Berlin Brandenburg International School

Visual Arts Department

Grade 11

A SENSE OF PLACE:
How can I create a narrative within my images?
How can I successfully create a series?
Task:
Explore photography to create the idea of A Sense of Place
Explore artists (minimum 3 sl/ 5hl) to inform your images and annotate your choices
considering what you like about their subject matter, style and/or compositions.
Instagram does not count: Use cameras where ever possible, digital, new, old,
disposable, Polaroid, but try to avoid using camera phones.
Hand in BY Monday January 19th for Assessment.
Minimum Studio Submission:
Selection of a (2 hl/ 1 sl) series of 6 printed photographs.
Look at signing up to a website like photobox.de to get your first 50prints free..
But Rossman in the village also prints pictures instantly so that could be another option
A Printed statement saying how each series represents A Sense of Place. No
more than 500 words (see the bottom of the sheet)
Minimum Journal Submission
Intro page to the unit (What is the task? What is the point? What does it mean to
capture a sense of place you? (C/E)
Analysis of 3(SL) or 5(HL) photography artists how do you interpret a sense of
place with their work? How have they taken their photographs? with your own
examples and experimentations. (B/D)
Comparison between 2 artists the you are most interested in (Id recommend that
you focus on the area you are most interested in Composition/Technique/Concept)
(B)
Contact Sheets with your annotations and selections. show your developmenthow you have reflected and refined? (D)
Photoshop or editing is welcomed!
Purpose:
Investigate your surroundings using several different visual approaches. Explore a new
environment or explore a familiar one through new eyes. In this way you will generate
ideas for meaningful, personal work that is grounded in direct experience, observation
and reflection. This assignment is intentionally open ended and encourages a range of
individual responses from each of you. Ask yourself: what is interesting, what is
important to me and what do I care about in my environment?

Media: (a)
Photography:
Take your camera with you and look for interesting viewpoints. It may be the physical
qualities or material in your site-it may be cityscape, landscape or interior space. Try a
combination of close up, medium and long shots. Can you find an unusual way to frame
your pictures? Lying on our back, using a reflection, an opening, through a keyhole,
under something, over something? Experiment with lighting and the functions of your
camera. Take as many pictures as you like (some that may look like that have gone
wrong could be happy accidents) and include the contact sheet in your Journal.
Remember you will select a series from your images. It is important that you are able to
edit, select and critique your work to select the best images. The images should
evocatively capture a Sense of Place and be varied rather than several shots of the
same object or viewpoint.
ARTISTS/ EXHIBITIONS OR POINTS OF REFERENCE:
http://www.pinterest.com/bbisart/a-sense-of-place-photographs/
http://www.pinterest.com/bbisart/a-sense-of-place/
http://www.pinterest.com/bbisart/photography/
http://dieweltpresse.de/
Managebac (files)
EXHIBITIONS THAT I WOULD RECOMMEND THAT YOU SEE:
http://www.co-berlin.org/en/magnum-contact-sheets
http://www.re-title.com/exhibitions/carliergebauer.asp
http://www.re-title.com/artists/KlausW-Eisenlohr.asp
http://www.sabine-hornig.de/04_fotoarbeiten/04_10/04e_10_00.html
http://www.kuckei-kuckei.de/

Keep a Journal of your work and experimentation:

This may be a photography assignment but do not limit yourself, you know how much I
love a sketch. Feel free to draw, make a map, collect traces and objects, write,
play/create music.

Draw:
Take a walk with your sketchbook and a pencil, looking at your environment with
curiousity. Sit down and make a sketch, whatever takes your attention, tree, a building, a
face... you can focus on a tiny architectural detail or a sweeping view. Move around.
Reflect on what you have enjoyed most and what is most visually interesting.
Make a map:
Make a map of your journey though the space. This could be as real or symbolic as you
want. Use any materials you like: Collage over an actual road map, use a napkin, a
newspaper, a veil a sandcastle...
Gather traces:
Over the course of these days, collect small objects, natural and handmade, scraps of
paper, a bus ticket, a leaf, things that tell a story. As a new place, this will have a quality
of discovery, maybe writings in another language, foreign coin. If the place is familiar the
collected objects may tell a personal story. Think about how these objects will tell a story
when combined. Collage them, stitch them, draw on them, draw them.. explore these
objects.
Write:
Record how this place looks, feels, smells. Explore your senses and think about the
holistic experience that you get from this place. What is it that you want the photos to
evoke? How can you show this through your photography. Some free writing in your
journal could bring new ideas forward. It could help you to understand where you want to
explore and why. Reread, edit and highlight things that you consider to be important.
Music:
When exploring your senses sound may play an important role that you want to explore.
It could be a loud place that excites you, upsets you or, that you hadnt listened to for a
while. It could be new and exciting? Old, cold, quiet. Lyrics may be important or songs
could have a special significance to you in this place.
Accompanying Statement (no more than 500 words)
Use artists statements and information on the websites about the work of artists to gather an
understanding of how these should be written and what is expected.
Each series should be supported by exhibition text which outlines the title, medium and size of
the artwork. The exhibition text should also include a brief outline of the original intentions of the
work (500 characters maximum per artwork). The exhibition text should contain reference to any
sources which have influenced the individual piece. Students should indicate if objects are selfmade, found or purchased within the medium section of the exhibition text, where applicable.
Where students are deliberately appropriating another artists image as a valid part of their artmaking intentions, the exhibition text must acknowledge the source of the original image.