JOINER EXPERIMENTATION
Joiners in photography are a method of collage which uses multiple images, often overlapping each other, to form one singular image. David Hockney created the joiner in the early 1980s by taking polaroid photos of fragments of scenes and organising the to make one whole image. This adds another dimension to photographs by adding the experience of time to the usual width and length that images are perceived in.
The intended effect is that the viewers perception of the images constantly shifts as the eye moves from fragment to fragment.
Moving across the image in this way by experiencing each part individually then as a whole, reflects how real life is experienced as parts of an overall scene are taken in individually rather than in just one unmoving scene. It could be argued that breaking an image down in this way, is a more accurate representation of how our environment is experienced rather than a traditional photograph.
"Cubism was total-vision: it was about two eyes and the way we see things. Photography had the flaw of being one-eyed"
Hockney's image on the left is interesting as I think this is one of his joiners which particularly plays with space as well as time. The curving of the fragments on the left hand side creates a three dimensional aspect to the image and completely alters the way the image would be viewed if it was flat. It makes the image closer to a real life scene and this is why the image is one of the best Hockney joiners in my opinion. Furthermore, at the bottom of the image is a hand placed on a person's lap. The way that the angle is positioned makes the viewer take on the perspective of this person therefore making the image more immersive as the viewer is experiencing the scene through this person's eyes.
The joiner on the right is of two people doing the crossword together. This is an example of how joiners show the passage of time and create the illusion of movement. The changing facial expressions and differently positioned hands across the image, allows more emotion to be captured as the viewer gets more of a sense of what went on in this moment of time. I think it is really effective at conveying this progression of time and is an idea which I would like to include within my own work as time and surrealism are strongly linked.
In the image above, I aimed to create the multi-dimensional effect which Hockney established within his joiners. To do this I layered the same rectangular image on each other, getting smaller as they get closer to the centre. Each image looks as if it is being drawn into the previous images mouth. This mimics the effect of taking a sharp breath inwards or a scream coming outwards, depending on the viewers perspective. This is the favourite joiner that I have made as the overall effect is quite surreal. It looks as if the subject is looking at themselves in the mirror which links to my theme of the surreal in everyday life. In the mouth of the final rectangle in the centre is an eye to add the the surreal effect and represent the looking into the mirror. To improve this image, I intend to make each individual image more symmetrical and potentially replace the eye in the middle with something else although I think it is quite effective.
This is also about looking in a mirror as the eyes move slightly to reflect eyes scanning across the face of the reflection. The fact that the only sensory organ shown is the eyes, as the nose, mouth and ears are covered or not shown, is deliberate to convey that the only sense used when looking at a mirror is sight. As a result, it questions the accuracy of a reflection in depicting the true scene as the eyes are not always reliable and how you see yourself may not be the same as other people see you.
To make the joiner above, I used rectangular segments which I cropped from the same image and overlapped and organised them to reform the image. The eye on the mouth is from a separate image which I again cropped down and placed on the segments. This is more typical of the style which Hockney made many of his joiners in, rather than the grid method used below. To improve this image, I would include segments of images from other photos to potentially create a deeper meaning and have a stronger theme to it.
For this image, I used the grid method to make the joiner similar to the method that Hockney used in his earlier pieces. The mouth is what I like the most about the image as the slightly distorted and fragmented mouth could be interpreted as a shout of pain. However, as you look down the rest of the image it becomes apparent that it is open for eating. The mouth of the head on the plate is not shown as it disappears out of the grid and the mouth at the top begins just where it should be on the head. This creates an almost cyclical effect and suggests that the subject is eating her self, particularly the brain which can be a visual metaphor for thoughts eating you up.
To create this joiner, I used fragments from five images and cropped them into squares in a grid. I made the grid in photoshop by using the frame tool to draw boxes of 400x400 pixels and placed them on an A4 paper size. I then copied and pasted one of the boxes onto an image, opened separately, and cropped an area of the image into the box. I would then copy this fragment into the grid and place it into the box I wanted. I ended up with 18 fragments of the larger images to form the joiner. I like using this method as it provides a structure to follow, making the process more organised, but allowing the freedom to put and rearrange the fragments to form a whole new image and perspective. I will use this method continuing in my project as it works well within the wider theme and provides a change from traditional photography techniques.
In this joiner, I tried to focus on showing the passage of time and movement as the image goes on. I think this experiments more with time out of the joiners I made as it shows movement as the images go across the page. It is part of my experimentation into presenting eating and drinking in a surreal way. The most successful part of the image is the wine glass as I like how it has been formed together by amplifying different places where the light hits it and altering the smooth curve for a more fragmented glass edge
