Creative photography, all you can and can’t expect about postmodernism

Postmodernists have found their way to let the sparkle shine in anyway possible, of which photography, due to its nature of subscribing to the thing as it is, is less expected to achieve dramatical effects compared to other art forms. However, there are creative and whimsical works to defy this stereotype at the photography exhibition at V&A.

Signs of a Struggle at V&A

Signs of a Struggle: Photography in the Wake of Postmodernism possesses a postmodern approach towards the cognition of the exterior world.

Here are some outstanding works at the exhibition:

Staged

The Outburst > Jeff Wall

Jeff Wall is one of the most influential artists who experiment photography as film-making-or photographic tableaux . He sets staged scenes, has actors and actresses and then captures the moment of drama with the camera.

This photo is about the outburst of a factory manager to one of his workers. It leaves great space for the audience’s imagination.

Meticulous fake

Untitled IV >Anne Hardy

Anne Hardy has done series of photography work by shooting carefully set scenes which seem to be vacated 5 minutes ago. The scenes could be parties, performances, carpenter studios, etc, which are usually unsettling and chaotic. They lead people to wonder what has been going on and ponder on the sense of desolateness.

Emerge from chaos

Untitled 2 >Calum Colvin

Calum Colvin has been working with a combination of Painting, Photography, Sculpture and Electronic Imaging, with a postmodern dramatic and innovative touch. This photo is an example of ingeniouly set 3D scene captured to show a planar image.

To take this photo, he set a scene at the junction of the wall and the floor, and he painted directly on to them to create a surprise for the viewers for whom the image appears to be emerging from chaos.

Criminal minds

Signs of a struggle >Clare Strand

Have it ever occur to you that the criminal scenes, with their sense of secrets and mystery, could be one of the best objects for postmodern photography?

Clare Strand is a photographer who belongs to the everyday, yet “her images evoke the mesmeric, the talismanic and the unsolvable”. She is inspired by scientific and crime scene photos which serve as evidence.

This is a photo of a crime scene which sets a tone of creepy weirdness. The chair lying down contradicts with the scene and breaks the false calmness, which intrigues curiosity and imagination about what has happened here.

The main purpose, or the initial purpose of photography may be to document, however, the development of art and the burst of creativity have enhanced it to be much more.