The Photographers Gallery Review

 

The exhibition Home Truths was introduced with a  rather large definition of the content of the exhibition printed on the wall, the description read: " A home truth can be simply understood as a fact that is somewhat discomforting to acknowledge or may cause embarrassment..."

The overall theme was mainly about the relationship a woman can have to her baby I believe the exhibition achieved this is a different way as the photographs were not cute and ones which would be stored In family albums instead the photographers seemed to explore more the hardships of having a child in a explicit an in my opinion disgusting way.

 

One of the less explicit photographs which I liked is by photographer Fred Huning.

 

This picture features a rather young mum with her child both holding cameras in the way of there faces, whilst the 'Mum's' camera appears to be more contemporary the child holds a polaroid.

They are both sat on the floor of a house this is speculated because of the plug socket situated to the right of the composition. The time of day is morning as the sun appears to be out and producing shadows on the floor next to them.

I would say this work emphasizes the theme of relationships and the artist has done this by conveying a common hobby which this family share, but what's discordant about this is that the child possesses a older model of a camera surely if this was to work he would be holding a toy camera but I think this idea links into the theme of home truths being quite strange.

The artist has used a front shining light to give a effect of a split shadow in this picture, its effective because by shining the light here its enhanced the colour of the clothing making the reader pay more attention to the creases in the jeans.

 

This is another image which caught my attention by Hanna Putz.

 

 

This photograph features a woman holding her baby on top of her shoulders, the baby is nude whilst she is wearing a long dress.

As this picture was studio staged its hard to tell what time of day it is because of the artificial lighting but I think this work is about the connection between a mother an child how the baby fits perfectly on her shoulders how his shape blends in with hers to form essentially one figure.

By shooting this photograph in a studio its given a pure white background perhaps to suggest innocence and purity.

I think this photograph is very successful in its portrayal the use of shape is the most significant element to this piece and its been used very well.

 

Throughout the exhibition there were a lot of disturbing images that incorporated the theme of being uncomfortable to observe for this reason I chose to analyze the less explicit images out of the exhibition.

However I feel this next image related more closely to this theme:

 

This photograph is by Ana Casas Broda this image features a woman looking very distressed with markings on her body.

This image looks as if it was taken from a studio because of the artificial lighting coming from the front of her, I can tell that this is artificial lighting because of the blank dull background and the positioning of the light. I think this piece clearly demonstrates the hardships of motherhood and this is evident from her facial expression as well as the various childlike doodles on her body.

 The Concerning element to this piece is that the woman is nude and these doodles are on her nude body which connotes that she was playing with the children naked which allowed them to doodle on her- that is the discomforting bit to this.

This piece relates to the theme effectively and directly the compositioning and various already talked about elements to it make it so.

 

Overall I found this exhibition to be very disturbing but the very few images that weren't of this explicit nature were interesting and related to the theme well.