'Grace Be Said at the Supermarket'
Centrepoint Collective - What was your motivation for taking these portraits?
Jo Phipps - I have just completed a Post Graduate Photography Cert. at Central St. Martins and for the second half of the course you work on a project for the final show. I’m really interested in the creation of portraiture, in the dynamics between a photographer and a subject and in the numerous decisions that lie behind the representation of a person’s image. I wanted to make a series of portraits that really encapsulated the highly personal negotiation between identity and representation and do it in a collaborative way with the subjects. I’d been researching ideas around whether in portraiture the individual can stand in for the group, and had been looking particularly at August Sander, at his beautiful pensive work with professions and ‘types’. Obviously that work was of it’s time and our understanding of identity has changed. I wanted to do something that posed questions about an individual and their place within a category or group.
In the UK we have a very complex relationship to supermarkets. We are witnessing their relentless growth and seem to have ambivalent feelings towards them due to the mixture of advantages and disadvantages they offer us. I suppose I wanted to explore something of the human element in the middle of that dichotomy.
The subject of Supermarket workers worked as it’s a very modern somewhat transient occupation and I was also interested to explore the effect of the branded uniform in a displaced environment i.e. the workers own home. What would the viewer ‘read’ from the photographs? I’m also very interested in the everyday, in the subtlety and sensitivity of what is often taken for granted and sometimes overlooked.
CC - Can you explain a little bit about the constructed method of the portrait, the strategy behind the work?
JP - I’m looking for ‘the jolt’, the thing that stops the viewer taking an image at face value and hopefully invites a longer contemplation. The in-between space between documentary and art. If portraiture is in a fundamental way an attempt to ‘fix’ an identity or a likeness then I hope in some way, I’m questioning that and referencing the nature of photography without being over concerned with process. Images that ask questions rather than attempt to offer answers and yet remain totally human.
CC - I can see that most of the people are looking downwards, can you explain the reason for having directed the people's gestures?
JP - Everybody is certainly looking off-frame. I suppose this was influenced by my previous series Chance Procedures. The subjects in Chance Procedures are almost transcended from their environment in their own personal thoughts and looking off-frame but of course those pictures were taken without the subject being aware. I like a subject’s almost absence in a picture. As a viewer you are not invited to look in a voyeuristic or dominating way but almost to share an experience that the subject may have had, this is in addition to the picture being taken as it appears in their min, they seem to be elsewhere. Can the viewer look more freely when the subject is pre-occupied beyond the photographic act? A viewer will try to fathom an identity beyond a surface facial expression whether that expression is a stare or a smile to the camera or a look off-frame. The consistent expression in the series highlights the negotiation that the subject has allowed in letting the photographer represent them. I hope my work in portraiture highlights this construction in a very subtle and questioning way.
CC - How easy was it to choose who would be involved in the project and also, did you have a certain criterion in terms of who you wanted to included?
JP - It was very easy to choose each individual but it wasn’t easy to get permission as the subjects often had very little free time to spare due to their other jobs or studies etc. I wanted a diverse group of subjects that were between 20 and 30 years old as that is an age when people are really forging their identities. I was really interested in the details of their lives and stories but it also came down to who I felt I could have a creative collaborative experience with, a totally subjective notion on my part. The project consisted of 12 shoots that had to be shot in one month, April 2011. So there wasn’t much time! My previous experience as a producer was useful and I suppose I did feel like I was casting the subjects. I learnt an enormous amount about the nature of constructing a series of work and how one decision can lead to another that shapes the work.
CC - I also sense a strong engagement between you and the people being photographed. Can you explain a little bit about the psychology behind the work?
JP - The work is about identity so it was important to work collaboratively and be sensitive to how the subjects wanted to be portrayed in addition to the set criteria of being in their work uniform. We had discussions about the elements to be included in the photograph including the clues to their personalities or important items that they felt helped represent them. The picture ‘Joseph ‘ has been selected to be part of the Foto8 Summer Show. Joseph chose to wear headphones in the portrait because of his love for music. Through talking to Joseph I learnt that he seemed to be managing quite a lot of difficult family relationships. I suggested that we photographed him with the family photo cabinet at the very edge of frame. The viewer won’t necessarily be aware of these details but this was the psychology behind the thinking.
CC - What seems very interesting is that you take these people away from there work places and depict them in their own environments dressed up in their working uniforms. It kind of does not make sense to see workers from various companies in alien environments such as their own living spaces. These elements make the work very strong and successful. Can you expand a little more on these thoughts?
JP - Historically portraits are often used to identify and make visible different sections of society. I wanted to try placing the ‘uniform’ - a definite signifier of identity in an unusual place, as uniforms are not usually worn at home. Some of the subjects had never actually worn their uniform at home before and it was a strange sensation for them! People have to adopt a personae in uniform in public. They are expected to behave in a certain way. I wondered if the viewer would see beyond the uniform to the individual? I wanted to allow a lot of background information into the pictures but only enough to offer clues and remind us that we as viewers are always projecting onto images and that nothing can be set in stone with any degree of certainty.
All images ©Jo Phipps
Jo Phipps lives and works in London. She graduated from North London University with a BA (Hons) in Film and spent many years working as a top end producer on commercials, music videos and short films. In 2010 she decided to explore a more intimate version of artistic creation and totally committed to a passion for photography. Her first series Chance Procedures was selected for the Photofusion Group AMPS/10 show in Dec 2010 and she graduated from the PG Photography Cert at Central St. Martins with Distinction in June 2011. For more information on her work and other related links please visit: www.jophipps.co.uk
