My personal study will be focused largely around the idea of perspectives and camera use. Throughout this study, I will look at an artist called Francis Alys, a contemporary artist from Belgium. I will explore the book, A Story of Deception that describes feelings in modernisation. Francis Alys interests me largely due to his obscure choices of items in his photographs as well as the camera angle, where a pattern was noticeable of not always showing everything. I also evaluate the work of Hamish Fulton and Richard Long, evaluating their approach to perspectives.

 

My investigation, through personal study, will explore perspective work and video work. I will research closely into Francis Alys’ collection work, which look closer into video work and world problems and situations. This gives us an insight through video as to what Alys was trying to portray in his pieces, which I will analyse in this personal study.

 

 

 This photograph is from “Patriotic Tales” (Mexico City, 1997), and is part of a video documentation. Francis Alys has taken inspiration from different artists, such as Julio Cortazar, Vincent Huidobro. The photograph the image is from takes the idea of “Magnetised Dogs” following around their owner no matter where they go. The “owner” will walk in a circle around the pole, with one dog, and when they reach the same place they started, another dog with follow and automatically follow. This gives the “owner” around 15 dogs by the middle of the video. 

 

The photograph looks levelled, as the pole is very central to the image, making it look dizzying as they keep walking around. This is a pleasing video and photograph to look at, given that it’s quite symmetrical, meaning it’s easy on the eye. This is possibly due to the similar shapes and sizes that are used (the dogs). The piece does look very urban, and was filmed in Mexico City. We aren’t able to tell that by looking at the photograph. 

 

Semaforos was created by Francis Alys, who created this by traveling worldwide and taking pictures of different traffic lights in different countries. The work has been arranged in a video format, each picture with a caption of the country or city it is from, making the work different to regular art forms’

Alys does not specify what type of camera he used for this section of his works, but we can see the image is in colour, immediately modernising it and making it look more colourful and brighter. Each individual image in the video does not look like it has been edited for colour, however, it has been clearly levelled as they are all in the complete middle of their photographs. The background looks cropped out as well, with the artist taking only the traffic light and nothing else. The work is 1995 to present, indicating that Alys is still adding to the publication now.

When looking at this video or these images, I feel a sense of relaxation as they are very aesthetically pleasing to look at. The work is also very interesting and sparks intrigue in me, as it seems very thought through in all the different places he has taken these photographs, and how the traffic lights all seem so similar but so different at the same time. The subject matter is based entirely around one separate traffic light at a time, which is interesting to see and makes me question why Alys didn’t take a picture of the entire light (all three). I felt the image also had a lot of economic importance, as it was traffic lights, a main part of life which directs the traffic. This, I feel, is a perspective a lot of people overlook, forgetting their importance in day-to-day life, which makes me wonder if Alys wanted to bring recognition to them specifically, which is why he took out the background. 

 

Although the work is repetitive, it is very pleasant to look at, for example, each light from eat country seems to have its own texture, separating it from the next one we see. I also feel this represents worldwide, such as another artist, Hamish Futon, who is a walking artist, and takes pictures whilst out and about on walks in lots of different places. Fulton's work was released in the Tate- Hamish Fulton: Walking Journey, in 2002. 

 

Francis Alys released a piece named “The Collector” (Colector) in Mexico City, 2006. The piece consists of a man walking a metal geometric dog around the streets of Mexico. The dog is magnetic and pulls up other pieces of metal that then stick around the object. The piece feels frantic, made with a shaky camera, to the point where we can see the person who is recordings footsteps in the piece. The artist uses a flashlight throughout certain parts of the video to highlight the “collector”as it goes down the streets. 

The video itself is very monochromical, holding colours such as pinks and purples, making the “collector” stand out more than the background that has a darker vibe. The camera zoomed both in and out in different parts of the video, showing just the geometric dog in some, and the outer picture in others. When the camera is zoomed in on the dog, a flashlight will be in the frame aimed at it, showing a little bit of light in the very dark video. This is an abnormal work from, as there video is too dark to enjoy naturally, and it is very spontaneous in where the camera will be angled next. Watching this work, I feel very hectic, and slightly out of control as I’m not sure what we’re going to see next.

 

The outer picture can show symbolism for the problems lower income countries face, such a living and working conditions, such as the darkness of this image and the view that people are still working possibly for minimum wage well into the night. The darkness of the video itself could also show the feelings of the people within, and show honestly how they have to live. I feel this piece does hold a lot of political importance as it highlights world issues in a new way- photography. For example the man walking “the collector” in this video is holding a tote bag, a staple of some form of sexuality. This brings in a moral belief, including his baggy pants and his boots. Given the time this was taken (between 1991- 2006) and the location (Mexico City), where activists started protesting for the murders of homosexuals, and diminished respect of homosexuals. This hate stemmed from the aid’s crisis, which hit Mexico City in the 1980s. As homosexuals protested for the safety and prevention of aids and campaigns, it began to be seen as negative within the eyes of the general public, starting riots and the LGBTQ+ community getting severely hurt.