Amateur research

I am working through 'The Photograph as Contemporary Art' and thought I'd canvas the views of friends regarding the interpretation a single image and compare theirs to that of the author.

Dear Friends,

I am working on a photography project. So I thought I would do a fun test with your help! Can you tell me what the picture below says to you? I would be really grateful if you would!

I will give you feedback of what the author says it represents after I get your responses.

No cheating! No research!

Their responses compared to the views of the author are printed below.

Dear All,

Thanks for your comments on the photograph I sent you. I can’t believe that 12 of you took the time to answer! That’s the point of Art I suppose, creating a debate and dragging us away from work in the office ;o). I have listed them below. At the bottom I have included text from the book I’m reading.

  

A.      … pretty stumped, but perhaps something about the whole world being outside the window, but as it is inside it's making you think about... then got lost

B.      Firstly, composition - the walls seem dark and brooding, the window is lit by sunlight, so it draws your attention to the window and what's within it, dulls everything around it so I'd assume from that they're asking for focus there.

Secondly - the globe. I'd also refer it to meaning the world. For me I think it is that everyone has their own world inside their home, so the globe represents the insular world that the people inside live in. Darkened walls show that the outside doesn't matter, the light from the window shows that the environment, the atmosphere, that family and their "world" is behind that window and that matters?

Alternatively you could go waaaay out there. The picture is generally dark and depressing, cold and uninviting. Stone, shadow, minimal light and positivity. The globe is a "comical punctuation" to the image, brightening the view. Perhaps the globe print on it is irrelevant, more a by-product of the shape or that it is just a toy, showing that there is fun and frivolity behind the window pane, giving "light" to a dark image from both a theoretical and physical POV.

It's all wank to be quite honest

C.      The reflection looks like barbed wire so the globe gives the impression of someone that yearns to travel the world but is trapped.  One almost feels sorry for the person behind the curtain, although I am not sure why.

But then again it could just be bullocks ;-) 

D.      I think the picture says: Olympics - window on the world (but then I have been up since 3am...)

E.      Somebody wants to travel .Every time they look at the horizon through the window after they open the curtains which is often (which is why the globe is on the window) they have a look at the globe which they keep on the window because it reminds them of travel. What is odd is the light.

F.       An eye. The eye is the 'window into the soul,' as they say; the soul, I suppose, each person's world.  (You've got the pupil and lid thing going on as well...)

G.     The grass is always greener on the other side... there is a world inside your window that you don't appreciate

H.     it looks quite dark..like looking out to a world you won’t get to see coz you is in prison yeah…lol.  I see barbed wire..the building looks like a huge institution…

But the light is like a glimmer of hope…

I.        I think that this is a window onto the room of someone who dreams of other places. They would probably love to visit them given the chance and although their window only looks out onto the terrace opposite for them the globe is a window on the world they hope to see someday.

J.        Early evening, last of the sun, late Autumn/Early Winter. Child’s room. Makes me feel slightly sad and lonely.

K.      Reflection of trees…

L.       The message I see is education vs fun/freedom. The house and the window are dull, lifeless and the bards across the window look almost like prison bars. Likewise, the grey wall and bricks of the building associate to a prison setting. Where I see education is the atlas in the window - showing that beyond the curtains is even more of a learning environment.

The sunshine that hits the walls is the freedom of a pleasant summers day that waits outside, and this is mirrored in the window, but it can only be seen when you pay particular attention to the reflection, signifying that it is far away from the person within.

Locked in, learning, but would like to be out having fun - or at least the house represents that to the person who lives there - that's what I got!

M.    The World Inside Your Window. The fragility of reflection. The fragile restraints to our world.

Below is the description I was struggling with (my emphasis):

“Jennifer  Bolande’s ‘Globe’ contemplates the innocent yet meaningful placing of objects in unexpected positions. From Street level, Bolande photographed globes stored on the window ledges of homes. By means of this very simple gesture, our perceptions of the world are brought into consideration. Most obviously, these photographs draw our attention to the way in which we receive knowledge about the world from a dwarfed, simplified model. They demonstrate how partial our perception is, framed as it is by the windows out of which, and into which, we look. Human understanding from micro to macro-cosmic proportions is repeatedly explored through Bolande’s work: a sense of constrained human understanding is visualised through simple and subtle observation”

This says that Jennifer Bolande thought “I want to explore human understanding from micro to macro-cosmic proportions”. “Through simple and subtle observation, I’m going to convey a sense of constrained human understanding”. Having seen the globe in someone’s window, Jennifer then goes on to think “capturing a photograph of that will draw attention to the way in which we receive knowledge about the world. That globe will show that we use dwarfed, simplified models.” “And the window will show that our views are only partial”.