Artist: Eugen Sakhnenko

I think that Eugen Sakhnenko's recent series "Shelf Life" is in a lot of ways closely related to the work I'm starting to do about history. His ideas about information or knowledge and how we interact with it and how we try to protect it are very similar to the ideas I have about history specifically. I feel like history seems to be something in a book to be protected and treasured by some people. To others it's a consuming passion, not just the information but the places and the actual experiences of it. I'm becoming very interested in how "we" interact with history, whether it's through reenactment, collecting of artifacts, or simply the reading of history books.







Artist Statement:
Shelf Life (2009 - 2010)

Initially, the idea for Shelf Life developed out of a fascination with institutional spaces. I wanted to explore knowledge by photographing places of information storage. Knowledge – what we know, and information – how we know it, are the two factors that help society progress. When we uncover new information, we can make new connections and that leads to new knowledge. As I researched related topics and began photographing, I realised that these institutions presented many contradictions to this process and these became the focus of my work.

All of the places are limited physically resulting in highly curated collections. For every book, file, or object included, thousands must be excluded. Certain spaces such as the eTalk video archive are completely inaccessible to the public. Others such as the Great Library, the Mira Godard Study Centre, and the Ontario Jewish archives are only accessible to a small part of the population. Other issues such as retrieval, organization, and availability are also inhibiting. In most cases it appears that these spaces exist for the purpose of preservation rather than to act as a resource – the original goal of such institutions.

“We need to decide whether we wish to protect books or let people read them,” writes Umberto Eco in his 1981 essay De Bibliotheca. “I’m not saying that we need to let people read them without protecting them, but neither should we protect them without letting people read them.” For the first time it is technologically possible to have universal access to all knowledge due to new media. Organizations such as the Internet Archive are working towards this by scanning, and making available for free, out of copyright books. With Shelf Life, I am not arguing against traditional knowledge media – it is always best to have original sources. However, to solve the problems of tomorrow and enable us to achieve the highest level of critical thinking, everything must be recorded and accessible to everyone. We as a society must make sure we do not artificially impose therestrictions of old media, onto the new.

Bio:
Eugen Sakhnenko photographs people and the spaces they create. Whether a personal project or a commissioned job his images are highly technical and conceptually driven. The result is consistently captivating pictures that are as confrontational as they are revealing, rich in meaning that goes beyond their initial beauty.

Having lived in major cities all his life – Kiev, New York, and now Toronto – Eugen’s work has an urban focus, often exploring themes of access, technology, and contemporary culture. His photographs have been exhibited internationally and published within Canada. For interior and architectural work, Eugen is represented by A-Frame. He is also the co-founder of Knock Twice – a blog dedicated to assisting and informing budding creative professionals.

Gallery: http://www.torontoimageworks.com/gallery.html

Artist Website: http://eugensakhnenko.com/

Idea: Museums

I'm really interested in looking at how history can be explored through the setting of a museum. Up until recently I have pretty much avoided the museums at the historical sites that I've visited. The reason being that it wasn't the "real" history, the actual landscape where the events took place. Moving forward I think that there is an interesting relationship there between actual history and how it is perceived and how it is different when removed from context.




Quotes:
"I seldom go into a natural history museum without feeling as if I were attending a funeral."
~John Burroughs

“Museums, museums, museums, object-lessons rigged out to illustrate the unsound theories of archaeologists, crazy attempts to co-ordinate and get into a fixed order that which has no fixed order and will not be co-coordinated! It is sickening! Why must all experience be systematized? A museum is not a first-hand contact: it is an illustrated lecture. And what one wants is the actual vital touch.” ~D.H. Lawrence

Text:
Bennett, Tony. The Birth of the Museum history, theory, politics. 1st ed. New York, NY: Routledge, 1995. Print.

Artist: Markus Hartel

I did something that I haven't done in a long time when I was out shooting this weekend. I took photos with people in them. I don't know if they will turn out, but I think I'm going to continue to try and shoot some people each time I go out. I think one of the things that I'm becoming interested in is the interaction that people have with these historical places. So I figured if I want to continue shooting people I should start looking at images with people in them. That's where Markus Hartel comes in. I think that his street photography is really strong work that showcases not only the people but also the environment they are in. If I'm going to include images of people in this series I think that they need to relate directly to the historical site and that needs to be evident.







Bio:
Born in Germany, I developed my love for photography when I was a kid. My grandma used to give me her rangefinder camera to take family pictures. That was fun!

Being a teenager, I bought my first camera and within a few years I developed the necessary technical skills for serious photography. I made a living as a typographer, graphic designer and as a digital photo retoucher… eventually documenting real life became my passion.

Coming to New York City in 2003 was a great inspiration and I started documenting every day people in the urban jungle with my camera – I would roam the streets for hours, longing for the next great photograph.

During the past few years my love for photography has grown, my work evolved and became multi-faceted, but I always stayed true to the original picture, as candid as it can be!

Interview:
http://f8mag.com/portfolios/item/markus-hartel

Website:
http://www.markushartel.com/

Idea: American Indians

While visiting Jamestown there is a lot of stuff related to American Indians and it made me think about how much a part of the history of this country and this state has been influenced or affected by American Indians. Therefore I want to start researching their History and Culture for things that might be relevant to my project.

Quotes:

1) "Formally organized Indian tribes ceased to exist on the Maryland Eastern shore in the late eighteenth century and in the Virginia sector in the early nineteenth century." ~Helen C. Rountree

2) "As Virginian Peter Fontaine reported in August 1763, warriors of the Upper Ohio Valley, Wabash Valley, and Great Lakes nations "entered into a combination against us, resolved it seems to prevent our settling any farther than we have, viz., much about the main Blue Ridge of mountains." ~ Woody Holton

Text:

Holton, Woody, and Omohundro Institute. Forced founders: Indians, debtors, slaves, and the making of the American Revolution in Virginia. The University of North Carolina Press, 1999. Print.

Idea: Jamestown

Since I'm working with the history of Virginia it seems best to start from the origins of Virginia. Therefore the English colony at Jamestown would seem like the place. For me Jamestown is wrapped in the mystery of false history of epic proportions, and what for this country and this state amounts to ancient history.

Quotes:

Jamestown, a name of first rank among historic names, saw the birth of English America. Here on an island in the James River in the heart of tidewater Virginia the English carved a settlement out of the wilderness. ~JOHN L. COTTER and J. PAUL HUDSON

For 13 years (until 1620) Virginia was the only English colony on the American mainland. Jamestown served this colony as its place of origin and as its capital for 92 years--from 1607 to 1699. ~JOHN L. COTTER and J. PAUL HUDSON

Text:

Cotter, John L., J. Paul Hudson, and Tom Thomas. New Discoveries at Jamestown: Site of the First English Settlement. Seattle, WA: CreateSpace, 2009. Print.