SECONDARY RESEARCH
Today we had a lecture on staged photography and some famous photographers within this genre. We looked largely at two photographers, Omar Victor Diop and Freddy Fabris.
Omar Victor Diop is a famous photographer was born in 1980 in Dakar, Senegal. His work is staged and often references his west African heritage and his culture in creative ways. In 'Liberty/Diaspora' from 2018, he references the art movement of classicism and takes a number of self portraits based on portraits from this period. The thing that stands out in this work is that whilst Diop is black, we instantly see the portraits and expect the person in the clothing to be white. He stages every detail within the work to reference small details about his own culture and the contrasts with the one he is simulating. For example we see the Barristers wig he wears in the second photo is black, and we also see that he is holding a whistle, referencing the love for football in his home country of Senegal.
Freddy Fabris was born in New York in 1970 as the child of two ballet dancers. He is famous for his staged recreations of famous renaissance paintings in the unlikeliest of settings - a garage. We see his upbringing hugely within his work. His parents were both into the arts as dancers and Freddy was hugely into renaissance art and it is likely this is how he came up with the original ideas. We see in these works a strong choreography of his subjects (likely influenced by his parents) and incredible detail in the lighting and content of each image.
Seeing the work of these photographers whilst knowing more about them and the context surrounding it opens your eyes to details you may have missed before. With staged photography there is a reason for every tiny detail and if you dig into the context a little you can find it out.