Togetherness, 2011 — 10 x 15cm Adapted family photograph
‘In search of lost parts of my childhood I try to think outside the reality I was socialised into and create new ones with my parents and self. Through these I use photography to explore my relationship with deception, the constructed reality of the family, and question the boundaries between my parents and I, between child/adult, self/other, nature/culture, real/fake in attempt to revive my unconditioned self, beyond the family bubble. Although easily assumed to be photoshopped or faked, upon closer inspection the images are often realised to be more real than first expected. Involving staged installations, the cartoonesque and the performative, I look back to my younger self and attempt to re-capture childhood nature through my assuming adult eyes.’ Jonny Briggs artist statement.
Jonny Briggs work is interesting to me due to the fact that he does focus on his family and his lost childhood which is something I would like to explore in my own work. I find it interesting in the way that he takes some of his photos of his childhood and manipulates them in a way that creates questions and creates a conversation around a piece of work. I also am quite interested in the fact his primary method of working is with photography and Photoshop or manipulating the photo which is something I hadn’t really thought about exploring before seeing Briggs work. I found the work Togetherness intrigued me the most due to the fact that all the faces have been scratched out and so it gives a sense of unknowing to the image and takes away the sense of identity as you cannot tell who the people in the photo but it is a scene that most people would recognise and so it could provoke a memory in the viewer.
https://www.countryandtownhouse.co.uk/culture/artist-interview-jonny-briggs/
http://www.aestheticamagazine.com/interview-with-royal-college-of-art-graduate-jonny-briggs/
Alysha Fisk Research 