Ethnographic Research

Richard Mosse is an Irish conceptual documentary photogrpher. From 201 – 2014 he decided he wanted to highlight the lives the people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo were living during an ongoing war.

Mosse inserted himself in the midst of the war to experience the lives they were living. Often in dangerous situations, he would film without questioning what was in front of him. This type of documentation is an excellent tool for truly understanding a culture and part of society.

To make his photography and films stand out, Mosse used Kodak Aerochrome – a type of infra-red film – which highlighted UV which is usually hidden from the human eye.
Orignially created for military reconnaissance, the film was used for its ability to see the unseen – A connection Mosse wanted others to make about the lives of the Congolese.

This process of using production to highlight a hidden mesaage is fascinating to me and the results of Mosse’s work really stands out.

The juxtoposition between the horros of the wars and the beauty of the photos leaves the viewers with a competing thought process.

Community Collaboration

This week we were asked to explore how to research and define a topic that reveals a new insight and critical understanding of visual culture, myth or story in our area.

I really liked the idea of looking into myths and legends that have developed over time but only knoew of a handful.

I reached out to my local community online and was overwhelmed with the response – 165 comments about local legends and myths.

I have listed some below which stood out to me:

Choosing a subject you find interesting

After their first highly successful Kickstarter campaign, Read Only Memor, founded by Darren Wall, found the niche as a publisher of beautiful books about the computer game industry.

The right shows the SEGA Mega Drive/Genesis: Collected works publication which highlights the beauty of the classic games console. It is 352 pages long and features hardware drawings and box art.

So create a compendium of such depth takes a true love and passion for the subject. For that reason I will pick a subject for my own essay which interests me.

I believe an interest for a subject is palpable in the text which is written about it. I hope you get this feeling of interest from my final piece.

Possible Essay Subjects

In the 1950s an elephant would be a common site on the sprawling sands of Great Yarmouth. Part of the local circus, The Hippodrome, they would entertain crowds in the thousands at the oldest purpose-built big top in the country. As they became no longer used for entertainment, Great Yarmouth continued to be one of the best performance-led tourist attractions where visitors are now treated to a festival of wheels, maritime memories and quirk and eccentricity. Why did Yarmouth become so popular for performance and how has it changed since the invention of the holiday?

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Behind the dazzling lights of the Golden Mile, a sinister, dark side of Great Yarmouth exists. Fact or fiction, you decide. This selection of stories, hearsay and local legends examines the more macabre side to seaside living. Do you know where the treacle mines are? Did they ever catch the Boot Lace Killer? Pirates, witchcraft and ghosts are all uncovered in this exciting journey of discovery into the dark past of the Great Yarmyths.

References

Publicdelivery.org. 2013. Richard Mosse’s Enclave in Congo – Dreamlike & disturbing – Public Delivery. [online] Available at: https://publicdelivery.org/richard-mosse-the-enclave/ [Accessed 14 May 2021].

Wall, D., 2021. Sensible Software 1986–1999. [online] Kckstarter. Available at: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/darrenwall/sensible-software-19861999-by-read-only-memory/description [Accessed 14 May 2021].

segabits.com. 2014. The SEGA Mega Drive/Genesis: Collected Works is approved. [online] Available at: http://segabits.com/blog/2014/08/08/the-sega-mega-drivegenesis-collected-works-is-approved-book-goes-to-print-on-august-11th/ [Accessed 14 May 2021].

Deviantart.com. 2012. 8-bit mario by raivcesleinadnayr on DeviantArt. [online] Available at: https://www.deviantart.com/raivcesleinadnayr/art/8-bit-mario-200177190 [Accessed 14 May 2021].

Benson, L., 2020. In Richard Mosse’s Pink Congo, Death Is More Than Just a Number – ELEPHANT. [online] ELEPHANT. Available at: https://elephant.art/in-richard-mosses-pink-congo-death-is-more-than-just-a-number-08052020/ [Accessed 14 May 2021].