George Melly Portrait (aged 18) Photographed by ECH in 1944

Supervisory Meeting - 05/11/2014 @ MMU

Present at the meeting: Simon Faulkner, David Brittain, Gavin Parry

The meeting was again used to discuss practice based creative outputs currently being conducted. This work consisted of the following:

• The appropriation of selected Hardman negatives, resulting in the manipulation of composite elements of the works, in order to create new works.  The photographic process has then been reversed in order to work back towards the creation of a new negative.
• The reframing of Hardman's work, presenting some of the portraits in a manner never intended, through tighter cropping and increased tonal range / contrast.  This was intended as more of a technical test, in terms of the possible ways of presenting the Hi-Res scans taken from the archive.
• The linking of a separate database created, which details the data held within the Pilot's Flying Log of Douglas W Roberts, which documents flying activity in the RAF during WW2.  The data has been used to link key dates between the two different activities.
• The meeting between KWR and the National Trust on 15/10/14 - which discussed the use of the materials and the potential output of the project, via exhibition and publication.

In response to this discussion it was suggested that Keith should:

1. Continue to work with the Hardman database, moving into the analysis phase of the project.  The interrogation of the data should be used to drive ongoing visits to the archive.
2. The development of a series of titled 'pamphlets' which should be used to display the different lines of creative and archival enquiry. (E.G. Chronotype / Typology / Key Dates)
3. A written component (abstract) in relation to these different pamphlets, which should attempt to address both the process and the connection to the database.
4. Continued reading around the specific area of 'Database Aesthetics' and 'The Database as Symbolic Form'.  Focusing on practitioners who incorporate or interrogate databases as part of their creative practice and methodology.

Hardman's Servicemen

Dr Sykes' Garden - Ashurst, Formby

The first two images below have both been taken in the same place, roughly from the same position .... the first shows Dr Sykes' and his family in 1936 when the space was the back garden at Ashurst on Duke Street, Formby.  The second shot (78 years later) shows the same space as it now is at the back of the public library on Duke Street, Formby. (Note the same coping stones on top of the wall)

The last shot shows one of the surviving pear trees from Dr Sykes orchard.

Dr Sykes' purchased the land opposite his house (Ashurst) on Duke Street in the late 1930's when it was being used as a farm.  The plan was to develop the area into a new housing estate.  After the successful purchase of the land, he gifted it to the local council with the sole instruction that it should never be built upon.  It is still a public park to this day.

                                           Dr Sykes' and family - 1936

                                          Back of Formby Public Library - 2014

                                                     Dr Sykes' Pear Tree - 2014

Supervisory Meeting - 07/05/2014 @ MMU

Present at Meeting: Simon Faulkner / David Brittain / Gavin Parry

The meeting was predominantly used to discuss practice based work currently being conducted.  This work consisted of the following:

• Hi-Res scans of portraits dealing with the 'Chronotype' (The same sitter with a 22 year gap between each portrait) The presentation of which was discussed, with the negative rebate being considered important to the viewer In terms of identifying a shift in Hardman's practice and equipment.

• A series of 'Re-photography' images of Vale Royal in response to Hardman's location based portraits of Lady Delamere originally taken in 1937.

• A series of 'Re-photography' images of Dr Sykes garden originally taken in 1936.

The importance of methodology was also discussed, in terms of ensuring the database is at the centre of all archival intervention, and clearly driving the selection process and creative output.

In response to this discussion it was suggested that Keith should:

1. To spend a limited timeframe just dealing with one specific aspect of the creative output, which was suggested to be the 'Re-photography' element of the location based portraits.
2. To begin to write a brief abstract (short paragraph) specifically about the individual creative outputs starting with the 'Re-photography' of location based portraits.
3. To consider other creative strategies, such as using the paragraphs within Hardman's written 'Lecture on Portraiture' in linking his actual portraits to his words.  Lastly to consider the use of key events in Liverpool to link to the timeframe of the portraits. 

Reverend Eric Treacy - Photographed by ECH in 1936

 

Born: 1907 Died: 1978

 

Reverend Treacy M.B.E. was an Anglican Bishop and English Railway Photographer. He left a collection of 12,000 photographs which now forms part of the National Railway Museum's archive of over 1.4 million images.

Supervisory Meeting - 26/03/2014 @MMU

Present at Meeting: Simon Faulkner / David Brittain

The meeting informally discussed progression of the practice based component of the project, whilst the RD2 re-submission feedback from the scrutineers was still being progressed.

Arrangements have been made to access the Hardman Archive during the Easter break on Thursday 10th & 17th April 2014.  Discussions were therefore centred upon the creative developments of the project and the best uses of this time spent in the archive.  Progression of the following creative strategies were discussed:

1.       Typology – The classification of different types, as defined by the database will provide a source of narrative through which to view the existing portraits.

2.       Chronotype – The database provides a method through which to extract the portraits of an individual taken over an extended timeframe.

3.       Re-Photography – The existing location based portraits offer a physical environment within which to explore photographically.

4.       Coding – The specific codes used within the registers (such as ‘DNL’ or ‘Gratis’) offer a means through which to view and use the archive in ways never intended.

5.       Replacement – The chronological gaps within the archive (presented through prior extraction or image decomposition) present an opportunity for creative engagement, using surnames from the registers.