Photography heros

Curation task

Henryk Ross
Henryk Ross was born in Warsaw 1910. Being Jewish in WW2 was, for most,
leading towards death; however Ross was offered and opportunity to keep him
and his family safe. His photography skills were just what the Nazis needed. The
photos he had to take were mostly structured, however, when the news of the final
order for the liquidation reached the ghetto in August 1944 his wise but life
threatening decision to take photos he personally found important benefited him
and his family for years to come after the war. But more importantly, these images
contributed to proving the inhumane treatment ordained by Adolf Hitler. His series
consisted of only a fraction of the negatives he took; he had to bury them
underground out of fear, many being destroyed or damaged through soil and
erosion. I liked this artist and this series because of the sheer guts he had to take
these images, and the intense meaning they held.

I like this image of the chubby young boy, at first it

could be seen as an old fashioned photograph of two
boys, playing together and dressing up in an imitation
police uniform. But, especially once the context is
revealed, it becomes much more than that. Apparently
playing a game of arrest your best playmate this child
has dressed up in a ghetto style uniform, almost
visualising the manipulation a child can be under
because of their age. Innocence ran throughout all of
the Jews, but even more so in a young child, and to
think that every member of every negative would have
died before the end of the war presents a much darker
feel than most photography gives. I also like the use of
a film camera because of its authenticity. Although
digital cameras werent really an option at the time, I
think that the rawness of a film camera is very
important in staple photographs like these. It creates
uniqueness in knowing that this image was the only
one of its kind, not taken multiple times at different
angles, commonly used with digital cameras.

The combination of high stress and near

death caused a high level of emotion
within the ghettos. Because they were
true and raw the images capture a real
sense of feeling that wouldnt be as
effective if the subjects were acting.
The background of the images, like in this
one, tend to involve things such as wire
fences, low standard living and poverty,
with everything coming together and
adding to the theme of loss.

Although many images were too

eroded to be used or even
understood, many which survived
have a perfect amount of damage,
making each negative unique and
authentic.

Jan Vormann
Jan Vormann uses lego to repair parts of buildings demolished in the war. She filled walls, holes, plaster etc. with Lego bricks. She
called this series Despatch work. It is a form of street art which has been remodelled my many artists around the world and could
even be classified as a movement. The Lego pieces were precisely fit together to slot in perfectly, involving a lot of precision and
patience. Many like the abstract idea of adding colour to corner walls and ruins which were once grey. Things like wars tend to take the
life out of a place, especially in the immediate aftermath, and these are almost aiding the recovery by adding life to the area. He said I
use the toy-bricks for repairing cities because I think it is a intriguing way of intruding into peoples everyday routine, he explained. Public
spaces are often used for transit only My project aims to hit the playful spots that exist in all of usconcerning adults, for example, childhoodmemories. Playing is the most powerful creative source, for every kind of profession. When I go out to the streets to do my project and involve kids, I
also attempt to make these kids conscience about possibilities they have for changing the public spaces surrounding them.

I like these images due to how

perfectly clean cut the Lego fits into
the grooves. The Lego doesnt jut
out, but finishes where you would
imagine the real building to have
finished. But more than the images
themselves, I think its interesting
that this affects real everyday life. It
would catch peoples eyes on their
journey to work or school or other
day to day duties at an attempt to
brighten their day.

Cecilia Paredes
Parades photography is an interesting combination of portraiture and landscape
photography. The series is more than just about the actual image, she actually
gets artistically involved in her own work by painting herself into the background.
Bearing in mind that it would have been harder for her to paint herself because
she didnt have a birdseye view of what she was painting on herself or what she
looked like when standing in front of the background. But she somehow manages
to do it so efficiently that at first glance the only evidence that a person is there is
their hair. She originally lived in Peru and moved to Philadelphia where her most
recent photographic work grew. Her photography holds more than a glance by
viewers because of the deliberate confusion between nature and nature with the
body. She wanted to portray how a womans body is sacred and, like a flower
(much of her work involves floral designs) not profane. She aimed to restore the
beauty of a natural body rather than commercialised womans bodys today.

I find it interesting and clever how she had to take into account the curves and
dimensions of a human body. In the image on the right we can see how her hands
and arms are in a certain position.