Stephanie Fry Senior Portfolio 2011-2012: Artist Entry #3: James Mollison

My mom sent me an email with a link to James Mollison’s “Where Children Sleep” that was spotlighted in the NY Times Lens Blog a few weeks ago. I really loved seeing the portraits of the children paired up with their rooms. Each and every child is unique with their spaces. With each of his projects, he looks at them in a different way, striving to find an angle that is not to be expected.

James Mollison was born in Kenya in 1973 and grew up in England. After studying Art and Design at Oxford Brookes University, and later film and photography at Newport School of Art and Design, he moved to Italy to work at Benetton’s creative lab, Fabrica. His work has been widely published throughout the world including by Colors, The New York Times Magazine, the Guardian magazine, The Paris Review, The New Yorker and Le Monde. His latest book Disciples was published in October 2008 following its’ first exhibition atHasted Hunt Gallery in New York. In 2007 he published The Memory of Pablo Escobar- the extraordinary story of ‘the richest and most violent gangster in history’ told by hundreds of photographs gathered by Mollison. It was the original follow-up to his work on the great apes – widely seen as an exhibition including at the Natural History Museum, London, and in the book James and Other Apes (Chris Boot, 2004). Mollison lives in Venice with his wife. -Bio from artist’s website: http://www.jamesmollison.com/biography.php

“As he considered how to represent needy children around the world, he wanted to avoid the common devices: pleading eyes, toothless smiles. When he visualized his own childhood, he realized that his bedroom said a lot about what sort of life he led. So he set out to find others.”

Macdonald, Kerri. "James Mollison's Photos of Children's Bedrooms Are a Commentary on Class and Poverty - NYTimes.com." Web log post. New York Times Photojournalism - Photography, Video and Visual Journalism Archives - Lens Blog - NYTimes.com. NY Times, 4 Aug. 2011. Web. 23 Sept. 2011.

This relates back to my idea post from last week on compassion fatigue. I like that Mollison found another way to represent children as he said above. It becomes increasingly difficult to keep people’s attention these days, especially when it seems like the news media just reports something to the point that people just get sick of it. So this approach that Mollison took is refreshing.

“It demonstrates the photographer’s unusual respect for the monkeys’ individual physiognomies–something that sets it apart from Jill Greenberg’s more exploitative animal work, which looks to other species primarily as mirrors in which to see cute reflections of human emotions. “James and Other Apes” reminds us that, although our gazes at animals normally stop short at classification or amusement, other creatures possess surprising degrees of individuality that only a field biologist or zookeeper normally takes the time to appreciate.”

"James Mollison at Hasted Hunt." Rev. of James and Other Apes. Web log post. Page 291. 24 June 2004. Web. 23 Sept. 2011.

The quote above is from a review of Mollison’s show at Hasted Hunt back in 2004. The show had The Disciples and James and Other Apes hung at the same time, which made for a very interesting comparison between the two series. We were just discussing Primatology in Anthropology this week, and we watched a video about a chimpanzee that was taught sign language, and it was fascinating. The chimp actually taught many chimpanzees it came in contact with over the years. I think it is interesting that Mollison focused on the individuality of the various primates he photographed, giving them even more relation to us in terms of individuality and such.