#2 Meeting with Wendy McMurdo (part 1)

I think this second face to face meeting with Wendy was very productive.  We began with some feedback on my proposal as well as looking over some of my new images.  

Fig. 1: Slade 2020.

Fig. 2: Slade 2020.

Fig. 3: Slade 2020.

Wendy gave me some photographers to reference, including Eammon Doyle and Guy Ben-Ner.

Guy Ben-Ner is an Israeli photographer and video artist that often features his children and family.  His productions are often humorous and profound (Breckner 2020).  He made a conscious decision when he began working with his own children that they should be able to enjoy the end product (Cattelan 2018) and that is why his work is somewhat appropriate and meaningful through a variety of ages.  He often references well know works of literature and fables.  

Fig. 4: Ben-Ner 2000. Moby Dick

I appreciate his involvement with his own children.  My husband and I are raising 5 children from preschool to teen.  Parenting is my first career and we love our big family.  That said, there are no freeloaders at our house.  My kids are involved in running the household and everyone has responsibilities.  My kids know that my photography is important to our family and they support that.  It often brings financial blessings as well as being a fulfilling creative outlet for me (and when mom is happy, the happiness level of the entire family is raised-true story).  Because my photography is something that takes everyones support to happen, the end product should be able to be enjoyed by everyone.  I can't imagine studying or creating images that I would have to censor my children from seeing.  And since we take our children's mental health seriously we try to keep their visual consumption age appropriate.   

Fig. 5: Eamonn Doyle. Available here: https://www.eamonndoyle.com/shop/mapfrecover-5

Fig. 6: Doyle. From the series On.

Eamonn Doyle was born in Dublin.  He actually produced music before returning to photography in 2008 (Doyle 2020). Wendy originally recommended Doyle because she thought I would enjoy his work with the shape of the human body in his collections of 'K images.' I did but I was actually more drawn to his street work particularly his series On.  The thing I always wonder about images such as this collection is, if I would appreciate them as much if I was from that area.  Like, what do the Dublin people think of his images and why does is the rest of the world attracted to them.  If I did images of Idaho would the people of Dublin find them interesting?  Probably- especially if I had the talents of Eamonn Doyle.  

But the most interesting comment that came from Wendy McMurdo during our discussion was about my own images.  Which I'll talk more about in a follow up post.  

Figures 1-3. Bren SLADE. 2020.

Figure 4. Guy BEN-NER. 2000. Available at: https://flash---art.com/article/guy-ben-ner/ [accessed 29 February 2020]. 

Figure 5. Eamonn DOYLE. Available at: https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5273944558910411206#editor/target=post;postID=8131617219009940920;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=0;src=link [accessed 29 February 2020]

BRECKNER, Jennifer Louise. 2020. 'Guy Ben-Ner; Israeli Video Artist.' Encyclopedia Britannica. [online] Available at: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Guy-Ben-Ner [accessed 29 February 2020].

CATTELAN, Maurizo. 2016. 'Guy Ben-Ner.' Flash Art. [online] Available at: https://flash---art.com/article/guy-ben-ner/ [accessed 29 February 2020].

DOYLE, Eamonn. 2020. Biography. [online] Available at: https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5273944558910411206#editor/target=post;postID=8131617219009940920;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=0;src=link [accessed 29 February 2020].