Plymouth

 University,  Faculty  of  Arts,  School  of  Art  and  Media  

BA  (HONS)  MEDIA  ARTS  
MEDI  170  Photographic  Narratives  
 
TERM  1  AUTUMN  2012  
 
Kayla  Parker:  digital  brief  
Session  1/6:  Monday  24  September  and  Monday  5  November  2012  
 
Notes:  Photographic  Narratives  
 
La  Jetée  
A  French  science  fiction  film,  made  by  Chris  Marker  in  19621  from  hundreds  of  black  and  white  
photographs.  The  film  opens  with  a  photograph  of  the  observation  deck  (la  jetée,  or  the  pier,  in  
French)  of  an  airport.  La  Jetée  starts  with  the  description  of  a  childhood  'memory'  of  the  man  whose  
story  this  is.  La  Jetée  can  be  ‘read’  as  a  poem  about  a  dream,  or  the  inter-­‐relationship  between  real  
and  interior  worlds,  time  and  space.  The  director  Chris  Marker  introduced  his  film  with  these  words,  
spoken  by  an  unseen  male  narrator:  "This  is  the  story  of  a  man  marked  by  an  image  of  his  childhood”  
(Marker,  1992).  
 
Marker  described  his  film  as  un  photo-­‐roman2,  which  means,  literally,  a  ‘photo-­‐novel’.  The  term  refers  
particularly  to  the  photographic  ‘comic  strips’  that  appeared  in  popular  magazines  in  Europe  during  
the  1950s  and  1960s,  which  ‘told  a  story’  through  a  series  of  still  images,  like  a  storyboard  for  a  film.    
 
In  2003,  forty  years  after  making  La  Jetée,  Marker  said:  
 
“It  was  made  like  a  piece  of  automatic  writing  …  I  photographed  a  story  I  didn’t  completely  
understand.  It  was  in  the  editing  that  the  pieces  of  the  puzzle  came  together,  and  it  wasn’t  me  who  
designed  the  puzzle”  (Marker,  2003).  
   
 
Once  upon  a  time…  
A  narrative  connects  a  series  of  events  within  a  specific  context  to  create  coherence  and  meaning.  
The  word  comes  from  the  Indo-­‐European  root  gna,  which  means  both  ‘to  tell’  and  ‘to  know’.  There  
must  be  a  teller  of  the  story,  a  narrator,  and  an  audience,  including  the  narrator’s  ‘self’.  
 
Narrative  constructs  a  sequence  of  ordered  events  so  they  are  connected  in  a  meaningful  way  for  a  
particular  audience  in  order  to  make  sense  of  the  world  and/or  people’s  experiences  in  it:  
 
“stories  do  not  simply  mirror  reality;  storytelling  inevitably  involves  selectivity,  rearranging  of  
elements,  redescription,  and  simplification  (Hinchman  and  Hinchman,  2001:  xvi).  
 

1  I’m  using  the  release  date  of  1962  given  by  the  British  Film  Institute;  Criterion  gives  the  date  as  1963.  
2
This  is  the  wording  Marker  used  for  the  onscreen  text  at  the  start  of  the  film.
Looking  at  photographs  
Our  view  of  the  world  changes  as  soon  as  we  pick  up  a  camera.  Photographs  make  visible  things  that  
we  don’t  normally  see,  through  their  visual  instantaneity.  They  invite  reflection,  a  form  of  looking,  in  
order  to  tease  out,  identify  or  recognize  themes  and  ideas  that  emerge,  and  which  build  on  our  own  
individual  and  collective  experiences.  
 
“’looking’  is  always  embodied  and  undertaken  by  someone  with  an  identity.  In  this  sense  there  is  no  
neutral  looking.  An  image’s  or  thing’s  significance  is  finally  its  significance  for  some-­‐body  or  some-­‐
one”  (Lister  and  Wells,  2001:  65).  
 
 
Reading  photographs  
Photography  is  a  medium  of  communication.  Its  power  rests  in  its  indexicality,  its  perceived  direct  link  
to  real  objects  and  the  real  world  and  its  portrayal  of  what  is  ‘truthful’  -­‐  a  copy  of  what  is  ‘really  
there’.  
 
However,  a  photograph  is  not  a  ‘window  on  the  world,  a  ‘transparent’  transcription  unmediated  and  
anchored  to  what  was/is  real.  We  ‘read’  the  photographic  image  via  a  visual  language  with  its  own  
syntax  and  grammar,  and  with  its  own  histories  and  conventions.  
 
The  photograph  signifies  (creates  meaning)  through  multiple  codes,  some  of  which  are  specific  to  the  
technical  elements  of  photography  (such  as  blur)  and/or  its  conventions;  others  are  drawn  from  a  
variety  of  codes,  for  example  bodily  gestures.  The  combination  of  codes  and  the  sense  that  is  made  
from  the  photograph  varies  according  to  each  image  and  its  ‘reader’  (Burgin,  1982:  143).  
 
 
La  Jetée:  perceived  narratives  
“Fantasy  set  after  the  Third  World  War  and  the  destruction  of  Paris,  centring  on  a  prisoner  who  recalls  
early  experiences  under  torture,  and  realises  the  significance  of  his  once  meeting  a  young,  innocent  
girl”  (BFI  Film,  2012).  
 
“La  Jetée  ...  [is]  set  in  a  post-­‐apocalyptic  Paris  and  follows  a  man  as  he  is  the  subject  of  a  time-­‐travel  
experiment.  Using  a  painful  memory  from  his  childhood  to  travel  to  the  past  and  then  through  to  the  
future,  he  slowly  realises  that  time  is  inescapacable”  (Hurwitz,  2011).  
 
“This  classic  'photo-­‐roman'  about  the  power  of  memory  -­‐  'the  story  of  a  man  marked  by  an  image  of  
his  childhood'  -­‐  begins  at  Orly  airport  a  few  years  before  WWIII.  That  image  is  of  a  woman's  face  at  
the  end  of  the  pier;  and  in  the  post-­‐apocalyptic  world  the  man  now  inhabits  as  a  prisoner,  he  is  given  
the  chance  to  discover  its  true  significance  as  a  guinea-­‐pig  in  a  time  travel  experiment.  Marker  uses  
monochrome  images  recognisably  from  the  past,  such  as  the  ruins  of  Europe  after  WWII,  and  with  a  
few  small  props  and  effects,  subtly  suggests  a  future  environment.  The  soundtrack's  texture  is  
similarly  sparse,  and  the  fluid  montage  leads  the  viewer  into  the  sensation  of  watching  moving  
images.  Until,  that  is,  an  extraordinary  epiphany  when  an  image  genuinely  does  move:  the  man's  
sleeping  lover  opens  her  eyes.”  
(Time  Out  Paris,  2012)  
 
The  diptych  
A  term  for  a  two  pictures  intended  to  be  seen  together  as  a  pair.  A  diptych  is  a  useful  way  of  telling  a  
story  visually.  The  Wilton  Diptych  is  a  portable  altarpiece  painted  for  King  Richard  II  about  1395-­‐9:  the  
two  panels  are  hinged  and  fold  together  like  a  book  to  protect  the  paintings.  The  full  title  is  Richard  II  
presented  to  the  Virgin  and  Child  by  his  patron  Saint  John  the  Baptist  and  Saints  Edward  and  Edmund  
(National  Portrait  Gallery,  2012).  
 
 
Research:  see  more  about…  
La  Jetée  
Watch  the  film  -­‐  there  are  several  DVD  copies  of  the  film  in  Plymouth  University  library,  at  shelfmark  
791.430944  JET.  Marker’s  1983  feature-­‐length  film  Sans  Soleil  is  included  on  the  DVD.  
 
Other  photographers  
In  addition  to  images  from  La  Jetée,  we  also  viewed  two  projects  by  British  artist  Sarah  Pucill,  who  
works  in  both  film  and  photography:  
 
You  Be  Mother  (1990),  in  which  photographs  of  the  artist’s  face  were  projected  onto  a  ‘still  life’  of  a  
tea  set  on  a  table  covered  in  a  white  cloth,  and  then  the  fragmented  ‘3-­‐dimensional’  view  was  
photographed  to  create  the  finished  set  of  prints.  
 
Stages  of  Mourning  (2000)  a  photographic  series  that  explores  the  experience  of  the  death  of  her  
partner  Sandra  Lahire.  Here,  Pucill  creates  re-­‐enactments  of  myths  through  a  series  of  ‘tableaux  
vivants’  –  literally,  ‘living  pictures’  in  which  the  performers  or  characters  adopt  still  poses  within  a  
scene  for  the  audience  or  camera.  
 
“Sarah  Pucill’s  films  and  photographs  explore  the  mirroring  and  merging  we  seek  in  the  Other;  a  sense  
of  self  which  is  transformative  and  fluid.  At  the  core  of  her  practice  is  a  concern  with  mortality  and  
the  materiality  of  the  filmmaking  process.  The  majority  of  her  films  take  place  within  the  
confinements  of  domestic  space,  where  the  grounded  reality  of  the  house  itself  becomes  a  portal  to  a  
complex  and  multi  layered  psychical  realm.  In  her  explorations  of  the  animate  and  inanimate,  her  
work  probes  a  journey  between  mirror  and  surface,  in  which  questions  of  representation  are  
negotiated  via  the  feminine,  the  queer  or  the  dead.”  
(Pucill  and  Pearlman,  2012)  
 
The  artist’s  own  website:  http://www.sarahpucill.co.uk/about.php  
 
And  briefly  looked  at  the  following  photographers:  
 
Diane  Arbus  
The  Photography  of  Diane  Arbus  website  has  a  portfolio  of  her  work:  http://diane-­‐arbus-­‐
photography.com/  
Read  Daniel  Oppenheimer’s  biography  of  Arbus  on  Jewish  Virtual  Library:  
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/arbus.html  
 
Nan  Goldin  
Artist’s  page  on  Matthew  Marks  Gallery  site:  http://www.matthewmarks.com/new-­‐york/artists/nan-­‐
goldin/  and  on  TATE  website:  http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/nan-­‐goldin-­‐2649  
 
Juergen  Teller  
Artist’s  page  on  Lehman  Maupin  Gallery  site:  http://www.lehmannmaupin.com/#/artists/juergen-­‐
teller/  
 
Kelli  Connell  
Artist’s  own  site:  http://kelliconnell.com/  
Kelli  Connell  on  Museum  of  Contemporary  Photography  site:  
http://www.mocp.org/collections/mpp/connell_kelli.php  and  on  Women  in  Photography:  
http://www.wipnyc.org/blog/kelli-­‐connell  
 
Diptychs  
Read  about  The  Wilton  Diptych  on  University  of  London’s  history  website:  
http://www.history.ac.uk/richardII/wilton.html  
 
For  a  contemporary  ‘take’,  see  Andy  Warhol’s  1962  Marilyn  Diptych,  featuring  multiple  images  of  
Marilyn  Monroe,  on  TATE:  http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/warhol-­‐marilyn-­‐diptych-­‐t03093  
 
You  may  find  the  following  useful  research  when  developing  ideas  and  photographing  your  own  pair  
of  images  for  next  Monday's  session:  
 
Tracey  Moffat  -­‐  Plantation:  
http://www.trfineart.com/exhibitions/20  
http://www.bjp-­‐online.com/british-­‐journal-­‐of-­‐photography/interview/1727623/plantation  
 
Dawn  Roe  -­‐  Goldfields  (which  also  includes  triptych  work,  a  set  of  3  images,  which  are  intended  to  be  
seen  together:  
http://www.lightleaked.com/2012/08/dawn-­‐roe.html  
http://www.dawnroephotography.com/DawnRoe/Goldfields.html  
 
Ann  Shelton  -­‐  Public  Places:  
http://www.annshelton.com/projects/Public-­‐Places/  
http://www.annshelton.com/publications/public_places.pdf  
 
Michael  Marten  -­‐  Sea  Change:  a  tidal  journey  around  Britain:  
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/sep/23/sea-­‐change-­‐michael-­‐marten-­‐review  
http://www.lensculture.com/marten.html?thisPic=1  
 
Diptych  works  in  the  National  Portrait  Gallery:  
http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/explore/glossary-­‐of-­‐art-­‐terms1/diptych.php  
 
 
References  
BFI  Film  (2012)  ‘La  Jetée’  [online]  Available:  http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2b7b9372f0  Accessed:  23  September  
2012  
 
Burgin,  V  (1982)  ‘Looking  at  photographs’  in  Victor  Burgin  (ed.)  Thinking  photography.  London:  Macmillan.  
 
Hinchman,  LP  and  Hinchman,  SK  (eds.)  (2001)  Memory,  identity,  community:  the  idea  of  narrative  in  the  human  
sciences.  Albany,  NY:  State  University  of  New  York  Press.  
 
Hurwitz,  E  (2011)  ‘Review:  Chris  Marker  -­‐  La  Jetée  /  Sans  Soleil  /  Level  Five  >  Film’  in  Idol  Magazine  [online]  
Available:  http://idolmag.co.uk/film/review-­‐chris-­‐marker-­‐la-­‐jetée-­‐san-­‐soleil-­‐level-­‐five  
Accessed:  23  September  2012  
 
Kuhn,  A  (1995)  Family  secrets:  acts  of  memory  and  imagination.  London:  Verso.  
 
La  Jetée  (1962)  Directed  by  Chris  Marker  [film]  on  ‘La  Jetée  /  Sans  Soleil:  two  films  by  Chris  Marker’  [DVD]  
Neuilly:  Argos  Films.  29  minutes  
 
Lister,  M  and  Wells,  L  (2001)  ‘Seeing  beyond  belief:  cultural  studies  as  an  approach  to  analyzing  the  visual’  in  
Theo  van  Leeuwen  and  Carey  Jewitt  (eds.)  Handbook  of  visual  analysis.  London:  SAGE.  pp.  61  –  91.  
 
Marker,  C  (1992)  La  Jetée:  ciné-­‐roman.  New  York:  Zone  Books  [no  page  numbers].  
 
Marker,  C  (2003)  in  Samuel  Douhaire  and  Annick  Rivoire  ‘Marker  direct:  an  interview  with  Chris  Marker’  in  
Libération  5  March  2003.  Reprinted  in  Filmcomment  (2012)  [online]  Available:  
http://www.filmcomment.com/article/marker-­‐direct-­‐an-­‐interview-­‐with-­‐chris-­‐marker  Accessed:  9  September  
2012  
 
Pucill,  S.  and  Pearlman,  N.  (2012)  Sarah  Pucill  [website].  Available:  http://www.sarahpucill.co.uk/about.php  
Accessed:  9  September  2012  
 
Pucill,  S  and  Reynolds,  L  (2012)  ‘At  least  I  will  know  my  face’  [interview]  in  Vivienne  Dick  (ed.)  Printed  Project  
issue  15,  March  2012.  Dublin:  Visual  Artists  Ireland.  pp.  92  –  100.  
 
The  Guardian  (2011)  ‘Sean  O’Hagan  on  photography  -­‐  Diane  Arbus:  humanist  or  voyeur?’  [online]  26  July  2011.  
Available:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2011/jul/26/diane-­‐arbus-­‐photography-­‐sideshow  Accessed:  23  
September  2012  
 
The  National  Gallery  (2012)  ‘Paintings:  The  Wilton  Diptych’  [online]  Available:  
http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/english-­‐or-­‐french-­‐the-­‐wilton-­‐diptych  Accessed:  23  September  2012  
 
Time  Out  Paris  (2012)  ‘La  Jetée’  [online]  Available:  http://www.timeout.fr/en/film/la-­‐jetee  Accessed:  23  September  2012  
 
 

 
Kayla  Parker  
24  September  2012