Andrea Eichenberger

“I was born in Florianópolis, southern Brazil. I live in Paris and work between Brazil and France. After finishing my studies in Visual Arts, I completed a PhD in Visual Anthropology. Photography, the experience of the encounter, collaboration and participation are at the heart of my artistic practices and research.”

~ Andrea Eichenberger

Eichenberger’s series titled “Les Mille Briques” (The Thousand Bricks) is an attempt to show the inner workings of a prison, specifically Beauvais Penitentiary Centre in France. With my idea of revolving my project around witchcraft in Jersey, a key aspect of this topic is the prison of Mont Orgeuil Castle, in which many accused witches were imprisoned and tortured awaiting trial. Her exhibition on this prison allows to explore ideas of how to photograph the castel in such a way to encompass the stories of those held there. The information below was presented at her exhibition in 2016 as part of the Photaumnales festival.

The series displays a series of walls with no people within the images. This almost displays a story of solitary confinement and isolation from the outside world. Images that have people within never have more than one person photographed at a time and you never see their faces; hiding their identities. This is a concept that I believe would work perfectly with my project as a way of isolating the accused from the world, commenting on the actions of society at the time that witchcraft was widely feared. The fact that accused witches were held and hidden from the world then convictions could range from execution to banishment further enhances this them of seclusion that I want to use as part of my project.

Image Analysis – Andrea Eichenberger

This is the only colourised image that I have decided to analyse as it is interesting how the colours within a prison are so dull that they reflect the stereotypical life of a prisoner. In the centre of the image, a window with iron bars covering the outside, and in front of that a solitary prisoner smoking and looking out the window. You will notice that throughout the entire series, every time a human being is photographed there face is hidden from the camera; be it from the subject turning their back or having something cover their face. This is an interesting concept that could prove very useful within my project as it could suggest that many witches are unknown to the history books. The subject is looking out the window, suggesting a longing for freedom or a sense of boredom as there is not much else to do within the prison walls. The tungsten lighting that is used in prisons seems to be the only light used for this image, it’s obvious that there is only one light used as the image seems very flat which in itself represents the idea that this is a very linear image with no hidden meaning – it shows the loneliness and boredom that comes with being a prisoner.

This image makes me think of how witches would have felt, imprisoned in Mont Orgueil Castle, held in the darkness and tortured until they confessed their fabricated crimes and revealed the names of ‘other’ witches in their Coven. If they were truly witches or not didn’t matter as they would then be arrested and the process repeated. This image allows me to think about how to photograph this part of my project and use ares of the castle perhaps with windows or have the actors in chains.

Ideas for Images:

• Inside the prison walls of Mont Orgeuil
• Solitary Prisoners
• Prisoners asleep or bored
• Guards of the castle
• Use the darkness of the prison and never show the prisoners faces

Bernd and Hilla Becher

“The question ‘is this a work of art or not?’ is not very interesting for us.”

~ Bernd and Hilla Becher

These German artists changed the course of late 20th Century photography. They explored the disappearing industrial infrastructure that shaped the modern world, describing their photographic approach as ‘typologies’. By photographing each structure in the same way (same camera settings, same lighting conditions, same angles) they established an interesting way of comparing these images when presented together.

The outcomes that the couple create often focus around abandoned industrial structures but the series that appealed to me was the one shown below titled ‘Framework House’. the shapes created within the walls are interesting and almost create a pattern that connects each image of a different house with the way that they were built. It links directly to my project as being a display of historical housing, perhaps similar to those found in Jersey during the centuries of the witch trials and therefore perhaps similar to what was lived in by convicted sorcerers.

Image Analysis – Framework House (Bernd and Hilla Becher

Upon first sight, the lines within the image are a series of horizontal, vertical and diagonal beams that produce the framework of the house. There is a clear use of depth of field that blurs the areas behind the house but brings the house itself and what is in the foreground into focus; making the house the main part of the image and the first thing that the audience sees. The image displays a very monochrome colour palette but using fairly light tones so that the plain background is only separated from the house by the deeply contrasting beams framing the building. The building is centred in the image and the natural lighting used allows the dulling of the final outcome in post production.

Like I said earlier, the image has some historical importance and makes me imagine the complexity that it possibly took to build. These traditional buildings are scattered across Germany and are not as common as the used to be, allowing a beautiful contrast when looking upon a landscape. it is for this reasoning that I believe the Becher’s created this typology study of this type of building. An aspect of history that has not yet been lost and so they surely wanted to preserve these monuments to the past in their photographic images.

Ideas for Images

• Typology of dolmens – looking down the main passageway of the burial chambers
• Focusing on the side chambers of each dolmen
• Typology of all megalithic remains that are connected by ley-lines
• Typology of haunted areas/houses in the island
• Typology of the parish churches – exploring the effect of the Church on 15th-17th Century society

Sesh Sareday

“Clearly I am searching for something . This is why I have been chasing light and all the visuals it creates with the help of its of opposite, the dark.”

~ Sesh Sareday

 Sesh is a world explorer based in the San Francisco area. Having evolved with the photography industry, he experimented with various media including art, film, and animation, before settling on digital photography. From the young age of 14, Sesh has used his keen sense of observation to showcase spectacular moments in nature, capture exotic visuals from his native India, and uncover hidden mystique in emotions and people around him. As a passionate hobby Sesh believes that photography allows him to honestly showcase what he sees and the way he sees it, without any external influences.

Body Snatchers

“Fear is a primal instinct that exists in all of us … This photo series, “Body Snatchers”, explores the images of something between light and darkness. In other words, shadows. They exist for only moments of time but through them, myriad forms of art are created through the movement of light.”

~ Sesh Sareday

Sareday’s series of shadow imagery alludes to the idea of a hidden world and by using shaped shadows, dark and perhaps fearful messages can be conveyed. The names of each image not only describes what is being shown in the image but each of them alone has a profound spookiness about them. The names sound like things you might see or hear within a horror story or film: (floater, roamer, biter, lurker). It directly links to my photographic ideas in exploring Jersey’s connection with witchcraft; an exploration into the “dark” arts and the hidden world of magic and pagan history.

Image Analysis – Dead Ones (Sesh Sareday)

Sareday has framed the image with an obvious border surrounding harsh white areas, most likely created by daylight seeping through windows. There is an obvious distance between the actors and the light source as the shadows created are clear and sharp, whereas the framed light is blurred around the edges establishing a distance between the window frames and the surface that the light is being projected onto. Multiple shadows take the central focus of the image and draw an audience to a cross shape, making connotations of religion and perhaps the rise of evil. Coupled with the body shapes, this idea of ‘the undead’ is clearly shown and clarified by the title: ‘DEAD ONES’. An audience can immediately picture zombies or corpses within their mind, colourising this monochrome photograph and establish a deeper connection with what they are seeing.

In my own mind, this image forces me to think about demonic presences and present evils within modern society, be it mystical like paranormal activity or unhidden acts of cruelty like the war in Ukraine and the threat of Russian nuclear attacks on the Western World. The artist has used the very simple concept of shadows and created this horrifying effect that perhaps comments on humanity. The darkness that we as a society fabricate and how fear and speculation can affect the motives of the human mind.

Ideas for Images

The use of shadows can be used to convey a visual aspect of spirits of witches (both innocent and guilty of ‘diabolical crimes’) and demonic figures that haunt the world we live in. By establishing key areas of the island like places of torture, execution or sacrifice; these shadows have a story that might not be evident if simply photographed in a studio.

• Shadows of actors imprisoned in Mont Orgeuil Castle
• Witches shadows at dolmens
• Shadowy figures at the place of execution
• Shadows looming over people asleep at night

Mayah

“The word Mayah ( ma-yah) is an ancient Indian concept which, in its simplest meaning, is illusions created by our minds through our five senses . Depending on what state of mind we are in these can be illusions or constructed reality and not necessarily what is there or what they really mean.”

~ Sesh Sareday

I chose to look at the series by Sareday as it links to a possible branch off point of paranormal and ghost photography. The images each convey an idea of solitude. By using photomontage techniques and experimenting with shutter speeds, these ghostly outcomes provide a dark and horrifying aspect to the different areas that were photographed.

Some of these images, make me think of traditional Jersey ghost stories that I have read or heard; for example the first image (below) of a single boat in the water with a murky backdrop is the perfect image to accompany “The Lake”. The fourth image shows a person moving across the frame while the camera uses a slow shutter speed to blur the figure on a relatively still background. This use of shutter speed creates the typical ghostly look of photographs that are said to be of a ghost or paranormal entity.

Image Analysis – Sesh Sareday

This monochrome image clearly shows two photographs layered on top of eachother. The base image has dull-white horizontal lines going across it, seemingly pipes or rods of some sort. The top image in my opinion contains the main story behind the outcome. Two silhouetted figure either sat or stood at a table with the camera seemingly looking upon the scene from outside a window suggests something dark and sinister, a theory complimented by the dark, monochrome colour palette. The image has the glassy effect that shows the photographer as being an outsider looking in so perhaps it is of an intimate moment in the two peoples lives and isn’t meant to be on camera. A part of the image that seems quite interesting to me, is a criss-crossed pattern (perhaps belonging to a garden fence) is shown above the predominant scene. If the photo was taken through a window, it could be a reflection in the overlaying image. However, it could be third image introduced in post-production; either way, there is a reason it is there as Sareday could have easily removed it from the final outcome. I could see it as a way of establishing where the photographer themself is taking the photo from; or perhaps it expresses an idea of isolation, the two figures being fenced in and hiding/being hidden from the world.

In my opinion, it is quite difficult to determine the true story behind the image, but it still appears to me as the dark and sinister connotations that I think of when looking at it can be used to express similar ideas when taking photos for my project.

Ideas for Images

• Using slow shutter speeds to create ghosts in the backdrop of Mont Orgueil Castle
• Layering two images together to create ghosts
• Use AI technology to create the ghost
• Actor in harsh white clothing that flows and can moved to blur the figure but not the face.