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Tami Aftab + Marie SmithI prefer Marie Smith's photographs because I liked how many women expressed how they feel and about their own mental health which they have been unable to do up to this point. However, I did like the story behind Tami Aftab's pictures and the way she portrayed them. They were so fun and happy even though the story behind them was sad and slightly depressing, her family use humour to cope and every moment he experiences is a new one.
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Marie Smith
Marie Smith started her project by looking at her own mental health and started a series called 'The fog has lifted slightly and I can think clearer.' She asked herself questions about mental health and the visibility of women of colour so they had a voice and their experiences can be heard. For the project 'Whispering for Help', she looked at her community - women of colour. She did research on the statistics of South Asian, South East and East Asian women and their lack of engagement with mental health services. She found that Chinese women's rates of admission were the lowest. She started to ask questions to herself about why this was and what their experiences were. She found gaps with women of colour experiences and it was hindering her understanding. She knew there would be a power imbalance between her and the sitter so she made sure to have a conversation with them about what they wanted from the pictures. She started the project by doing a project proposal and creating a self portrait in her garden. Afterwards, she made sure that the project was collaborative and made the women write their own testimonies. She built relationships with the participants before taking the images and photographed them before reading their testimonies. Smith made sure everyone she took photographs of liked their photos and if they wanted they could drop out of the project at any time.
My Response
In these photos, I wanted to portray the feelings of isolation and emptiness. I wasn't able to take many photos but I think some of my photos successfully portrayed this feeling. The photos leave lots of mystery and lots up to your imagination.
Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize 2021
In this exhibition, there were four different artists work: Poulomi Basu, Alejandro Cartagena, Cao Fei and Zineb Sedira. All the artists presented their work very differently. Cao Fei presented hers through a film, Poulomi Basu through photos and film, Alejandro Cartegena through photographs and a book, Zineb Sedira through a room. All of the artists explored the idea of environment and reality. They all explored different parts of it with different mediums. Cartagena explored the idea of urbanisation and homeownership because of that. My favourite work was Nova (2019) by Cao Fei because I thought the cinematography was amazing and the colours and story was good. My least favourite body of work was A Brief Moment at Jeu de Peume, Paris because I thought it wasn't as interesting as the other artworks. I think Cao Fei deserves the Prize because her exhibition explored our reality and our possible futures.
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My own portraiture
After having a conversation with the sitter, he said the things he didn't like when taking photographs, e.g. side profile. After the photoshoot, we went through the photographers together and he picked the ones he liked and told me what ones to not use. I wanted to take pictures in the garden because I thought it would show a sense of normality and everyday life. I tried to frame him in different ways instead of him just being in the middle of the photo all the time.