Narrative Interventions in Photography

[Art by Simryn Gill, Photograph by Jonathan Teghtmeyer]

[Art by Carrie Mae Weems, Photograph by Jonathan Teghtmeyer]

I had the opportunity the week before last to visit the Getty Center in Los Angeles, where I happened across across an exhibit entitled, Narrative Interventions in Photography, that seemed to be right up the alley for our conversations around transliteracy. Works by three artists, Eileen Cowin, Carrie Mae Weems and Simryn Gill, are unified by the theme of telling a narrative through photography with critical reflection on the use of text.

Cowin's series, I See What You're Saying, uses books as a medium to create a subject for photography where the books are personified and tell a narrative through how they are positioned as opposed to what the words say. Gill uses paper with typed text as a medium to take the place of natural artifacts. For example, in one piece she cuts the paper into the shape of leaves, attaches them to a living plant and photographs it in a natural setting. Finally, Carrie Mae Weems, has etched text (and in one piece sheet music) onto glass that is placed over photos from the American slave trade in her exhibit, From Here I Saw What Happened and I Cried. 


In terms of transliteracy, the pieces provide a great commentary on the role of narrative in a way that is not reliant on text. Yet at the same time, they use text as a key subject for their art which is principally done using the medium of photography. Not only are these artists effective at using multiple media, but they use them together in the same piece in a way that provides commentary on the different forms. While they are not forms of new media, they definitely qualify as pieces related to transliteracy.

Does Posting Text Qualify as Transliteracy?

Posted on behalf of Jonathan:

After reading Sue Thomas’ post (Thomas, 2012) and watching her video

lecture (Thomas, 2008), I found myself contemplating the concept of

transliteracy amongst young people and giving consideration to the

question she posed at the end of the blog post: “Imagine that you have

been asked to measure the transliteracy levels of students and

teachers at your school. How would you do this?” (Thomas, 2012).

Immediately, I thought about the young people that I taught when I was

an active classroom teacher, just over four years ago. I felt that so

many of those young people were quite adept at using a number of

tools, but yet the default mode for expressing ideas seemed to be

text. Whether it was using email, posting to facebook or sending an

SMS message – the dominant mode for expression was text regardless of

the medium used.

Brian Hulsey’s video (Hulsey, 2010) also raises the question of mode

versus medium (if I may use those terms to describe these ideas). In

all but one of the instances being described by Hulsey, the dominant

mode for expression is text (or at best hypertext). He demonstrates

his concept of transliteracy by discussing the sharing of a blueberry

smoothie recipe and shows how it can be sent by email, posted to

Twitter, shared on Facebook and written on a sticky note. The only

time he illustrates the use of another mode besides text, is when he

discusses using the telephone to tell his grandparents about the

recipe.

So the question for discussion is this: is transliteracy accurately

described by using multiple tools to express oneself using a single

modality or does transliteracy also indicate a use of multiple modes –

text, speech, music, film, dance, drama, etc. Based on Thomas’

definition it would. She says, “transliteracy is the ability to read,

write and interact across a range of platforms, tools and media from

signing and orality through handwriting, print, TV, radio and film, to

digital social networks” (Thomas etal, 2007).

An important measure for determining the transliteracy level of

students in a school setting then must include their amount of

exposure to arts education. Students would need to be able to express

themselves using pictures, film, theatre and music as well as text in

order to be truly transliterate, otherwise they are simply using text

with different tools. As a math teacher, I would also say that

students should be well versed in communicating using numbers,

symbolic logic, charts and graphs. All of this speaks to a public

education system that emphasizes a variety of literacies and includes

a strong emphasis on not just English language arts and mathematics,

but also art, music, dance and drama.

Björk brings non-linearity to the text of music

Icelandic musician and artist Björk has released her latest album Biophilia as an iPad app. Every song, and the album itself, has levels of interactivity integrated into the music, text, sound and visualizations. Users are able to interrupt, distort or add to the songs as they play. While much of our reading has focused on using hypertext to distort the linearity of text, this application allows for the distortion of the linearity of music - seemingly a first for a world-wide popular and successful professional musician.

Bjork describes the project well in terms of how it uses hypertext to allow for interaction. "Much of nature is hidden from us, that we can neither see nor touch, such as the one phenomena that is said to move us more than any other in our daily lives: sound," she says on the front page of her website Bjork.com. "With Biophilia comes a restless curiousity, an urge to investigate and discover the illusive places where we meet nature. So too can we use technology to make visible much of what is not visible in our natural world."

This type of installation seems to be right in line with the notion of stereographic plurality discussed by Marsch. He says, "creative hypermedia installations combine at least two (for now) modes of sense experience: sight and sound" (paragraph 10). While I enjoyed Ankerson and Sapnar's Cruising and it does elicit a sense of stereographic plurality, I'm not sure whether it qualifies as non-linear. Espen Aarseth says, "A nonlinear text is a work that does not present its scriptions in one fixed sentence, whether temporal or spatial. Instead, through cybernetic agency (the user[s], the text, or both), an arbitrary sequence emerges" (p. 767). While there are many ways to play with how the user experiences Cruising, I would suggest that no manipulation results in an alternative sequencing.

Here are some videos that help illustrate what is being done by Bjork in Biophilia:

Welcome

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