This task required us to read the article at the below link and reflect upon the main ideas made about photography. Whether we agree or disagree with Grundberg and why and to consider any issues raised that apply to my own practice
nytimes.com/1988/09/18/arts/photography-view-a-quintessentially-american-view-of-the-world.html
There are areas I find myself agreeing with the arguments laid out by Grundberg in this article. Chiefly then reflections on cultural signifiers and their role in carving out the tourist gaze.
A paragraph which stands out most to me is on Grundbergs discussion of the 1912 ‘discovery’ of Machu Picchu through Hiram Binghams photograph of the mountain dwelling. The suggestion herein that prior to Binghams photograph, Machu Picchu did not exist. Much in the same way that we suppose the America’s did not exist before their ‘discovery’ supposedly by Columbus.
I feel that there are potential issues to be raised and to apply to my own practice, in particular around the iconography and appropriation of artefacts within the still life scenes that I create. What impact do these have on the viewer? Are these ‘discovery’s’? Or things which have always existed but were out of sight?
Andrews Masters Journey 