During a lecture on Photography and Anthropology my brain started ticking and ideas started flowing and my page turned into a mess of scribbles where I was trying hard to note take for the lecture as well as get my ideas out of my head and onto paper.
We were thinking about the idea of 'the other'. 'The other' defines someone other than one's self, they are identified as 'different'.
Anthropology is basically the study of a group of people - rather similar to sociology but with more depth I think.
I have always been interested in people, and regularly can be found sitting in a public place 'people watching', I just get so fascinated in other people and how our paths can cross yet we know nothing about them.
The issue then of needing to know historical and contextual backgrounds of people before trying to represent them is really important. This is major, because when making 'judgements' over people it can be very offensive if you have not taken the time to get some knowledge of them before hand. Stereotypical statements aren't helpful or useful when you are studying in depth a certain type of behaviour or group of people.
My thoughts constantly on my trip to The Gambia, I began thinking about how my photographs may represent people, and whether I will do this offensively or not. Because I am only going to be in The Gambia for 10 days, I don't have the time to get to know individual villages backgrounds or the family backgrounds of the children before photographing them, and soon realised this could be a problem. I would hate to photograph a child, not be able to get a parents permission (because of the circumstances of the trip and only visiting the school and local village) and then use the image in exhibition or elsewhere and cause problems in someway. I do not want to do that. So I began to think, how can I still take photographs, and document my trip but anonymously to them and perhaps also myself.
MY FEET !
I have a great disliking of my feet - so not many people have seen them or will ever see them. However, as much as I dislike my feet, they are what get me to the places I want to get to. They are what are going to get me around The Gambia. So.. how about if I document my feet and the places they go for the 10 days that I am in Africa?
With this idea floating around and needing to be brought into reality of am idea.. needing to be refined I went to talk to a tutor about it.
This is the outcome of the meeting:
* my feet would give away too much to the viewer.
- It will be hot over there so chances are I will have skin showing, therefore the viewer will be able to see that I have white skin.
- My choice of footwear or sandal would most probably tell the viewer that I am a female.
- This could put another message into the photographs.. maybe it would make it seem that I am making known 'the other' which actually is not what I am wanting to achieve.
My trip is with a Christian organisation so the trip is about equality and everyone being equal, and we are going to try and help the poorer families and show love. So the idea of showing 'the other' in another way would not be what I would want for my images.
*I am to consider documenting:
- the school
- the children in the school
- the other volunteers I am travelling with
- Gambian culture - football
- socialising
- shop fronts
Basically, I am to document EVERYTHING.
I am only out there for 10 days so this is going to be a massive challenge, but if I am prepared before I go and if I photograph pretty much everything whilst I am out there then I will be okay.
*I need to think now about what the aesthetic of my final work will be so that while i'm out there and shooting I can have that in my mind and therefore, keep things consistent.
