Language 02 project

 Finished with the printed version -  a photo book + a little research booklet. The whole book can be seen online here (link). Tried using different paper textures and some cut-out pieces for more variety.

And a few pictures from the book:

Posters for Japan

two posters that my group and I made during one of the workshops earlier. The task was to create two posters according to the emergency situations given. We chose to do our posters about the water in the Fukushima nuclear plant that was damaged during the tsunami. The article and our research said that the water that was supposed to be cooling down the nuclear plant has been at a very low level and the temperature of the whole nuclear plant has gone up to 50 degrees and more. We chose the Japanese people to be our audience, because it's a situation that is mostly of an interest for them and therefore used symbols and signs that were connected to the Japanese culture.

For the red poster we chose the Japanese war flag as the main symbol, along with lots of kanji signs that mean water in Japanese (水 - mizu) that were just above the middle line of the red circle, showing that there is NOT enough water. The letters above said Fukushima in Japanese alphabet (ふくしま）and 50 celsius with an arrow pointing up to indicate that the temperature is rising. The war flag was chosen for its meaning in terms of fighting, as well as the rays being an allusion to the radioactive rays.

The other posted had the same writing of Fukushima (ふくしま) and the temperature up with the water (水) sign being overthrown by a wave from a famous Hokusai's painting that was also a little bit changed by putting a very common Japanese origami paper pattern into it, to have an allusion again to the radioactive rays.

I think both of the posters work quite well showing the danger and informing the people of what is happening. For a non-Japanese it might be hard to understand, but since we were aiming for the Japanese audience, I think the posters do convey the message. The other groups also did a good job:

Pictures by Heymon Wong

Language 2 video

This video was another part of the language 02 assignment. The task said that it has to show the idea of the language 2 assignment task and show the working process. I basically made a little video according to the idea of the photography book I'm working on, yet I don't think it explains the idea well, because the main thing in my project is to make the reader think, rather than give them a definite answer.

Edited with Roxio movie editor. Originally planned to make it a bit more dynamic, but not a having a filming camera made it a little difficult. Even so, would like to do more movies in the future, especially after seeing some very nice ones from my coursemates.

Work in progress: language 02

starting to work on the second project - the main idea is to make a conceptual photography book based on the philosophic ideas encountered. The parts of the face will be used to make a big pictures out of A4 sheets of paper. I matched the size to fit on my room's window, in relation to the JR's project previously mentioned.

Existentialism is Humanism

Been reading Sartre a lot lately and one of the most interesting writings is actually his speech defending existentialism as not being a nihilistic approach. I personally think that this spech really did explain a lot about the views that the existentialists had.
'We mean that man first of all exists, encounters himself, surges up in the world – and defines himself afterwards. If man as the existentialist sees him is not definable, it is because to begin with he is nothing. He will not be anything until later, and then he will be what he makes of himself. Thus, there is no human nature, because there is no God to have a conception of it. Man simply is. Not that he is simply what he conceives himself to be, but he is what he wills, and as he conceives himself after already existing – as he wills to be after that leap towards existence. Man is nothing else but that which he makes of himself. That is the first principle of existentialism. '
The whole speech can be read here (link).

Philosophy research: Erich Fromm

Looking at various texts on the 'freedom' and 'individual' topic I came to the conclusion that existentialism is the branch of the philosophical movements that fits to my concept behind the photography project most.

An amazing read into this topic is Erich Fromm's 'To have or to be' which focuses on the two concepts of living - having and being. Fromm contrasts the Western notion of a good living which is usually presented as being parallel to having - having a good job, having a nice family, having a lot of money (note the peculiar language that we use in English thesedays - most of the verbs are replaced by having something), whereas the Eastern philosophy is still based on being - the very obvious example being the Budhistic philosophy of being a Budha, living here and now and focusing on self-development.

Erich Fromm's 'Escape from freedom' also about our invidual freedom being a choice rather than something that we already have and can use anytime.

Fromm's books are very different from the usual philosophy readings, because he balances on the line of sociology, psychology and philosophy, giving an insight into all 3 fields, comparing and contrasting.

JR again and my language 2 project

Looking at various examples of street art and signage systems I have once again come back to the French artist JR. 

His TED prize speech is a must to watch (re-posting again)

I wanted to turn my language 2 project into a photography project and I believe that this type of photography is the best signage system in terms of telling the story - and photography is about stories being told. JR's latest project 'the wrinkles of the city' (JR's website)

A few images:

I like that JR is using images of old people, this way reminding of how much history each city contains. Cities like people's faces with all the wrinkles and signs of the time passing.

For my project, therefore, I also wanted to focus on portraits, yet instead of posting it out in the public, I want to focus more on the inside of each person, to explore the freedom within the individual linking it to the topic of the social groups - what makes an individual want to belong to any of those groups at first place. I'd like to also focus my research on the philosophy, sociology and maybe psychology, to create more conceptual images but with an idea behind. 

Hidden cameras

Looking at some examples of secret camera shows I have to admit that Japan has the craziest ideas for them:

Some of the pranks are funny, but a lot of them really hit the edge between being funny and actually disrespecting privacy and someone's private space (especially the toilet ones). Even though sometimes the pranks are quite cruel, the audience enjoys seeing what they shouldn't be seeing in real life.

Language 02 project

For the language 2 project we have to look at two social groups exploring the topic of 'Emergency in the suburbia'. I chose 'voyeurs' and 'human trafficking'.

So far the most interesting facts found and general information:

Human trafficking:

Human trafficking is the illegal trade of human beings for the purposes of reproductive slavery, commercial sexual exploitation, forced labor, or a modern-day form of slavery. Trafficking is a lucrative industry. It has been identified as the fastest growing criminal industry in the world. It is second only to drug trafficking as the most profitable illegal industry in the world.However, it is argued that many of these statistics are grossly inflated to aid advocacy of anti-trafficking NGOs and the anti-trafficking policies of governments. Due to the definition of trafficking being a process (not a singly defined act) and the fact that it is a dynamic phenomenon with constantly shifting patterns relating to economic circumstances, much of the statistical evaluation is flawed.

 While smuggling requires travel, trafficking does not. Much of the confusion rests with the term itself. The word "trafficking" includes the word "traffic," which means transportation or travel. However, while the words look and sound alike, they do not hold the same meaning.

Victims of human trafficking are not permitted to leave upon arrival at their destination. They are held against their will through acts of coercion and forced to work or provide services to the trafficker or others. The work or services may include anything from bonded or forced labor to commercialized sexual exploitation. The arrangement may be structured as a work contract, but with no or low payment or on terms which are highly exploitative. Sometimes the arrangement is structured as debt bondage, with the victim not being permitted or able to pay off the debt.

Types of human trafficking: bonded labour, forced labour, child labour, sex trafficking.

Fake job offers are a common way to obtain women in Asia, the Former Soviet Block Nations and Latin America.

Sex trafficking is still a big problem in the Eastern Europe, including Lithuania. Even though it's a bit less than a few years back, there still are stories reported about various accidents when young girls are taken to Russia or Scandinavian countries to work as sex slaves. A good movie about that is 'Lilya 4-ever', directed by a Swedish movie director. It tells a story about one of the girls taken Sweden to work as a prostitute, about her unfulfilled dreams, the situation at home and how for some of those unlucky girls there is almost nobody to care and ask for help from.

The main motive of a woman (in some cases, an underage girl) to accept an offer from a trafficker is better financial opportunities for herself or her family. In many cases, traffickers initially offer ‘legitimate’ work or the promise of an opportunity to study. The main types of work offered are in the catering and hotel industry, in bars and clubs, modeling contracts, or au pair work. Traffickers sometimes use offers of marriage, threats, intimidation and kidnapping as means of obtaining victims. In the majority of cases, the women end up in prostitution. Also some (migrating) prostitutes become victims of human trafficking. Some women know they will be working as prostitutes, but they have an inaccurate view of the circumstances and the conditions of the work in their country of destination. 

Shame is a club that beats enslaved women at practically every turn. It starts when young girls from impoverished families are blamed for the destitution of their parents. “Good” daughters manage the health and welfare of their mother and father. Their suffering translates into her shame, so she is willing to make any sacrifice to change their condition.

The community’s perception of sexual purity also plays a major role in a young girl’s shame. Once an unmarried girl has lost her virginity, she is considered despoiled. It does not matter if a family member sexually abused her or a stranger raped her. Purity is all or nothing–either you have it or you don’t. Her family will treat her as blight to its honor, and no ‘respectable’ man will want to marry her. The girl might as well be sold into a life of prostitution, for she has lost her innocence. So strikes the club of shame.

Traffickers and brothel owners alike also use this cultural value to manipulate girls. If a new recruit resists the idea of having sex with a paying customer, the slaveholder might rape her himself and say, “Now you are used goods; you might as well give it up for other men.” Tragically, the girl is apt to understand the logic of this brutal indoctrination and resign herself to life in the brothel. She has lost everything–her family will reject her and her neighbors will treat her as a pariah. And each day she stays, the possibility of rejoining respectable community life diminishes. She lives in exile.

Voyeurism:

Voyeurism is the sexual interest in or practice of spying on people engaged in intimate behaviors, such as undressing, sexual activity, or other actions usually considered to be of a private nature.

The principal characteristic of voyeurism is that the voyeur does not normally relate directly with the subject of his/her interest, who is often unaware of being observed. Voyeurism may involve the making of a secret photograph or video of the subject during an intimate activity. When the interest in a particular subject is obsessive, the behavior may be described as stalking.

However, in today's society the concept of voyeurism has evolved, especially in popular culture. Non-pornographic reality television programs such as Survivor and The Real World, are prime examples of voyeurism, where viewers (the voyeur) are granted an intimate interaction with a subject group or individual. Although not necessarily "voyeurism" in its original definition, as individuals in these given situations are aware of their audience, the concept behind "reality TV" is to allow unscripted social interaction with limited outside interference or influence. As such, the term still maintains its sexual connotations.

The term comes from the French voyeur, "one who looks". A male voyeur is commonly labeled "Peeping Tom", a term which originates from the Lady Godiva legend. However, that term is usually applied to a male who observes somebody through their window, and not in a public place.

In the United States, video voyeurism is an offense in nine states and may require the convicted person to register as a sex offender. The original case that led to the criminalization of voyeurism has been made into a television movie called Video Voyeur and documents the criminalization of secret photography. Criminal voyeurism statutes are related to invasion of privacy laws but are specific to unlawful surreptitious surveillance without consent and unlawful recordings including the broadcast, dissemination, publication, or selling of recordings involving places and times when a person has a reasonable expectation of privacy and a reasonable supposition they are not being photographed or filmed by "any mechanical, digital or electronic viewing device, camera or any other instrument capable of recording, storing or transmitting visual images that can be utilized to observe a person." 

Saudi Arabia banned the sale of camera phones nationwide in April 2004, but reversed the ban in December 2004. Some countries, such as South Korea and Japan, require all camera phones sold in their country to make a clearly audible sound whenever a picture is being taken. Secret photography by law enforcement authorities is called surveillance and is not considered to be voyeurism, though it may be unlawful or regulated in some countries.

Photography

Some fine art photographers such as Richard Kern have displayed a fascination with the forms of secret voyeuristic photography.

The idea of the voyeuristic behaviour being also the reality shows really interests me. I tried looking at different types of hidden cameras and devices. There are examples of hidden cameras in toothbrushes, tissue boxes, shoes, cigarette packages, belt, necktie cameras...