Abstract

Jo-Ana visually describes diary entries made by Jo, a 30 something recovered anorexic, throughout her period of illness.

Key events before, during and after her illness are recorded. Presented as a series of still life compositions, they offer the viewer insight into Jo’s struggle with anorexia.

Items of food consumed by Jo are portrayed, the nutritional value corresponding to her transition from health, to illness, and on to recovery.

Her thoughts are displayed alongside text she found inspirational. Everyday objects offer a glimpse of her interests and her personality.

Examining an alternative relationship with food and played out on a very small stage, it is the story of what happens when food stops being a friend.

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There were two primary objectives for Jo-Ana.

The first being to ensure that the voice of the participant, Jo, was clearly heard, and the second being to present the images in a clean website with supplemental text and images which enriched the viewing experience rather than detracting from it.

Have I been successful in achieving these objectives?

Sutherst (2018) reviews as follows:

‘The words from the diary are the reminders that this is a real person’s account of their road to recovery. The inclusion and placement of personal items in each image remind us that there is more to an anorexia sufferer than them just not eating. They have lives and interests like everyone else and they are more than just the disease – it does not define who they are, it is something they are suffering with.’

Clear confirmation, then, that the first aim for Jo-Ana has been achieved.

‘Each image is expertly showcased on the responsive website. The style is understated and does not intrude on the viewer’s experience of work. Viewing the sequence of images of food and pages from Jo’s diary, the visual narrative is one of despair through to hope (with a multitude of emotion in between). The viewer starts to appreciate the mental distortions that anorexics have in their relationship to food. The unhealthy thoughts recorded in the diary are sympathetically and cleverly reflected in the accompanying food images.’

Clear confirmation, then, that the second aim for Jo-Ana has also been achieved.

Such confirmation can only be viewed very positively as I not only look to extend the range of surfaces across which Jo-Ana is presented, but also assess the feasibility of future project themes.

Jo Sutherst’s full review can be read here.

Reference

Sutherst, J. (2018). ‘Final Major Project: Review of Philip Morris’s ‘Jo-Ana’ Project’. josutherstphotographycom [online]. Available at: https://josutherstphotography.com/2018/08/23/final-major-project-review-of-philip-morriss-jo-ana-project/ (accessed Thursday 23 August 2018)

Visual anthropology is the graphical and written representation of a group’s culture. It is concerned with the study of the production and consumption of visual forms of communication.

Anthropology, however, is concerned with the study of humans, human behaviour and societies both past and present, whilst social anthropology is the study of societies norms and values.

Jo-Ana, then, is not an example of visual anthropology, moreover it is anthropology presented visually – recording what were once the private thoughts of an individual, making them available as a source of information for future reference.

Spitz, 2013. Mom’s Vacation

Melissa Spitz’s You Have Nothing to Worry About describes the tumultuous relationship between her and her mother.

From her earliest memory, her mother has suffered from mental illness and substance abuse. The diagnosis of her condition frequently changing from one of alcoholism to dissociative identity disorder.

This has led to the breakdown of her parents’ marriage, and a relationship between mother and daughter which is resentment filled.

You Have Nothing to Worry About is described by Spitz as a ‘complex and difficult body of work’, having images which, she informs us, are ‘simultaneously upsetting and encouraging, honest and theatrical, loving and hateful’.

For me, the images have a richness, but also have a repellent quality. I oscillate between wanting to view the images on one hand, and not wanting to view them on the other. The images in this series contain a punctum (Barthes, 1980), a detail which ‘pricks or bruises’ the viewer’s consciousness, evoking a sense of emotion.

Spitz’s work is significant to me for the way in which it is approached.

Firstly, she has considerable self-awareness of how she interacts as a photographer with her subject

“There was never really a conscious decision of going to photograph my mentally ill mother,” says Spitz, yet, in the shadow of the stress, her lens became a mechanism through which she communicated with her family. “It was the easiest way to give me a reason to go home but still be separated from the situation, via the physical act of putting a camera up in front of my face,” she explains (Richter, 2015).

Secondly, Spitz appreciates the impact of her intervention as a photographer upon the subject.

I am fully aware that my mother thrives on being the center of attention and that, at times, our portrait sessions encourage her erratic behaviour’ (Spitz, 2018).

Spitz is in a position to influence. How she approaches one moment in a shoot can affect what happens for the rest of that session, how she approaches a shoot can determine the way in which future shoots proceed.

Jo-Ana was different. The moments in time upon which the still life images were based were already fixed, immutable. The subject’s thoughts were already captured in a diary and could not be influenced by the act of my photography. Each outcome had already been determined.

I propose a future project investigating alcoholism. This will be different again, placing me closer to the situation in which Spitz finds herself – a position of being able to influence the perceptions held by subject’s regarding their circumstances.

Molloy (2018) states that a key question when producing participatory works is ‘what difference does it make having me being part of the story?’

Mannay (2016) seems to suggest an answer to this question, suggesting that ‘consideration is given to the relationships between participants and researchers, and acknowledge that even when the ‘intrusive presence’ of the researcher steps out of the site of visual data production this leaves a space that is often filled by the ‘intrusive presence’ of others’.

Pauwels (2011) suggests that participatory productions place the social scientist in the position of participatory facilitator, and that research is conducted ‘with’ and not ‘on’ participants.

I think that, for me, this is the point to take away from Molloy’s presentation – to engage without influencing, to present a true and fair view.  In essence, ensuring that conceptual and practical filters which can be applied as a result of pre-knowledge and associated underlying assumptions (Walmsley and Johnson, 2003) are eliminated.

References:

Barthes, Roland (1980). Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography. New York: Hill & Wang

Mannay, Dawn (2016), Visual, Narrative and Creative Research Methods: Application, Reflection and Ethics. Oxon: Routledge

Molloy, Caroline (2018). ‘Guest Lecture (Research) – Caroline Molloy’. Lecture to PHO705 17/18 [online]. Available at: https://flex.falmouth.ac.uk/courses/86/pages/guest-lecture-research-caroline-molloy?module_item_id=8346 (accessed: Friday 23 March 2018)

Pauwels, L. (2011), ‘An Integrated Conceptual Framework for Visual Social Research’, in E. Margolis and L. Pauwels (eds) The Sage Handbook of Visual Research methods. London: Sage

Richter, T. (2015). ‘This woman documents her mother’s battle with mental illness’. Dazeddigital.com [online]. Available at: http://www.dazeddigital.com/photography/article/25675/1/this-woman-documents-her-mother-s-battle-with-mental-illness (accessed: Monday 25 June 2018)

Spitz, M. (2018). ‘You Have Nothing to Worry About’. Melissaspitz.com [online]. Available at: http://www.melissaspitz.com/you-have-nothing-to-worry-about/z87g2l8cgzvsfsedduq4v1chwd1hqg (accessed: Monday 25 June 2018)

Walmsley, J. and Johnson, K. (2003), Inclusive Research with People with Learning Disabilities: Past, Present and Futures. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers

Popova, 2015. Untitled

The first Labour Treatment for Profilactorium (LTP) was established in Kazakhstan 1967 and offered alcoholics and drug addicts rehabilitation in return for forced labour.

Operated along the lines of a prison, residents could be incarcerated for periods lasting from 6 months to 2 years. There was no right of appeal. There was no crime.

Should the residents have one, their home is rented out to meet the costs of their treatment. Any children are placed in care.

The LTP system met with strong protest from human rights campaigners in the USSR, and was closed down by Yeltsin in 1993 under perestroika. However, some LTPs still remain in operation in Belarus, Turkmenistan, and the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic.

Irina Popova is a documentary photographer and curator. Her book Welcome to the LTP is a journey through the Soviet-era passageways of despair of one Belarusian ‘workhouse for substance abusers’. She is the first photographer to be allowed access to such an establishment.

Draconian in concept, Draconian in practice – the LTPs are not an investment in people, instead there appears to be two objectives behind the system. Firstly, to remove the problem away from mainstream society, out of sight is out of mind. Secondly, to beat the addiction out of the residents with a proverbial stick.

The LTPs are a chimera of the penal system, being described by human rights activists in the USSR as ‘punitive psychotherapy’ – prison meets rehab.

Popova’s Welcome to the LTP conveys a strong message of not only addiction, but also abject poverty and loneliness.

Her images have a distinct richness to them. Which is in stark contrast to her subjects and their surroundings in Welcome to the LTP.

Grimy walls, dingy corridors, stark rooms – the outlook at every turn is dismal, hopeless, bleak. Popova’s images capture an infrastructure in decay, a system that was never going to work. The base level at which the decay starts, and the magnitude of that decay suggest that there was never any interest in the system, nor the people who would go to these centres. The system failing the system.

My projects to-date have explored alternative relationships with food. These have been interesting and rewarding projects to work on.

I feel that as my photography has developed, so has my interest in giving a voice to the socially disadvantaged through my practice.

Taking my three most recent projects in the order they were produced, this trend can be seen clearly: the cravings experienced by an athlete preparing for a competition, the interrelationship between diet and mental health, and the diaries of an anorexic.

With reference to the latter, eating disorders are a conveniently forgotten disease. Periodically there is a news article informing us that a celebrity has an eating disorder and the issue becomes topical for a very brief time, before being forgotten again.

Eating disorders are highly stigmatised. They are something that the general public are largely ignorant of, many believing them to be a lifestyle choice. The reality is that eating disorders are a serious mental illness. Some individuals are susceptible, they carry within them a ticking time bomb. For such individuals, family and societal pressures are merely triggers which stimulate an underlying condition.

Alcoholism shares some similarities with eating disorders. It is perceived by much of the general public as being a lifestyle choice, whilst in reality being a serious mental illness. There is much stigma attached to alcoholism. It destroys careers, homes, families, people.

Building on the success of Jo-Ana, my next project will investigate alcoholism. Popova’s work is a fascinating documentary, in view of my plan, however, it takes on new relevance.

Jo-Ana took me out of my comfort zone, and that was necessary for me to develop as a photographer. My next project needs to do the same, but in different ways.

My photography already has a definite characteristic style – close up, point of view still life compositions beautifully lit by natural light. I do not intend to deviate from this. However, I think my practice will develop, both technically and creatively, if I include some environmental shots in my next project. Popova’s Welcome to the LTP is a benchmark as to how this can be done.

Morris, 2018. 29.07.13 from Jo-Ana

As an online exhibition, Jo-Ana has an advantage which is denied to its physical counterparts.

Whilst physical exhibitions can be advertised and subsequently read about on social media, they still require a journey to go and see the works of art. In Jo-Ana’s case, however, one click and you are immediately transported to the exhibition as the images appear on the screen within seconds.

Not all social media channels are appropriate for all causes. The three social media channels which were chosen to market Jo-Ana were Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

There are issues to be overcome in getting images from a laptop into an Instagram account. However, once images are posted to Facebook it is an easy task to share them externally on other social media platforms, Instagram included.

Facebook generated the least interest – this was predicted (this accuracy is viewed positively as it demonstrates an understanding of the target audience and its behaviour). Instagram generated the most, with Twitter coming second. Again, this was expected. The Instagram account was established in October 2017 and had a small following, but a following nevertheless and one that is loyal. The Twitter account, on the other hand was set up immediately before the launch of the Jo-Ana exhibition and has only attracted a small number of followers which, again, appear to be loyal.

Hashtags were researched, looking at posts made by recovering anorexics to see which hashtags had the highest frequency of use – using these in the advertising posts for Jo-Ana would help give maximum reach

The campaign has been successful, there has been a definite response. The response appears to show a split result.

The first target group, friends, family and colleagues of anorexics arrive at Jo-Ana through direct referral.

The second target group, anorexics (both those recovering and those not) arrive at Jo-Ana through social media channels. This group also responds to adverts for Jo-Ana on social media channels – this response taking the form of likes, comments, shares, or retweets.

Detailed analysis of all social media response over an initial data capturing period of 6 days can be seen below.

One thing is clear, response is proportional to the number of followers an account has, irrespective of hashtags.

Next steps are to analyse other contemporary practitioners and peers in order to establish what they do that is different and leads to success in terms of organic growth of followers.

Google Analytics is being used to monitor traffic to the website. At the time of writing (22 July 2018) the exhibition has received 123 views since being launched on 29 June.

Jo-Ana – Analysis of Social Media Responses 1, July 2018

Jo-Ana – Analysis of Social Media Responses 2, July 2018

‘This problem is discussed by Lomax (2015) in relation to her work with children creating participatory videos where the children themselves acted as editors to select the content for a presentation of the film. Lomax (2015) had envisaged a short but impactful segment of film, cinematically capturing the importance of arts and community projects: however, the children in the study had other ideas, insisting that the sequence be included in its original unedited form to recognise their individual contributions, as artists and narrators. The editing process was guided by the participants and prioritised the individual children’s voices. However, this participatory undertaking was antithetical to the dialogue that the researcher was attempting to disseminate’ (Mannay, 2016).

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I find the above extract from Mannay (2016) extremely interesting and highly relevant to my FMP.

Morris, 2018. 29.01.13 from Jo-Ana

Jo-Ana is based on diary entries made by an anorexic during the period of her illness.

From the beginning of the project, the subject was clear about two things.

Firstly, that she wanted to be part of the project.

Secondly, she wanted her ‘voice’ to be heard. Elucidating on this, she specified that she wanted her personality to be represented by the photography, rather than the photography focusing on her illness.

This was a particular concern for her because, she relates, there have been so many cases where the treatment of her anorexia became about the illness, dismissing her as a person.

Being based on key diary extracts, the project images needed to focus on two things: food, and text extracts.

The food element was relatively easy to pre-visualise as a series of still life images.

Incorporating text into the body of work, however, was more problematic.

Several mock-ups were tested but the most successful, the most aesthetically pleasing, were those that depicted diary extracts alongside the subject’s personal effects.

Raising awareness of anorexia was a primary objective for the project. And I felt that this was best achieved by giving the audience images that were both visually attractive and interesting to look at. The project was not an exercise of academic research, which might lend itself to a formal presentation. A ‘staid’ presentation would do nothing to entice an audience.

But what of the participant’s voice? Again, a formal presentation would only serve to strip away any element of person or personality from the images. It was essential, in order to capture the participant’s character, that some of her personal possessions were included alongside the extracts of text and that these were captured together as still life images.

In this way, both objectives could be met.

Throughout the development stage, it was these images that were preferred. Although there was some criticism of this presentation of text, the majority were in favour.

At the time of writing (Monday 02 July 2018) feedback from both the target and wider audiences confirms that this was the correct method of incorporating the diary extracts into the project, with audience members stating that the personal effects bring important context to the text, and that they enhance the images rather than distract from the main subject – the diary entries.

This is clearly a contradiction to Lomax’s situation. In the case of Jo-Ana, prioritising the participant’s voice has facilitated a series of images which are both interesting and informative, allowing the two of the primary objectives for the project to be achieved.

Reference

Mannay, Dawn (2016), Visual, Narrative and Creative Research Methods: Application, Reflection and Ethics. Oxon: Routledge

Morris, 2018. 29.09.14 from Jo-Ana

KayLynn Deveney’s The day-to-day life of Albert Hastings skilfully combines image and text to provide a narrative on the aging process.

Deveney, 2018. Wind broken daffodil from The day-to-day life of Albert Hastings

Deveney, whose doctorate focused on the way in which contemporary and historical diaries and self-books address myths of domesticity, began the project after regular walks past Albert Hastings’ rented flat led to friendship.

As her photography has developed, Deveney informs us, her focus has increasingly been on our ideas of home.

‘I often seek in my photographs the banal moments of the day—the experiences not usually considered significant enough to warrant a snapshot. I look, too, for domestic patterns and practiced daily routines that make us feel at home or that confirm, or conform to, our ideas of what home should be’ (Deveney, 2018).

Deveney is far from the first photographer to include text into or alongside her images, indeed towards the end of the 1960s Danny Lyon and Bill Owens were supplementing their images with written commentary provided by the subjects of their photographs.

Lyon’s The Bikeriders, for example, places statements alongside images of members of the Chicago Outlaws motorcycle club. Whilst these statements are sometimes lengthy and offer us an insight into the lives of Lyon’s subjects, Deveney’s The day-to-day life of Albert Hastings offers us a pared down commentary which for its brevity is nonetheless poignant.

With relevance to my own practice, Jo-Ana is not an exercise in documenting diary pages. It is about a person and a personality, and how such are shaped (or not) as a result of the individual’s anorexia and its treatment. Successfully co-joining images of food and text was a critical factor for the project.

Calle, 2017. Rachel Monique

The presentation of photography seen in Sophie Calle: Rachel Monique (Calle, 2017) suits the objective. But, in my view, it is a staid presentation which reveals little or nothing about the person who wrote the diary. It is, therefore, a body of work which is exclusive and not inclusive. Deveney’s work clearly demonstrates the collaboration which took place between photographer and subject, it is a body of work which is highly inclusive.

In the early stages of Jo-Ana, the subject stated that on so many occasions her treatment had become about the illness rather than the person, and that this is a view commonly held by anorexics.

Consequently, ensuring that the participant’s voice was allowed to be heard through the photography became a primary concern. This was achieved, successfully I feel, through a series of still life images featuring both diary extracts together with the subject’s personal effects (see lead image).

References

Deveney, KayLynn (2018). ‘The day-to-day life of Albert Hastings’. Kaylynndeveney.com [online]. Available at: https://kaylynndeveney.com/the-day-to-day-life-of-albert-hastings/ (accessed Thursday 28 June 2018)