A r t i s t S t a t e m e n t
“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” - Leonardo Da Vinci
We are a visual species. We think and dream in pictures, and in our attempt to clarify our perception of the world and understand our place within it, the visual image plays perhaps the most important role. of the five senses. The photographic image, with its inherent relationship to the substance of our world, provides us with the means to undertake a very specific exploration of this world, sometimes with universal implications. A photograph also has the power to clarify, to reveal, and to personify the photographer’s view of the world while examining the details of reality. As Henri Cartier-Bresson once said, “The aim of photography is not to transmit to the public a view of current events, but a particular emotion, produced by the encounter between the photographer’s inner world and the world surrounding him.” This distinct encounter of the inner and outer worlds, the 'moment,' the specific slice of time that connects the world as it is to the image it preserves, is the unique factual territory that photography alone, of all the visual arts, is capable of rendering.
Rather than trying to create images to prove a point or illustrate a concept, I am interested in the function of photography to act as a witness to the world and to personal experience within that world. To most, this seems a rather traditional approach to the art of photography, and I cannot deny that. But my interest in photography as a means of expression goes beyond the simple documentation of the world. I am interested in the relationship between a perception of the world and the reality of the moment; the potential of photography to transform the specific moment into the universal statement; the challenge of discovering a simple significance within the chaotic substance of life, and of capturing that significance as it actually happens. Contrary to the pre-constructed or post-constructed image, it deals with reality rather than theater; with the present rather than the past or future; with fact rather than fiction. The resulting imagery reveals a fascination with the subject matter that is based on emotional connection and intellectual curiosity. My goal is to introduce the viewer to an interpretation of the moment that will then elicit their own involvement to that experience.
A philosophical treatise is possible with such work, but it usually results from an analysis of the imagery, rather than from a predetermined construct that precedes the image-making: the concepts arise from the image, rather than vice versa. As John Berger says, “Seeing comes before words.” To that end, the choice of subject matter, the anticipation and recognition of compositional factors, and a deliberate, intuitive reaction to the moment is what provides the work its emotive power. The filtration of life through the camera’s lens and the photographer’s sensibilities and awareness, the editing and presentation of the imagery based on the philosophical and intellectual intent of the photographer, and the subjective interpretation by the informed viewer, will determine the meaning of the work based on historical and cultural parameters – the visual language of photography.
Over the course of my involvement with photography, my work has ranged from simple observations of the world around me, to images concerned with interpersonal relationships and mature, honest intimacy. Most notably, during the past quarter century, my work has focused on photographs of my family – my two sons, Seamus and Sean – and various friends and acquaintances. A close physical and emotional awareness has always informed the work – even within my landscapes and images made from extensive travels – and a distinct connection between photographer and subject has been of prime importance in all of the work. Mary Ellen Mark once described the work as “always interpretive, always personal.”
I continue to use my camera to explore the world through the simple act of recognition and reaction, as represented by form, gesture, visual relationships, and an involvement with subject matter; that intense examination of the ‘encounter’ of inner and outer worlds, approached with child-like curiosity, and translated with a view that echoes the sentiment of Da Vinci: “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”
John Hames
2008
