Brief
In response to the work of the artists you’ve read about so far, try to create a photographic portraiture typology which attempts to bring together a collection of types. Think carefully about how you wish to classify these images; don’t make the series too literal and obvious.
The Carer
Introduction
On Sunday 15 March, my family and I decided that my Mother, who has lived independently for many years, should immediately self-isolate to avoid the risk of contracting the Covid-19 virus. As a 97-year-old, it isn’t, of course, possible or desirable for her to live alone in that way. Therefore she has come to live with Gill and me in splendid isolation for the foreseeable future.
August Sander
Produced in the visual style of August Sander, with its shallow depth of field focusing attention on the foreground subject, but offering clues contained in the blurred background.
Sander’s style, influenced by the Cologne Progressive Artists Group, proponents of Neue Sachlichkeit, produces a visually sober static pictorial structure with the stripped composition allowing the viewer to contemplate the relationships between the foreground and background subjects.
The simple background and the visually consistent composition, that characterises typological work, allows for contemplation of the mutually caring roles we three must play for each other. Captioned ‘The Carer’ the viewer is further invited to appreciate the mutuality of the caring roles.
