For one of my uni briefs, we were each given an image we had to analyse. I was given Sarah Moon's 1983 image called 'Morgan'. At first I really didn't like my image as it wasn't a particularly pretty or girly photograph which I would usually much enjoy working with! However, the more I researched into it and found out about my image, the more I began to like it. I wanted to share with you what I found out about this image and to show just how important doing lots of research is! I would have never got into this brief and would have had nothing to write about my image if I didn't research it more! As a bit of background history on Sarah Moon, she was originally a model but she eventually changed to taking images of fashion photography as that was clearly a passion of hers.
The photograph shows an image within an image. As a viewer,
I was instantly drawn into the small, brighter frame which the little girl was
standing in. There is a slight focus on the rough, unpainted edge of the drop
which the little girl seems contained within, however she equally looks like
she is on the verge of stepping out of that frame and world and back into
reality. There is a huge contrast between the two different worlds with the
peaceful, natural forest against the dull, broken down buildings and derelict
streets. There is a sense of loneliness in the image as both places feel so
empty, this leaves me wondering what has happened or what the little girl is
thinking so intensely about.
This colour isolated image with the greyscale effect
initially scared me as it had a slight sinister look to it. I also think that
the image could have a shocking and more powerful effect on viewers as a young
innocent child is featured alone in an almost abandoned looking street. She
doesn’t seem to be a typical happy child and looks like she has a lot on her
mind which intrigues viewers as they want to know more.
I also feel like this photograph related well to fairy tales
as I discovered that this visual text was Sarah Moons way of using photography
to translate the tale of little red riding hood into a modern, urban context.
This then reminded me of a book I studied at A-level called ‘The Bloody
Chamber’. Particular stories in this book such as ‘Wolf Alice’ and ‘Werewolf’ borrow
themes from Red Riding Hood, just like this photograph seems to. These stories
also have a disturbing yet intriguing twist to them, the little girls aren’t
always the victims and they don’t always need to rely on the typical woodcutter
to come and save them, this child in the image is on her own and seems to be
content yet deep in thought. Further researching also lead me onto Anne
Ikhlef’s 1985 film ‘La veritable historie du chaperon rouge’ which was supposed
to be the ‘real’ story of Little Red Riding Hood, which yet again had a twist.
The little girls outfit and appearance reminds me of Red
Riding hood with her dark brown windswept bob and the short cape blowing behind
her over the top of her tartan dress. This was also not the typical clothing
worn by children in the 1980s when this image was produced. Brighter colours
were worn and capes were not used. This would have been quite a shocking,
different photograph to look at and I don’t think many people would have
understood it if they didn’t look into the meaning behind it more.
There is a lot of repetition within this image with the
shapes of the pillars, walls and doorframes in the buildings matching and
flowing the same way as the tree trunks and branches in the forest. The whole
image seems to flow into one even though they are complete opposite places.
This makes the photograph slightly unclear, viewers have to look closely to
notice the difference and it draws them in well.
The backgrounds in Sarah
Moon’s photograph have a blurred, slight overlapped look to them with the busy
backgrounds of trees and rows of buildings. This reminded me of graphic designer
Hannah Guy’s work which I looked at for A- level. Hannah Guy took photographs
of trees 360 degrees all the way around it to give the overall grey-scale
images a 3-D, blurred effect. I felt like this had a very similar look to the
forest image contained within the smaller frame. This effect has a mysterious
feel to it, adding to the mystery of the little girl and what she is doing. The
stories and images are unclear. Usually trees and nature have positive,
peaceful, free connotations but this image is almost the opposite to that with
the empty, urban alley being a distraction from it.
Thankyou for reading,
Love from Georgia
xxx
Photo credit: google images
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