Mini Essay

Introduction (Section 1a)

As a double major in studio art and journalism, I have had the pleasure of studying various artists over the past 4 years. Recently, I have focused on using family photographs in my art and have studied many artists that use their family experiences and documents (specifically photographs and images) as the basis of their work. My honors thesis does just this. I am looking at how family images can evoke loss, memory, absence and identity. There are many fairly prolific artists who concentrate on the family image and use that in their work. My topic is about the artists, their artwork, and how important a family photograph in artwork can be used to relate to the average viewer. We all have relationships with the family images we possess and my topic is meant to reveal this relationship. Artists such as Clarissa Sligh and Lorna Simpson focus on the meaning and messages that the family image emanates. I want my topic to primarily show not only that there are a host of people using the family image to make artwork, but how they use it to talk about memory, race, and culture: things that all of us can visualize when we look at an image of our mother or father from long ago.

Some questions I want to answer through my research are as follows:
-Is using family photographs in artwork more common today than it was fifty years ago?
-What is the importance of using a family image in art?
-How do artists use a family photograph to make art?

I would like my intended audience to be anyone who has even a remote interest in contemporary art. I feel it is important to realize that these artists are commenting on themes that we can all relate to. However, the subject matter might appear more interesting to an art historian, artists, or those studying cultural studies, folklore, or anthropology.

UNC Library Catalog:
photography AND family AND art: (limited search to Sloane Art Library): This gave me 20 results for videos and books although only half of these are contemporary.

Contemporary art AND family NOT education: I chose to eliminate the keyword education because many of the matches began to show titles that focuses on contemporary art about families bettering themselves and their situations.

family AND memory AND art: This gave more concise results that I had expected.

Photography of families: Best and most specific/desired results by far.

Academic Universe, Lexis-Nexis
Family photographs w/art! (than narrowed with keyword contemporary)
Family image w/artist! (resulted in five good but somewhat too specific articles)

Search engine on Web
<http://www.google.com> Contemporary artists that use family photographs (38,000 results)
Creative photograph and Lorna Simpson
<http://www.yahoo.com> Carrie Mae Weems and photography
family image and contemporary art work

Books:
Marianne Hirsch, Family frames : photography, narrative, and postmemory.
(Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 1997).
LOCATION: Davis -- CALL NUMBER: TR681.F28 H573 1997
LOCATION: Art Reserve -- CALL NUMBER: TR681.F28 H573 1997

Deborah Willis, Picturing us : African American identity in photography.
(New York : New Press : Distributed by W.W. Norton & Co., 1994).
LOCATION: Art -- CALL NUMBER: TR680 .P53 1994

Sheryl Conkelton, Title: Home and other stories : photographs by Catherine Wagner / Sheryl Conkelton, essay by Anne Lamott. (Albuquerque : Published for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art by the University of New Mexico Press, 1993).
LOCATION: Art -- CALL NUMBER: TR620 .C66 1993

Julia Hirsch, Family photographs : content, meaning, and effect.
(New York : Oxford University Press, 1981)
LOCATION: Davis -- CALL NUMBER: TR681.F28 H57

Audio Visual:
Arbus, Diane and John Musilli. (1989).Going where I've never been [videorecording] : the photography of Diane Arbus. produced by Camera Three. (New York : Camera Three Productions, 1989) Camera Three Productions.
LOCATION: Art Videocassette -- CALL NUMBER: 5-60

o Zimmer, William. (2000, September 17). Faces in Photographs: a Region Vividly Portrayed. The New York Times [Online], 956 words. Available: LEXIS-NEXIS Academic Universe [2001, February 17]

o Gordon, Jane (2000, May 10). We all Spin Memories. The Times (London)
[Online], 546 words. Available: LEXIS-NEXIS Academic Universe [2001, February 17].

o Smith, Roberta ( 1998, April 17). Art in Review. The New York Times [Online], 397 words. Available: LEXIS-NEXIS Academic Universe [2001, February 18].

o Curtis, Cathy (1996, April 4). Filling The 'Absence.' The Los Angeles Times [Online], 1069 words. Available: LEXIS-NEXIS Academic Universe [2001, February 18].

o MacRitchie, Lynn (1999, October 25). Memories are made of this. The Financial Times Limited (London) [Online], 912 words. Available: LEXIS-NEXIS Academic Universe [2001, February 18].

o Ristine, Jeff (1999, August 16). Photo project seeks to show what we all have in common. The San Diego-Union Tribune [Online], 1039 words. Available: LEXIS NEXIS Academic Universe [2001, February 18].

Section IV: Web Sources

Title of Web Page: Center For Documentary Studies at Duke University
Web address: http://www-cds.aas.duke.edu/
Brief Description: Talks and exhibits three artists featured in their Personal History show who look at found family photographs and use them in their artwork to explore identity and ethnic heritage. It also talks about how the community has gotten involved in this exhibit by displaying their own family photographs. Lists lectures, photographs, information about such artwork. It also give information about the three artist's lives and the themes that they present in their work by using family photographs and found family objects.
Source of Web Site: Duke University

Title of Web Page: Artcyclopedia: The Fine Art Search Engine
Web address: http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/simpson_lorna.html
Brief Description: This search engine and site allows you to look up any contemporary artist and then it gives you a list of exhibitions and shows. For example, Lorna Simpson is and African American artist who is notorious for using family images in her work. I chose to search her and artcyclopedia gave me a list of four galleries that are currently displaying her work or work that is in a permanent collection. Within these listings, I'm able to get the biography of Lorna Simpson, as well as commentary on her artwork and how she uses images to talk about identity and family. This web site is an excellent, intelligent way of researching contemporary photographers.
Source of Web Site: John Malyon

Title of Web Page: Collected Visions
Web address: http://cvisions.nyu.edu/
Brief Description: Wow! This is an interactive web site that focuses on collecting family photographs and using them to explore memory and self. This web site was a project of Lorie Novak, an artist who created the site to allow anybody to post their snapshots and submit their memories and stories. The web site offers so much to explore: Novak's biography and artwork as well as over 1,000 photographs that people have submitted. It has links to galleries and resources that investigate familial snapshots and their origin. It offers questions like "Why are your family photographs so important? What are the truths behind your favorite snapshots? Do you have a story you want to tell?" This is perfect for my topic because it emphasizes how a photograph can influence anybody and than use that to make something creative.
Source of Web Site: New York University, Collected Visions Gallery, Lorie Novak, Clilly Castiglia, Betsey Kershaw, Kerry O'Neill.

Title of Web Page: Women in Photography International
Web address: http://www.womeninphotography.org/
Brief Description: A great web site that aims to support contemporary women artists who use photography as their primary medium. It offers a list of exhibitions and workshops or conferences on women photographers. Many of the artist in my topic are women and the best part about this site is that I can type in any woman photographer who uses family photographs in their artwork, and I get a list of their collections, articles, biography information. For instance, I typed the name "Clarissa Sligh" on their search engine and got five links that gave me descriptions of her work and books. Another bonus is that they have a list of resources which provides links to other art search engines such as Art-Support.com or National Museum of Women in the Arts. These are great sources for my subject matter because I can view the photographs and artwork as well as read people's opinions of it.
Source of Web Site: Amie M. Vanderford-Pfaff, Great Photography Network

Title of Web Page: Mercer Union Digital Archives
Web address: http://collections.ic.gc.ca/mercer/home.html
Brief Description: This gallery in Canada is one of the best online sites to look at exhibits because it features many of the artists involved in using old family images. It also specializes in contemporary art. You can search as far back as 1979 and either do a broad subject-type search or artist search. For example, I can go to the artist index and search for "Helen Chadwick." It then shows her work from her exhibit at the gallery. It also gives a press release, biographical information, etc. I would say that this web site is beneficial because it allows me to see the exhibit in full. The photographs of the artwork are clear and detailed. Although it is limited in what artists you can research (they only catalogue the artists which they have exhibited at one time or another), it allows one to look through a list of many contemporary artists to see whether or not familial photographs are involved in their work. I found at least five, which is a good start.
Source of Web Site: Mercer Union, SchoolNet Digital Collections, Kate Monro

Section V: Mini Essay

The Rise and Fall of Pets.com

You may remember the humorous and wacky sock monkey used in pets.com television advertisements. He was cute and quite amusing but clearly not amusing enough to convince people to buy forty pounds worth of dog food and then pay to have it shipped to their home. Pets.com and the sock monkey began in February of 1999 but folded in November of 2000 (1). Perhaps their demise occurred when they spent over $27 million on advertising in 1999, splurging a grandiose amount of $73,000 for a half-minute television advertisement during the 1999 Superbowl (2). Pets.com was one of the first online pet stores to offer pet food, toys, and books on pets. Other internet capitalists like Petopia and Petsmart.com followed suit, but experienced similar troubles (3). (Petsmart.com later purchased the remains of Pets.com).

Allan Chernoff, CNNfn (Cnn's financial channel and web site) correspondent said "To succeed in business, you need a competitive advantage. From the start, though, online pet sites were at a disadvantage. Their primary product, food, is heavy. It's expensive to mail. And because food is relatively cheap, the shipping expense either ate into profits or made it very costly for consumers to buy online . . . That's a big reason Pets.com and Petopia couldn't go it alone. They've been gobbled up by their brick-and- mortar competitors: Petopia, a division of PetcoAnimal Supplies and Pets.com, now only a Web address leading to PETsMART (4)."

The demand for pet supplies online has proven to be somewhat risky, but Pets.com's end was a direct result of spending too much money too soon (they weren't expected to make a profit until three years from their launching). Pets.com was the brainchild of CEO Julie Wainwright who still hopes for a ressurection of the sock monkey in a new, private line of pet food. Yet most would warn against this venture (3).
"If there was ever any doubt about the total brainlessness of Pets.com management, it was trademark suit against Triumph. Really, really, really stupid," says one disgruntled stockowner.

Notes
(1) "Pets.com to Hold Special Meeting," Business Wire [Online], 2 January 2001, 150 words. LEXIS-NEXIS [February 18, 2001].
(2) "Commercial Brake," The Economist [Online], 9 September 2000, 412 words. LEXIS-NEXIS [February 18, 2001].
(3) Koudsi, Suzanne, "Dot.com Death Watch," Fortune, 6 June 2000, v142, no.1, page
54. 457 words
(4) Cnnfn Show: THE N.E.W. SHOW 17:00:00 pm December 26, 2000, [Online]
Tuesday 5:46 pm Eastern Time, Transcript # 00122602FN-l07. LEXIS-NEXIS [February 18, 2001]

Title of Web page: Fucked Company
Web address: http://www.fuckedcompany.com/ http://www.fuckedcompany.com/archives/s_original.cfm?search=pets.com
Brief Description: Lists information and articles, list discussions about internet companies that have failed or are about to fail. Quite humorous, but also serious, despite the name. It is also a pool were people make friendly bets about what company will fail next.
Source of Web site: a man who calls himself "Pud" (pud@fuckedcompany.com)

Title of Web page: Cnnfn The Financial Network
Web address: http://cnnfn.cnn.com/
Brief Description: Here, you are able to look up past stock quotes and get financial information, articles on internet companies, etc.
Source of Web site: Cnn and Novell

Title of Web page: Fortune Magazine
Web address: http://www.fortune.com/fortune/ http://www.northernlight.com/fortune/nlquery.fcg?ho=&po=&so=2%3A439+2%3A12695&si=&cc=&us=25&xd=&cb=13&qr=pets.comBrief Brief Description: Gives archives and financial information on companies. Has two great articles on the fallout of pets.com. Also offers consumer information, investing advice, stock quotes, etc.
Source of Web site: Northern Light Technology Incorporated

Back to Top

email me: kat22@email.unc.edu

[this page was last updated on 4/15/01]