I think that my project will most closely resemble the “Hospice” pieces. I know that this seems to be the most obvious choice due to the medical aspect. I tried to look for parallels that were a little less blaring. As I researched further, I thought that it was interesting that I am not trying to create something similar to just one of the artists, but I saw pieces of my vision for this project within most of the artists who contributed to the “Hospice” exhibition: Jim Goldberg, Nan Goldin, Jack Radcliffe, Sally Mann, and Kathy Vargas.
Jim Goldberg often combines handwritten pieces that have been contributed from his subjects to go along with the images. This has been something that I have been thinking about adding to my multimedia piece. I have written as a form of self discovery about the history of my illness and how I feel about this. I think that this contribution would add another layer to the multimedia project. He also documented his fathers’ illness as he was in hospice care in his home in Florida. I am still trying to figure out how exactly I can show this, but a large part of my discovery involves my father. His was the gene that carried my kidney disease, and I have discovered a lot about this process from him. I really liked the usage of multiple photographs in one image that Jim Goldberg employed, and I plan to try to do something similar at times in order to tell a story.
Nan Goldin is an artist that also uses multiple images in a sequence in order to tell a story. I think from looking at the different methods each artist uses to do this had opened up my mind a little more about how I will arrange my images to tell my story, though I think I am still figuring out which story it is I want to tell. Another thing Nan does well is show fears that people have. Her images contrast from mine because they contain human subjects that invoke emotion. I would like my images to invoke emotion as well without containing human images. For example, I think that some of the images in which I have captured waiting rooms give a sense of isolation or feeling slightly alone.
I feel like because Jack Radcliffe’s work relied a lot on long term, intimate contact with people it is hard to say that I feel his work also fits into what I am trying to achieve. I do think that the fact I have been going to the same doctor since birth had opened up a few doors to me that may have otherwise not been available, but I don’t think that it served the same purpose as Jack Radcliffe’s relationships. He needed people to be comfortable with him so that he could photograph them in real, raw ways. I need the relationships to be able to photograph at all, but I think as they grow I am allowed more access.
Sally Mann’s work was also directly related to her father and the death of things that she loved. I remember when we watched the video about her she described an almost domino effect in which her dog had died , an escape convict had been murdered on her land, and her father became terminally ill. Even though in her “Hospice” work she searched outwardly into other families, I feel like her work was driven by a personal emotional need to document these things as a form of inquiry into death and the emotions that she felt I, which is something that I can relate to in my work. I feel like as this project has grown, it has become a method of my own self discovery about how I feel about this illness. Sally Mann seemed to be able to show her emotion through her photographs, and this was an intensely personal subject (as was with all of the artists it seems). I hope to be able to do the same.
In Kathy Vargas’ work I read that she often tries to also convey a message of hope. I really liked this idea, and I hope that I too can show that I have hope even though most of the time it can simply be scary. Her images seemed to do so by their lighting. This causes me to think more about how the light of my images not only control the aesthetic, but also how the lighting portrays a mood.
As an exhibition “Hospice” seemed to be meant to provide a look into hospice, and show people the emotions that go along with having a family member in hospice care as well as showing its importance. It also seemed to be a way for the artists to explore parts of themselves that were questioning things like death, sickness, and loss. I want my project to be similar: a way for me to explore a sickness that I have been thinking about but too afraid to look at closely. I would like to open up my own eyes to what I feel about this experience.
I don’t want this to become a work that is political, though I often find myself making images that seem to want to make a political statement. I have a few images that show a surplus of medication that I have in case I no longer have insurance when I graduate. “Hospice” was meant to open up people’s eyes to the importance of Hospice care in a time when people may not have understood it, it seems. I feel like right now we are in a time where there is a very strong debate over the future direction of health care. I have had a hard time deciding which corner I stand in, and I think this project is also a way for me to find my footing about how I feel about the political debate that is going on.
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