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© Zoriah Miller. Model Laura Peterson's negative sandwiched with an image of devastation in Lebanon after the 34-Day Summer War.

CHANGING DIRECTION

Zoriah Miller has put aside his photojournalist work to pursue photocollage full time.

Zoriah’s statement declared photojournalism “rigid and stagnant … obsessed with rules, hiding behind “ethics” in order to produce nothing but formulaic, generic press photography.”

“What if you could create works of art that would not only stun people visually, but also educate people about a subject that they may otherwise ignore or find too depressing to pay attention to?” asks Zoriah.

Zoriah explains that he has been “shooting models and celebrities to work on creating composite images of beauty, sex and fame mixed with conflict, crisis and disasters.”

Zoriah and all models and celebrities involved in the project donated their time and the proceeds from the project will benefit refugees of conflict.

HOW TO POSITION THE WORK?

Judging by the example offered above the composite results will be incongruous mixtures of elements. Seemingly, Zoriah has traded his prior claims toward humanitarianism for the language of Dada.

Zoriah’s position is conflicted. The way in which he suggests putting images together is antagonistic, which is fine if you’re willing to argue away meaning as many agitators do, but Zoriah is trying to bring about attention to the issues surrounding the images of death which he then obscures with images of sex appeal. Do you see his problem?

Anyone want to have a stab at throwing these two images together on photoshop?*

© Tono Stano, 'Sense'

© Yannis Behrakis/Reuters. A Palestinian worker repairs a bullet-ridden wall damaged during the three-week offensive Israel launched last December, at a factory in the northern Gaza Strip November 2, 2009.

If one experiments often enough fusing images together visually intriguing results will ensue. However, visual interest is cheap these days so it alone is not enough to prove an image ethical (I use that word knowingly) and/or effective.

I can see what Zoriah plans. It just doesn’t make a lot of sense.

QUICK THOUGHTS

1. Following the Haitian workshops debacle and in the face of unforgiving and acerbic name-calling, I think Zoriah argued his early corner quite well. To unleash this bizarre move is either total stupidity or unrelenting self-confidence. Either way, I would have liked to have heard and seen more works and reaction from Haiti and from his students before this.

2. Whether or not photojournalism is in a pickle – as Zoriah insists – the questionable cocktail of “sex and fame mixed with conflict, crisis and disasters” is, in my opinion, not the answer.

3. Likely, Zoriah’s future claims of being a journalist will be met only with derision.

4. Zoriah’s efforts at a thanaphilic fashion photography are not without precedent. Zoolander’s poor-taste DERELICTE fashion collection, a homeless aesthetic wrapped in the glitz and lights of the catwalk was great satire. So good it inspired Vivienne Westwood and the late Alexander McQueen. Etnies also had a good go at bad taste with its Hobo Ad campaign. I suppose Vice readers have been getting off on photographs of blood stained victims for years now?…

5. The greatest problem with this issue is that is inflates the importance of photography as an agent of change. No matter how much we recognise a need to raise attention about global issues, photography is not the sole answer, nor is photojournalism. The mode of photography Zoriah suggests is an unholy marriage. Who is the audience for this hybrid approach? What does he expect audience reactions to be? It would seem to me that consumers of images are turned on and off by visual cues. It is very easy to hook them with slick tried-and-tested commercial cliches. It is one thing grabbing a viewers attention for a second or two, it is another mutating that into a long and complex engagement with the real issues.

6. As offensive as this manouver may be to some folk, it isn’t the first time (and won’t be the last) a photographer oversteps logic and accepted practice with great hopes to change the cultural landscape.

7. I suspect there’s a reason why the worlds of fashion and photojournalism are distinctly separate. I can also think of many other more subtle ways in which art and marketing has been used as part of photojournalist careerism.

8. Given the consumer climate in America it is not unlikely that Zoriah will succeed in raising substantial funds. Ultimately, it will become an issue of the project’s branding and delivery.

9. If all else fails, it’s a good start for an Onion feature, right?

What do you make of all this? The “Leave a comment” button is at the top of the post.

*NB. Zoriah is using Negative Sandwiching

Derek Zoolander launches the DERELICTE collection. Image source: http://www.uninvitedgrace.com/zoolander/