guns) and passed them out to their locals. With a new set of weapons and a false hatred fueled by dirty politicians, the Hulu citizens venture one their own to slay as many Tutsi as possible. Often times, they would find where the Tutsi refugees would use as their safe haven and would then lock them inside to burn the entire building. The violence included numerous rapings and the cutting off of limbs and other body parts. Overall, 800,000 Tutsi died in very savage fashion.
The entire conflict puts the meaning of hatred into concept for me. I will often times find myself furious at a classmate or a buddy for whatever reason. After a while, though, that “hatred” steams off and I simply accept them and myself for whom we are. I would never have the intention of killing those who do me wrong. This genocide would be different had it been a territory conflict without personal influences. To kill 800,000 people, including another third ethnic group in the package over personal distaste is far from anything I can compute.
Even though much of this conflict occurred in my present generation, this is the first time I hear of such a conflict. I find amazing how the US involves itself in countries such as Vietnam or Afghanistan, but fails to settle a violent dispute amongst tribes’ people. When asked to intervene in the conflict, the US simply brushed the event off as a regular occurrence in African culture. I find that involving ourselves in this sort of event would be a far more useful use of our resources than half of the conflicts we involve ourselves in.
Marian Perez
ReplyDeleteADP III
12/4/09
The lectures this week were less interesting to me than the ones from last week. I think the reason is because the lecture of evolution and natural selection seemed really redundant and felt like something pulled out again from high school. I did like when the professor drew out graphs to show us the examples of the birds and their beak sizes playing a huge role in what kind of nut they eat. We all know the basics of Darwin’s theory and his findings; I just wish the ideas were connecting more to art.
In reading Collapse, I find my self quite bored with the whole thing. Reading about the different ethnic groups and tribes got old quick. I don’t like tribes and reading about how they lived because of the way the way they all fought so much. It’s just not surprising why they did collapse as a society, but it is a bit scary when we start to relate it to our own. I believe that most societies do tend to collapse, but more because of human nature the five points Diamond keeps mentioning over and over. I do think that we have a greater chance than the examples from the past to survive a collapse or prevent one because of how much more developed we have become and advanced in getting along.
Discussion about the book was a lot more interesting this week because of the way we really mentioned our modern politics and recycling concerns. I personally no not recycle batteries, but remember when my father did. He would go to this stinky center where he would also spill car oil into the recycling jugs next to the huge recycling bin for batteries, all ranging by size. Just thinking of that gross place and the effort it took to specifically drive to that place is discouraging. I am sure now that it is not that gross or hard to do as I remembered, but I do think the government could make it easier for us, have other recycling bins for other objects such as E-waste and batteries as common as pop cans recycling centers.
I did like how we all agreed that corporations or people should take more responsibility for the products they make or use, but that it is difficult to enforce. It would be better if people who did not take responsibility would have to pay a fee or get penalized for not informing clients how to properly dispose their products. Just saying “recycle” or using an image is not good enough, the reason needs to enforce it. People should know why it is important to recycle other objects if they are going to do it and why it is worth the time or effort. Encouraging and informing people more about recycling based on the things they buy or specific material would get ride of the ignorance there is in just buying things and only recycling cans because of the money they can get back.
In looking up Lewis Hine’s work I thought about ADP II last semester and how we watched the silent comedy of the guy working in a factory and going crazy. People were really caught up in just working, not thinking about the environment or how to recycle. The poor working conditions really do come through Lewis’s work, and the kids he captures are so unique because they carry both an adult and child expression, which is sort of sad. Kids should be happy and playing around, not be so serious and stressed out over money and work. The themes and time he captured in his work is really admirable and not cliché by having the people not looked posed or put on display like in other work I have seen.
Is it wrong for me to not be concerned if our society collapses? Stewart Brand's lecture at Penny Stamps put things in perspective for me when he showed the timeline, and how small of a portion we actually took up on it, and the mass of activity that came before us. If our society collapses, its because we were too stupid to change it when we could, and you can't save a civilization by looking back and saying, 'oh yeah we should have done this or that instead'. So, sure we can try to prevent it by improving our standard of living now, but if our society collapses one day it will be for something we didn't have the foreknowledge to change.
ReplyDeleteMany of the infamous societies that collapsed, did so gradually, it wasn't an immediate thing, which made it harder to detect what was going wrong at the time. So the only way to prevent this decline is to improve areas across the board, like Diamond suggests.
Furthermore, I think it would be extremely difficult for our society (American) to collapse within the next few hundred years. Unlike societies before us, we have the power to be connected to almost every other form of civilization around the world. And if we maintain our economic and political involvement within most of those civilizations, we don't need to worry about collapse. Because if we go down, we're taking everyone else down with us. Not in a dramatic nuclear holocaust kind of way, but the collapse will effect every area of the world at the same rate. Not unlike our recession affecting other countries' economies at the moment.
Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if our society collapsed. In terms of the environment, we had a big part in fucking up the planet. Maybe its time something stopped us from hurting ourselves even more. Though I'd like to think that we will change for the better (we're starting to realize our hypocrisy when we try to stop China from polluting) if American society collapses, I say it was our own fault and I hope other civilizations learn from our mistakes.
I thought it was really interesting in lecture when Professor Trumpy put the life of world in 24 hours I imagine that my life is probably even less then a millisecond. Knowing that and then when you look at pictures of the Earth from space you realize what a little spec on the plant we are. What’s surprising though is that all of us together in that short amount of time have done quite a bit of damage.
ReplyDeleteIn Collapse the question of what was the person who cut down the last tree on Easter Island thinking? I think it might have been something like desperate times call for desperate measures. Human survival instincts must have came in of whether to die now or die later. At that point your not thinking about tomorrow you’re thinking about how to survive today. I think that our society is not much different we know what were doing is going to be bad for later generations but we continue to do it. Later people might ask us the same question “What was the last American thinking when he depleted all his resources?” I would say it something to do with that we were selfish we often just think about are current needs and as long as those are being met we think all is good. We say we want to things to be good for a grandchildren and future generations but if that were really true we wouldn’t be destroying everything for them.
Another point that was touched upon in lecture was natural selection. I feel that in today’s modern world that really doesn’t happen with humans. We seem to want everyone to have a chance to live with modern medicine. Which I think has to do with the graph he showed about how a population has sky rocketed since the industrial revolution. There is less infant mortality and people are able to stay alive longer with the help of technology.
Anita Sidler
ReplyDeleteThis week’s artist: Lewis Hine
I thought that this week’s artist is amazing because he made beautiful photographs but also made a tremendous difference in his life. I think there is something so beautiful about classic black and white photographs, and with the fade of the paper due to years of existence is really interesting.
I wonder on this topic a lot as an artist: why should I become an artist, why am I so damn important, what can I do to make a difference in the world? Because drawing a mountain everyday can only do so much. Last year I asked myself those questions and I responded: I’m most passionate about animals, and I want to fight for them through my art to make a difference about something I care about. Lewis Hine made a difference by taking photographs about something he has passion about, and showed the world that child labor is terrible. I think a good artist does this.
I’ve always wondered why people do not use old cameras more often to make similar images, but in contemporary settings. Why should we all use the hippest, newest, technology when we could explore more with the old cameras? I guess when I first became interested in art we had to draw first. Within drawing, we learned with no color, just charcoal and paper to understand to most basic elements of drawing. Of course there are students in the world that do it from the beginning, start with basics, but schools like even our own, do not. Because everyone can own a digital camera, it is much easier to just start with that. Composition, knowing how the camera works, color: are all new elements to make a piece of work. Without understanding how each works and jumping to conclusions can be frustrating.
Andrew Hainen
ReplyDeleteADP III :: James Rotz
Weekly Statement :: Tuesday December 8th, 2009
Finally we are on the last week of this class. I personally am very excited about this, as this class didn’t really excite me artistically. Then again neither did ADP 1 or 2. I personally think this class was just “how to be eco-friendly”, not really on how to work with the environment to make art. That’s just me.
On to Collapse: I finished the book and had some mixed feelings as well. The book completed itself with a topic discussion about Australia and how they are milking their resources dry. Their coal and iron are being depleted faster than they are regenerating and their ecosystems are feeling it. Australia is doing this because they are a leading producer of these things for the rest of the world and are trying to keep up.
I, for one, am going to disagree with the book on this because I will be able to write more, and I think that one is supposed to use their resources to the limit. Australia has materials sitting there that the world needs and wants. There is an opportunity for the Australians to make tons of jobs for its citizens, for it to compete in the world economy, and for it to lead the market. But, because the book says they would be hurting the environment, they shouldn’t do it? No, this is totally wrong. I am a very shortsighted person and it has treated me very well. We need to use all of our resources rapidly and to their fullest extent. When we need new technology or materials, we will find them, or we will discover a technology around them. We have never failed at this, and all of our great technological discoveries have come out of necessity, not out of aimless wandering and tinkering around.
Am I saying to go out of our way to hurt the environment? No, of course not, but I am saying that we as humans need to act like every other animal and crank out what this planet has to offer and to stop worrying about tomorrow. Today is hard enough, let’s maximize our output and hope for the best.
In Collapse when reading Why do Some Societies Make Disastrous Decisions?, I was not surprised that societies still make detrimental decisions that have in the past proved to be bad. Such as deforestation, or farming practices that obviously cause erosion and other practices of the like. Although there are reasons behind this, creeping normalcy, or false analogy, humans have been presented time and time again with issues that have happened in the past, which we’ve failed to address presently. Perhaps because problems may be realized too late, or we naturally put off issues, or are waiting for someone to do something, but regardless, we’ve been given information and tools on how to improve the future. Another part of the book I found very interesting was the chapter on Rwanda. I’ve taken a class on genocide in high school and felt very informed on the conflict that happened there in the 90’s however, this book presented new perspectives that I hadn’t heard before. I was so surprised when I read, “It is not rare, even today, to hear Rwandans argue that a war is necessary to wipe out an excess of population and to bring numbers into line with the available land resources.” Pp. 326. I was unaware how interconnected the country’s population was and how a major cause of the war was the limiting resources that are a severe problem. The fact that resources had to be that limited that people could justify war to bring equilibrium of resources to the country, is amazing. I know we’re so lucky to live in such a prosperous country as America but I suppose I was naive in thinking that other countries weren’t struggling that much.
ReplyDeleteIn the lecture I just became much more aware that the human population is a severe global pest that cannot persist and is actually causing the next major extinction. Our species has been present for what, a mere second or so in earth’s history of existence? We exist in every area of the world, are consuming resources at an unsustainable rapid pace, and it seems that within the next few seconds of earth’s life we probably will not be here anymore. That’s kind of depressing.
Trisha Previte
ReplyDeleteADP III: James Rotz
Looking at Lewis Hine’s photography, I am fixated on the paradoxical clash between the beauty of the photography and the tragic but compelling message behind it. It is rather unsettling, seeing a photograph of children in horrible working conditions and yet being so overwhelmed by the incredible aesthetics of the thing. However, I think that is why the photographs are so effective. For instance, the lighting in a few of the pictures of young girls working in factories is absolutely stunning; the entire picture glows in a seemingly enchanting radiance that creates a delightfully soft contrast (though certainly part of that feel comes with years of age) and yet these are children working far too long for far too little under far too horrible conditions. In this way, Hine literally and metaphorically brings light to the situation at hand. Herein lies the power of these photographs, and it is far too unfortunate that after his contributions to the changing of child labor laws, his work was largely ignored or forgotten. Without doubt, the world needs more artists such as Hines. As an artist, I feel like I am being hypocritical when I say that, because most of my current art does not push for social justice in any way, shape or form, but I’d like to think I will make a difference with my art somehow in the future.
On another note, I loved the perspective that Professor Trumpey brought to class these past few lectures. What really struck me was his pixilated color graph of the planet’s species. As humans we do not even own an entire pixel of that huge spectrum, and yet we manage to influence and change our vast world in dramatic and often devastating ways. For such a relatively small species, we have enormous power and I think we often times forget that. Yes, sometimes I do wonder to what extent it all matters. Isn’t the creation and extinction of species a very natural part of life? However, because of our tremendous influence, maybe if we did live in the present a bit more, stopped over-thinking the possibilities of the future and started actively aiming to help those living right now, our actions will naturally have beneficial consequences. Every step we make reverberates across the earth’s historical timeline, and because we have many times failed to recognize this fact over the course of our brief existence, I think finally doing so and proceeding with an open mind and an active heart may just be taking a step in the right direction. If not, well…I guess we’ll just be joining the dinosaurs. Hell, there’s certainly enough other species to keep Earth from getting lonely.
I’ve been advertently exposed to the work of Lewis Hine from the day I moved into my apartment this year. His image of the Empire State Building workmen sitting precariously on a beam, high above New York City hangs in the lobby of University Towers. It is the first thing you see upon entering and I have heard many less informed inhabitants question if the image was taken when U Towers was being built. The picture is absolutely incredible. Not only is the setting astonishing but Hine captured a complete value scale. I’ve wondered many times who took the photograph because it is clear that the workers are sitting comfortably teetering on the edge of death, but the viewer is unable to tell where the photographer is situated. Hine was clearly willing to put himself in grave danger for the sake of his work.
ReplyDeleteI find is images hauntingly beautiful. They are aesthetically romantic because of the nature of old film and have a sad nostalgic sentiment. He didn’t seek to exaggerate the children’s working conditions like other documentary photographers of the time. He believed that people would support his cause if there was an element of reality to the images rather than an extreme and dramatized version. Many images remind me of the movie Metropolis, the silent German film about factory dystopia.
Hine was a successful artist because he was able to use his work as a tool to bring about social reform. He combined his love of photography and passion for social justice to convey a clear and important message to the public in a way they could understand, relate to ultimately deem significant enough to act upon.
Brijit Spencer
ReplyDeleteADP III
Weekly response
James Rotz
12.07.09
Reading about Malthus in Africa got me really thinking about the overwhelming population growth we’ve seen. The fact that the population doubles in Africa every seventeen years is unbelievable. But even more unbelievable is the fact that we somehow are able to keep up with this population explosion, at least to some extent. You would think that naturally our population growth would level off as we run out of resources and food supply cannot keep up, however it is in fact the complete opposite. Our population is increasing so rapidly because we are able to keep up. We have broadened the African agricultural base and increased food production beyond what we have ever seen before. In addition to this we have improved hygiene and medical care, as well as opened boundaries for more occupational space in Africa. We have essentially created a profound conundrum for ourselves. Although we have made it possible for people to survive by producing more food at a more efficient rate and conquering much disease, this has lead to an exponential population growth that we already see becoming too overwhelming. But what can we do? We cannot stop feeding our species, or providing health care, or essentially saving lives. We are simply animals trying to survive, only we have adapted too well. Our efficiency in surviving has created a real problem for us. Not only is our population explosion surpassing our food production rate, and our space becoming so overcrowded and filthy that even we can’t fend off disease any longer, but conflicts will eventually only be able to resolved in violence. We have been struggling to support Africa, providing billions of dollars in aid every year. In doing so, we have disabled evolution by allowing millions of people to just barely live.
I think the black and white images by Hine are incredibly striking. I feel there is a sense of layered emotion that is often brought put by black and white images. However, I do wonder how these images may read in color? Would they still be just as striking? Would they be more relatable? While these are important documentation to the time, and helped create great change I wonder what images might provoke such after wave as these did in today’s society. I am full of questions when I look at his images. Where are these children today? What happened to them, Where, are their children, their children’s children?
ReplyDeleteI always enjoy learning in lecture, but sometimes feel that the class is going in a different direction then an art and design course. It feels like more of an informative class to shape our perspective instead of a perspective on art and design. I sometimes wish there were more references to artists, simply because really gain a lot from looking at artwork and analyzing it, and listening to others analyze. I think that there is so much that we are able to take away from ADP III that it is sometimes hard to fit it all in our head. With all the readings, work, and lecture the information sometimes feels overwhelming, in the sense that I want to change something. I want to fix problems in the world and I get anxious not always being given a black and white answer on how to fix it. I then suddenly realize that that is what this class is about shaping our perspective so we can come up with how we want to approach a problem with our creative voice! I get it! …but I still wish it was all just a little more simple the that.
Seeing these photos by Lewis Hine make me think even more about what the artist’s role can be in society. This reminds me of Jacob Riis’ How the Other Half Lives and how the invention of the flashbulb helped him get images of the dark parts of the city where people lived. This opened people’s eyes the way we think about the living conditions for the poor. Issues like these are unfortunately not real to most people unless they can see it. I am so used to seeing photographs of the earth that I take it for granted. I have been trying to imagine what type of thoughts would be running through my head if I had been old as I am now in the late sixties and saw that first whole picture of the earth. After thousands of years of civilization on planet earth there is finally an image of where it all took place.
ReplyDeleteThis makes me wonder if it is even possible anymore for an image to effect peoples emotions the way those photographs did. Because of advances in technology, we see way more photos each day than people did back in the late sixties. The ease of which a photograph could be taken rapidly increased and as a result the standards of what is worthy to photograph decreased. We don’t see photographs the same way people did back then. To them, a photograph was the “truth” and hard evidence of the existence of something. Today, Photoshop and other forms of technology have enabled us to distort the truth behind photographs and these days the truth is usually not enough to get our attention.
Dana Pierfelice
ReplyDeleteADP response
There are several photographs that I can conjure up in my mind that were extremely impactful in their reach. Children running from an explosion, skin burning because of Napalm. The raising of a flag on mounds of rubble. These are photos that win pulitizers and end up sitting in the heads of Americans. Lewis Hine’s photographs were influential in their time but still strike chords in the heads of Americans now. We no longer have the issues of child labor in our own country but we see these photographs as universal atrocities. Even though they are portraying American workers we can still imagine them being the children working in sweat shops across the world.
Some of his photographs inside the factory are almost ethereal. No matter how many harsh lines are seen in the factory equipment and in the details of the children there is still a large separation between the viewer and the scene. The lighting is airy and the children’s faces are eerie. All eyes coming from the photograph are piercing and almost hollow. You are confronted by their situation, forced to be a sideshow of it. To see the round faces of the children up against the callous machines is dragging on the soul. If these images were able to circulate years ago it is no wonder how they were able to make a difference. Like Dorothea Lange’s “Migrant Mother” we are/were approached with a reality that is less than ideal. When we realize that this reality is despondent we are struck to make change. With these downhearted children, came new legislation and a world that was a little easier to deal with.
Shelby Roback
ReplyDeleteADP III
I strongly believe that art can change the world, just like how Lewis Hine’s work helped enact child labor laws. Art is like the voice of the people and it is something that shouldn’t be ignored. It also helps to bring attention to things that people aren’t even aware that are going on. This is one of the reasons that I have chosen to work mainly on environmental pieces in my own art, dealing with things like mountain top removal that not many people know about. If there is going to be any change at all in the world, it is going to begin with artists and their work.
One of the things that makes Hine’s work so noticeable is the expression that all of the children have. Saying that conditions are bad for working children is one thing, but what really makes an impact is the emotion that his photograph shows. Art is a way to make things real and bring emotion to issues that are otherwise ignored. You can’t look at that child’s face and say that everything is ok just like you can’t look at a mountain that has been destroyed and say that it’s for the best, because it’s not. These things need to change and it is up to the artist to make people notice what is going on around them and to elicit an emotional response from the people that view their work; enough of a response to actually go out and make a difference and change things that they don’t like. It all starts with art.