2. An-My Le: “Protest” 2007
An-My Le has photographed Military (and military reenactment), Many Vietnamese, and intentionally modified
landscapes. These combinations of images stir up ideas of battlefields where the earth has been permanently
changed through human action. Although she intentionally photographs nature scenes to appear to have been
destroyed, she often looks for flora within the setting to give a sense of life and hope. It is hardly questionable
that this fascination derives from her experience and perspective of the Vietnam War when she was a child.
3. Firing Range
I took this photograph in early November at
Fort Indian Town Gap, Pennsylvania on a drill
weekend with my National Guard Company
as a response to An-My Le. I think it
encapsulates the feelings she tries to convey
through the body of her work through the
presence of military equipment, and a
working soldier on a radio but with a natural
backdrop of rolling hills. I feel that, like Le’s
photographs, it depicts the potential for
destruction as it is a shooting range (the
white shooting bunkers can be seen near the
trucks), but injects emotion by showing a
person and not having it just appear to be
mindless machines bringing ruin. The natural
element, the trees, grass and forested hills
provide a sense of life, and regrowth as AnMy Le attempts to portray in many of her
“desolate” landscape images.
4. Judy Pfaff:
“Romance” 2007
Judy Pfaff has an almost chaotic approach to
art. She starts with a design then tends to
have minimal planning, allowing herself to
get swept up in her focus and see where it
takes her. She works on feel and emotion, as
she has an idea of what her work should feel
like and allows this intuition to guide her into
the final, collage-like final product.
5. My Response
This photo is of reeds in a swampy drainage
basin on Howard Community College and I
feel it embodies the work of Judy Pfaff.
There is not much order in which plants
grow; the reeds seem to be of sporadic
growth pattern. I feel this connects with the
way Pfaff constructs her works and the
trestle-like crisscrossing of reeds and reed
leaves is harkens back to “Romance” image.
I also enjoy the contrast where this is organic
material and Judy Pfaff constructed the piece
in “Romance” with inorganic material.
6. William Kentridge: “Felix in
Exile” 1994.
William Kentridge used charcoal drawings for
many of his videos and images. For videos,
he would use one image and make minor
changes for each shot eventually turning it
into an animation. Kentridge portrays the
world as he sees it and experiences it and as
a result make’s highly abstract images and
films. He has stated that its his job to make
art not sense, and his art supports this with
his whimsical approach.
7. Worldview
I drew this image in response to William
Kentridge as I also attempted to depict some
of my worldview and experiences through
abstract means. I chose to just use
black/white/grayscale as it would reflect
Kentridge’s intentional use of charcoal.
