Elina Brotherus

I choose to have a look initially at all the photographers suggested in the course material, but wanted to look closer at the work of Elina Brotherus. I wanted to look at her work as she predominantly shoots landscape and self portrait, both of which I have become more and more interested in as I have researched more inherently. Below is a screen shot of an image from her series “Meaningless Work” titled “Bad Camouflage”. The image is from 2016 taken from her website and reproduced purely for artistic reference.

Visual research

Elina’s work centres around both being in front and behind the camera, and is almost always in her shots, sometimes alone, some not and sometimes with other props in hand. The first thing I realise about the image, and this was before I saw the title, is how she is not quite blending into the curtain, not quite forming part of its make up. The length of the curtains and the cropped framing of the ceiling present a sense of scale and drama. A messily made bed corner contaminates the frame abruptly, as if to say, “i’m here aswell”. Its slightly diagonal line adds some tension, and conflicts with the straight lines of the carpet, but almost mirrors the ceiling panel above. The bump in the bedding adds intrigue, is it a leg, or is just a ruffle in the covers. A sense of holding back some information entices the viewers eye again and again. A clever use of framing sees a little bit of curtain shown on the left, and then a matching wall, followed by another curtain, and then as if perfectly in tune, Elina enters the frame. Her knee high dress, and minimal clothing add to the suggestion of vulnerability and this is enhanced by her peering out warily from the curtain, letting in a small amount of natural light. But most interestingly she is not peering out of the window, but peering in to the rest of the bedroom, looking in a direction that is not captured on the frame. A completely brilliant idea and the total country to what you would normally expect. But what is she trying to say? In my opinion, Elina is picturing herself looking back into the world, not wanting to be seen, hence the unsafe gaze back across the room. Rather than presenting a sense of jeopardy, Elina is seeking a view of the world that only she can observe, and almost, almost found the perfect way to do so. Perhaps she wants to look back into her own life, her own being, without being seen by her conscious self.

Final thoughts

A relegation for me in terms of how we can use the photograph in such a contrasting and visually stimulating way. I really, really like this style of work and believe that its something I can draw from as influence in my own work. It will challenge me to think differently, and ask questions of a scene that I perhaps would not. It is certainly an intriguing piece of work that forms part of a quite brilliant series of images. They all seem to carry this idea of “meaningless” and the notion of how they articulated couldn’t be further from the truth. They all have their own agenda and challenge the viewer to understand what is going on, to dissect and learn from these evocative and cryptic visual artefacts. A valuable resource in my own development and one I will return to for further creative inspiration.