For a long time I have been obsessed with urban space. The obsession has, perhaps, been brought on by spending my twenties living and working in Dublin city during a period of immense urbanisation as part of the Celtic Tiger. In that time, and through the proceeding austerity and recovery, I witnessed a growth that led to improved living standards for some, but also gentrification and a decline in living standards for many others.
How does the market for photography distort the meaning within images, creating its own narrative in the process? As photographers, we are often expected or sometimes even required to sell the work that we make.
Financialization changes the nature of space and seeks to gain control over our bodies.
The advertisement attempts to tap into our increasingly individualistic society through a series of portraits anchored with text aimed at one’s narcissistic values. The concentration on the individual also seems to contradict corporations’ usual requests for a worker with team ethic but perhaps hints that one will ultimately end up working in an environment governed largely by the laws outlined by Darwin.
The character is also an echo from my own past as a former corporate employee, while the briefcase, belonging to my father, is another icon of the corporation.
Part two concentrates on how the corporation has used photography as a documentary tool. In particular the role of photography in General Electric as David E. Nye’s has written a very interesting book on General Electric’s photography department between 1890 and 1930 called ‘Image Worlds’, which I shall refer to. Finally Lewis Hine’s post-1920s stylised work portraits used in new employee magazines, are key to the development of one class of corporate image.
How we use our urban space is a key concern today with the wide-held perception that space is a valuable commodity. ‘A Place Like All Others’ questions what types of places we want to create and how images of space, such as computer generated images and manipulated photographs, aim to influence our perception of what urban space should be.
Part one is concerned with the use of photography in the discourse of science to examine labour and create a more efficient worker. In part two, which will be published at a later date, I will look at how photography was used by the corporation as a documentary tool.
I feel that it is not always possible to use straight photography to document facts. So how ‘real’ is the ‘reality’ of constructed photography?
There was a time when one may have been asked to provide a photograph with one’s CV/resume. Why did companies ask for this? So they can judge you partially based on how you look in the photograph. The photograph becomes an index to your personality.