Layering techniques

Artists such as Corinne Vionnette, Idris Khan, Helen Sear and Esther Teichmann use layering to create contemporary composite images. I had previously looked at Helen Sear's work and concentrated on the work of Khan and Vionnette because the context of their photographs appealed to me.

Corinne Vionnette (Swiss artist/photographer) “Photo Opportunities” (2005-15)

Corinne Vionnette held solo exhibitions in Dubai (2009), Switzerland (2012) and New York (2015) and has been part of collaborative shows.

Vionnette builds up her image of a tourist destination from around 100 or more tourist photographs found on the internet and turns them into a photograph reminiscent of an impressionist style painting.

Her interest stemmed from a trip to a tourist destination in Pisa, Italy where she watched people photographing the same image and wondered what they looked like, if the photographs used the same angle of view and questioned what photographs they have stored on the internet. She was curious as to what people wanted to remember from their trip. This reminds me of the objectification of places into commodities (e.g postcards and stereoscopic views) in the 19th century and instead people take their own images as cameras are more accessible to everyone.

Using one prominent feature of the landscape such as the point on a tower or a dome on a cathedral or a column on the Acropolis to line the found photographs up, Vionnette also includes different seasons and times of day. The images are made transparent and layered which gives the impression of the number of tourists who visited the places. What starts off as a personal memory to a tourist is shared on the internet and becomes a collective memory built up of the place by the photographer. Vionnette is interested in the modification of people's behaviour following the rise of digital photography noting the move away from archiving in a family album to archiving online to share with family and friends. 

Vionnette’s research is based on the number of tourists visiting a particular place and how the tourist place is represented in brochures: i.e. symbolism or landmarks. She uses the cliches of tourist destinations and her work questions motivations of tourists who take pictures at these places, showing the abundance of the same images.

Other artists who have used this type of layering are Ken Kitano, a Japanese artist who builds up portraits of people using a similar technique to build a common photograph of an occupation “Our Face” (ongoing).  Idris Khan e.g. St Pauls London (2012) monochrome image built up from layers of images to form a composite image, not necessarily lining any points of the buildings up. The monochrome effect gives the image sketch like qualities. Khan's concept varies from Vionnette’s in the sense that he explains time, place and memory are represented in his images. This is how I view both his and Vionnette’s work.

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How my work relates to these artists

Following the study of Vionnette and Khan's series of layered digital images, I looked at local tourist places. Elizabethan houses hold an interest for me, particularly as my locality is dominated with houses built by or used by Bess of Hardwick. 

Research

Using the internet, I investigated which tourist and social media sites housed images of the buildings. Instagram, google maps, google, Flickr, trip advisor etc. I searched for images taken from the same angle of view (discovered there is a snapchat filter which reverses images) Some images I used were screen shots as they could not be downloaded.

Images

Chatsworth Hunting Lodge, Derbyshire

Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire

Rufford Abbey, Nottinghamshire

Wingfield Manor, Derbyshire

Bolsover Castle, Derbyshire

Wollaton Hall, Nottinghamshire

Learning points 
The more images available of somewhere the more layered the image is (mine have used between 7 and 15 images)
Moving layers around in Photoshop creates a different image May take several attempts of layering to give the right amount of transparency
Some images on Flickr are the same image with different processing techniques

Image needs scale – large building against small people. Trial of Robin Hood sculpture did not work due to the scale of the statue and people.

Bibliography
Alexander, J. (2012) Inside the view. Available at:  http://www.photomonitor.co.uk/2012/10/inside-the-view/ (last accessed 2/2/17)
Campany, D. (2017) Helen Sear, Inside the view. Available at: http://davidcampany.com/helen-sear-inside-the-view/ (last accessed 2/2/17)
Government Art Collection. (n.d.) Idris Khan in Dublin. Available at: http://www.gac.culture.gov.uk/720.html (last accessed 2/2/17)

Galerie-photo (2012) Corinne Vionnette, Photo Opportunities. Available at: http://www.galerie-photo.com/corinne-vionnet.html (last accessed 2/2/17)

Jones, G. (2013) Photo Opportunities: An interview with artist Corinne Vionnette. Available at: https://petapixel.com/2013/10/23/photo-opportunities-interview-artist-corinne-vionnet/ (last accessed 2/2/17)
Jones, G. (n.d.) Corinne Vionette and the democratic snapshot .Available at: http://www.inthein-between.com/corinne-vionnet-and-the-democratic-snapshot/ (last accessed 2/2/17)
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Web odysseum (2012) Superimposed portraits - Ken Kitano. Available at: http://webodysseum.com/art/superimposed-portraits-ken-kitano/ (last accessed 2/2/17)
Yale, M. (n.d.) Photo Opportunities. Available at: https://www.lensculture.com/articles/corinne-vionnet-photo-opportunities (last accessed 2/2/17)
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