Alexandra Talbott

Tutor: Andrew Vass

Word Count: 1053

Contextual Studies Assessment task III MAJOR ESSAY
Choose two artists whose work addresses identity. Discuss a single work by each artist.
Explain the ideas each artist is trying to represent and how they are expressed.

Both Billingham and Hanson candidly address identity within the working classes through use of realism, whether it be voyeuristic (Billingham) or use of Hyperreality juxtaposed against a traditional gallery environment (Hanson). Whilst the relationship the artists have with their work is entirely different they both raise the issue of the individual in the neglected society, that which we would rather forget than be confronted with; especially in a high art format. Yet, it is necessary to acknowledge the diversity of context in which the works were produced. Billingham’s photography a social comment on his own British working class upbringing where Hanson uses Black American stereotype.

Richard Billingham’s Untitled is part of a series often described as “studies” of his own Mother, Father, Brother and Pets in their Sunderland estate flat. His photos were originally meant as source material for paintings but Billingham soon realised the power of reality in its most basic form. He confronts the viewer with an uncomfortable domesticity that “has been hailed as a mass of contradictions”1 Both grotesque and alien to the majority of viewers, what shines through and perhaps surpasses this initial revolt is the sense of unadulterated humanity and honesty at the core.

The voyeuristic style is key to Billingham’s concept and his relationship to the subjects, his familiarity with his parents mean they seem to ignore his presence as a photographer, a true “kitchen sink” approach . However it could be said that the way in which Billingham captures his home detaches him from his role as son and brother. Unlike traditional family photography Billingham’s family are not posed or intent on creating an illusion of harmony or happiness, you get the feeling of nonchalance towards the camera, which leads the viewer in many ways to question the relationship between family and artist.

However Billingham’s use of very basic photography in the style of amateur family photographs it could be argued to be fundamental to the success of this work. It was created not for exhibition but for personal (albeit eventually artistic) use.

Billingham certainly recognises this, commenting; “And as soon I started showing the family photographs, I stopped taking them, because it was sort of over. If I was to start taking them with a view to exhibiting them, then that wouldn't be a good motive because I wouldn't be doing it out of curiosity any more.”2.

It is this familiarity of style that perhaps appeals to a naturally curious viewer, the idea that there is an element of “us” in every object of which we are familiar or could create ourselves. Whether it be an element of the subject or the material (the basic photo (in some cases disposable)) with which it was created. Consequently, the naivety in outcome that some have criticised is perhaps a necessary element in relaying the capture and context of the scene.

Billingham appears to use his own identity as a vehicle to expose the voices of others to a supposedly culturally enlightened middle class (in the form of the stereotype gallery viewer). The juxtaposition of these Untitled Outcomes and work such as Hanson’s Queenie II against a gallery back drop do however raise the question of working class and minorities relationship with fine art and in particular the gallery experience.

Is it that Billingham’s family are so far from the high flying art world that their faces on the wall of any gallery does not phase them? It is not something they relate to or can see the point of. Perhaps it is ironic, that in some cases I suppose the viewer and the subject have a similar view of each other; an indifference towards an element of society that is far enough away from their own reality to ignore, other than when directly faced with it.

Hanson’s Queenie II is perhaps more upfront about working class relations with the elitism of fine art. Hanson employs a technique of subverting reality with Queenie as a lifesize installation. Hanson recognises that the physical presence of a figure leads to an inescapable confrontation most viewers will have with their preformed view of an African American woman working on the fringes of society: “A downtrodden member of the American working class, overburdened, fatigued and trapped by circumstance.” 3 The poignancy of Queenie II is increased by the history of stuggle for racial equality that is still present in modern America today. Our familiarity with the image is integral to its provocative nature, Hanson comments of his work:

“" I tried not to pick people that are very interesting - like an interesting face or a strange expression. I tried to stay away from that, to confront people with something from their daily experience."4

Unlike the work of Billingham, Hanson does not address his own identity but creates shallow caricatures of the nation to which he belongs, a satire on the stereotypes that have come to define all that is wrong with America today.

However, Hanson’s treatment of Queenie as a caricature perhaps generates more empathy than Billingham’s photograph. Queenie II has the dignity of a job, and whilst it has been said Hanson evokes a “bored and idle America”5, I happen to believe in the case of Queenie II the viewer sympathizes with a frustration within the caricature for the monotony of everyday life and work on the fringes of society.

What is evident is that identity in art can be a tool to provoke and challenge an often ignored reality, which both Billingham and Hanson have utilized successfully. Whether it be through exploring personal identity as a way of examining the contradictions of poverty in the British working classes or employing a stereotype to satirize and highlight the nature of class and race in American society, examining identity in society will always be a successful way in which artists can bring to the forefront of our minds the reality it is often easier to forget.

1 Bussel Sensation, Young British Artists from the Saatchi Collection, Thames and Hudson in association with Royal Acadamy of Arts, 1997 p193
2 Barber, Lynn Quote from ‘Candid Camera’, The Observer, Sunday 29th May 2000.
3 ,5 The 20th Century Art Book, Phaidon Press Limited, London. 1996.
4 LS ‘DUANE HANSON: BODY-BUILDER EXTRAORDINAIRE’, The Independent, Saturday 12th April 1997.