Modernist Inspiration

Ilse Bing

Alexander Rodchenko

Modernist Assignment: by Caroline Green

               My series entitled "City Seats" is composed of ten black and white photographs of various chairs and benches around the city of Stirling.

               This project has been influenced and inspired by two modernist photographers in particular: Ilse Bing (1899-1998) and Alexander Rodchenko (1891-1956).  Both of these artists photographed everyday objects and situations, but made them interesting and compelling using different composition techniques.  Like Rodchenko, I used dynamic diagonals and exaggerated depth of field.  However, in my photographs, the light is softer and more similar to Bing's work.  I wanted to portray a balance between the hardness of the city streets and the softness of the light.

               I chose to photograph chairs and benches in the city because they are mundane, everyday objects that most people overlook.  I wanted to bring more attention to the simple beauty of the seats that hundreds, maybe even thousands of people occupy.  While the occupants of these seats change and continue on with their separate lives, the chairs are constant.

               As a viewer, one might see this project as merely a series of random chairs that have no connection.  I would implore this viewer to look again.  These seemingly random chairs actually connect us to other people.  Countless others have sat in the same seat, and have visited the same place and had a similar experience.  It only takes one common experience for two people to connect, however different their lives may be.

               "City Seats" looks at the simple beauty of the places that we sit and rest using the modernist style.  On a deeper level, it represents the connection we have to other people who have sat in the seat before us.  In the end, I hope this series makes the viewer take a second look at the mundane, everyday objects that make up our lives.