An Open Letter to Churches & Christians concerned about Sex

I studied theology to become a pastor of a conservative evangelical church. I became very disenchanted with the emphasis on sex and not on the sins that most effect developed society. Why do you spend so much time fighting homosexuality, when gluttony and greed is mentioned so many more times in the new testament, when the concept

'gay' as we know it was only conceived in the 1800s? 

The church refuses to face up to the challenge of this day, instead follows the American lead and makes sex the issue because the church feels that this can appeal to the prejudices of if's congregations without upsetting them about greed? It is pathetic that a church, that is about 'love', harbours so much hate for a group that just wants equal rights, while the church wants special rights to make society obey, what they consider their mission. Sorry? What? yYou are meant to be a witness to society, not legislate morality! (show me where in the new testament that Jesus, Paul or any other writer says, pressure Rome to legislate morality)! Yet in Christian circles this is rarely challenged. Church history showed me that when Constantine did this, the Church started having it's problems. 

In the new testament, you have 1Corth, that says a man being 'with' a man is wrong, but you don't bother looking at the history in this passage. I have read in many places that it is NOT referring to love between two men, it is instead referring to fertility rituals in pagan sects (which no doubt is why God/Paul was so upset with the practice, it wasn't about sex it was about trusting in another god.) Now if this passage is not about sex (per se) then there is only general passages about immorality (which, btw, are directed at hetrosexuals!) in the new testament 

When the Church makes a big fuss about sex, it tends to make it's congregations and society more curious and get itself caught up. I'm sure Rome's problems are no stranger to you. As I'm sure, equally, the Church of England's problems with pedophilia nor Hillsong Church in Sydney, where it's founding pastor was gaoled for sexual assault on underage children.

The Church is a minority in most places in the world and is going to face issues from islam and secularism. The Church would do well to promote societies where plurality is the norm, so that the Church can survive. Again your job is to be witness to the life changing effect of believing. If you make me obey your rules without love for Christ, I will resent you. This goes for most people. This makes the Church's mission so much harder.

Of course, if you hold the views that i'm challenging I seriously doubt you've read down this far. This is a bit to challenging to fundamentalism. No doubt you will cast my arguments aside, and consider yourself holy for doing so. I doubt that God shares your culture, which dictates much of your interpretation of his message, remember Jesus didn't live in the 21st century and is more likely to be displeased with the Church as he was with the Temple. 

Where does it say in 1Corth or anywhere else in the new testament that the church should make other people's lives miserable and support sending them to gaol for sins with consenting adults? (don't give me quotes from the OT because you know you are in trouble... how much to buy your daughter for slavery again?) 

Being gay is not unlike being an ethnicity,it is something that cannot be changed. As we study it more we find that there are many people born intersex (that is gender ambiguous) as well as many who's development is not the same as the majority.(who do not make the leap from homosocial early adolescence to hetrosexual later adolescence). Even if homosexuals lived life as they do in China marrying and having babies, they are not hetrosexual, they are just trying to plicate people like you! While going off to parks and having sex with men, because you will not let them have a loving relationship with another man). Just because you cannot relate to their lives, doesn't make it any less real. I can assure you, from conversations with these men, they are not happy people. They often crushed people. 

Church supported slavery, segregation, racism and now often anti homosexuality or down right homophobic... what makes you think that in a generation that attitudes will not be the same towards homosexality as it is now for mixed marriages? it makes me sad, that the church willing to make a fool of itself, to be considered politically conservative.

Once again, it's about plurality, making space for the Church and christians in society. Consider this, if the majority is right, the Church should close! Jesus, Paul, John and the other tell us to love, and care for people. Creating division and hatred is not love.

I look forward to your considered reply.

a Class in Oral English in China

Week 7: Cultural differences (expressed in English)

http://www.convictcreations.com/culture/australiaasia.html

aims: 

using English to explain complicated things
an attempt at rational argument
helping the student to understand the teacher and method
a first hand encounter with difference

note: the class is done like a talk show, with people having a few minutes to discuss with each other. Often i get them to stand in order to get them to stop being so passive. (yes my classes are 50 to 90 students)

Watch Summer Heights High

History:

For 50,000 years, nomadic humans roamed Australia. They probably never built cities because Australia lacked a good crop to farm and build a civilisation around.

Between the 15th and 17th centuries, Chinese, Dutch, Portuguese, Indonesian and Spanish reached Australia, took a look around and then kept going. In the 18th century, the English arrived, took a look around and decided Australia would make a great place to punish criminals. For the next 80 years, England sent its criminals called “Convicts” in Australia. They were political rebels, communists and the poor who lacked food to eat. 

We united the various English settlements into one country in 1901. We have had a history of migration. The Chinese first came to Australia in the 1850s to find gold. This caused social issues and our country started a immigration policy based on ethnicity (which racial group you are). In the 1970’s we over ruled that and adopted a multicultural policy where we allowed people to come and live in Australia based on merit. Once you have an Australian passport you are Australian, no matter where you were born. 

What is a Chinese, that is a citizen of China? Get into pairs or threes and discuss. 5 minutes. 

Can a Australian born Anglo Celtic become Chinese?

Self understanding

Australia is said to be individualist. We place a higher value placed on relying on yourself, not your friends not your family nor your network.  Self-confidence is expected and those with confidence will do much better in life. A parents greatest gift is to prepare their child for the world. High value placed on “freedom”. 

Chinese leaders say that China is different it is about the collective (the group) that is how the individuals fit into the group. For you what is the most important?

Education

From an early age, Australians are taught to believe in themselves. We expect people to achieve as much as they are capable of but be modest. We expect the to do this both in class and in sport. This confidence in ourselves as individuals means we are very comfortable when meeting foreigners.

What are you taught in China? Are you confident when meeting foreigners? 

Australian classes are focused on the teacher. The teachers job is to use the classroom to help the children learn, only a small part of it is by the teacher talking at the students. We found there are ways of teaching that the student remembers more. 

In China is the focus on the students or the teacher? 

Do you learn well this way?

Does Bullying exist in Chinese schools?

Do you have do musicals? What things did you do in high school that didn’t have exams?

Is high school or university more intense (more stress, more work, harder, more happening and more pressure)?

An Australian University is more intense and difficult then Australian High School. How much respect you get does not just depend on which university you went to but which course you did at it. If you do Marine Biology at James Cook people will bring you in for interview, if you did marine biology at New York State they may not. 

At university we need to learn a new way of writing (academic writing). We need to learn how to research and judge (evaluate) information. We need to develop great critical thinking and often creative thinking skills as well. We will be expected to work in groups as well as by yourself. Work we do in groups will be part of your mark. 

In this university do you do assignments? Do you do them in groups where your mark is the same for each member?

We will face exams but these are usually worth 20-35% of the final mark. Research done during the year is also marked and evaluated.  The university’s programme has input from business organisations so that the students are employable and ready to work. Students learn many skills at university, like leadership, team work, being able to speak in front of many people. Each university has many clubs, including many that are especially for Chinese students to make them feel at home. Most of Australia’s politicians learnt their political skills at university. We learn to and are willing to confront directly, criticize, discuss with the hope of finding a better answer a better solution.

What is the priority of a Chinese university?

What things have you learnt there that have changed you?

Three Key Concepts to understand what an Australian is

Egalitarianism - everyone is equal

Australians hold dear the idea we are all different but equal. Most Australians like the idea of a worker being able to sit down and have a drink and chat with the Queen. We hold that idea as part of what it means to be Australian. 

For example, Lindsay Fox (now close to a billionaire) said of Australia: 

‘We don’t have a class structure. We have people who relate to people. No body is superior. No body is inferior. The people who I went to school with collect the garbage around here. But if they want to come in and have a drink, that’s fine with me.’

In China are all people considered equal? If not please discuss how is more important and why? What things give people higher social status? Can a garbage collector have a millionaire as a friend?

Merit - having the skills, experience and attitude to do the job

As we believe all people are equal, they should all have the same treatment by the law. In order for all people to be equal we created a stable and consistent law. If you are rich, you can hire better lawyers, but the judge will make his/her decision based on the facts and the law. No person is ‘above’ the law. Every man is answerable to the law. 

In Australia there are laws that protect people from being discriminated against because of age, ethnicity, religion, sexuality or social status. A company can advertise a job but must put in the skills experience and attitude they require they may NOT say they are looking for a male, female, married, single or Anglo-Celtic, this is against the law. You get a job, or a university position or contract with the government because you are the considered the best person or company for the job. Relationships play a small role they may get you inside information (informally) or get you noticed, the relationship past this is a problem. 

Is this the same in China? How does one get a good job?

Can you work out a way of explaining 밑溝 to a ‘foreigner’?
Do you like the system of 밑溝? 

Tell me two  advantages and disadvantages of each system

Pluralism - many peoples, cultures and ideas much debate with respect

Australia considers itself multicultural. That it has many different cultures living in one land. This at times causes friction, though most people will say that the country is better now. This gives each culture the space to enjoy the traditions of the ‘their ways’ as well as those of Australia. This mean’s we celebrate the new year according to the Gregorian calendar, the Chinese, Thai and many others. We celebrate the festivals and food of each culture, it is not unusual for an Australian to eat food in the styles of 10 or more countries in a week. Most Australian will have friends who are from many different countries. My circle of friends in Melbourne included who are; Anglo-Celtic, Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, Indonesian, Djiboutian, Ghanese, English, Peruvian, Fijian, French... oh and so many more... 

This idea of multiculturalism extends to religion, sexuality and other groups within society, providing they abide by the laws of the country. For example Chinese might also be amazed that Australia’s most famous male actors, Russel Crow(BA), Heath Ledger (BSA), Hugh Jackman, Hugo Weaving, Geoffery Rush (BA) and Guy Pearce have all played gay men in movies two wearing women’s cloths (one for a Chinese director) and our two Academy Award winning actresses have played lesbian women and one played a man. 

That Anthony Wong, a Chinese man played a French man in a Melbourne play or that many Korean and Chinese singers play various European ethnicities in operas. 

Australian believe in pluralism, that its many different types of people with different cultures ideas, religions, sexuality, different ways of thinking, all living together. This we feel makes us the strong creative nation we are. We are all Australian there is no longer a stereotype Australian. You can be Australian if you for fi migration requirements and you accept our core idea of pluralism. 

We often have long debates about things. Most of my lifetime we’ve been having a debate about what is an Australian and what is the meaning of Australian history, the big story. I think we have decided it’s a person who lives in the land that is Australia, has decided that they agree with these three core values and wish to be involved of our political system and are accepted by our laws. 

China says it is multi-cultural what does this mean?

What is China’s attitude to pluralism in thought? Can you discuss anything?

If you use this lesson in some form let me know... I use it to learn about their attitudes. 

found an interview i did for a Melbourne magazine for the masters

INTERVIEW (still looking for the great journalists name)

Who what where or when inspired your passion for storytelling, for photography?

I was always a visual person. I found words difficult; I was one of the kids that found spelling a nightmare... so I turned instead to things visual. I took up photography because I thought it would be more immediate than drawing and painting, but I probably spend as much time on a photograph than most artists spend on their paintings.

Who do you count as major artistic influences -tell me about two of these artists and a major work or two?

I've spent the last 5 years doing a Master of Arts, which, in part, was about examining the work I did in the ‘90s and 2000s and putting it into an historic and theoretical context. Out of this I realised that one photographer above all others has influenced my mind set right from the beginning. Robert Mapplethorpe. It was his photographs I went to find in 1991 when I first traveled to NYC, having discovered them a couple of years earlier. I was really attracted to the beauty of his prints - they seem precious. I was also attracted to the subject matter. 

Mapplethorpe presented images that were unlike most of what I had seen before. The men in his photos were not always handsome - they were distinctive. Mapplethorpe didn't photograph personalities but was more sculptural, particularly in his later work. The photograph of Ken Moody composed like a passport photograph with his eyes closed. This is an image that made me stop and reconsider everything I did in photography. Mapplethorpe’s most important contribution was not the blurring of the line between art and porn, but that he made images of black Americans that entered the public conscience, that were different.  The men in his photographs were still, sexy, yet contemplative, thoughtful, teasing, it cut across the narratives of black Americans of the time.  I never got to meet Mapplethorpe; I’m not sure, reading his interviews, whether it would have been a good experience...

I did meet Arnold Newman several times. Newman is a portrait photographer who put people into their environments and let the background do the talking as much as the face. One of the great joys of my life was meeting Newman in his Upper Westside apartment and purchasing a print of Igor Stravinsky from him. (Google it). This is perhaps the most perfect portrait made. It says everything, in a graphic way that describes Stravinsky’s work. This print is constant source of inspiration for me, challenging me towards my own perfect statement where a single photograph says so much. The third photographer I would like to count as a major influence is Henri Cartier Bresson. He originated the idea that there is a 'decisive moment' to make a photograph, when all the elements came together to form the perfect story. Of these three it is Mapplethorpe that has influenced this show the most, for this show is about depicting 'types' that don't often get visually represented. 

Can you tell me about the installation, why the Federation Square locale?

There are 20 types of Anglo Celtic Australian (ACA) men and Chinese (Australian) men. Ten of each, which are arranged in a triangular formation, with most culturally sanctioned (that is the one that the popular culture emphasize though media, national and personal narratives at the front, behind him other types were distilled from the two culture's cinematic output. The photographs are 1.9 m tall and .8m wide. The two sets are not oppositional, but on a course to merge. Throughout time and across cultures there has been a battle going on defining what is the ideal man. Is he a physical man or an intellectual man? The two cultural perspectives I’ve chosen for this exhibition illustrate this, with the ACA masculinity being dominated by images and stereotypes of the physical and Chinese being about academic, cultural and occupational pursuits.

I've been exhibiting since 1996, first in cafes then I moved to galleries then to public spaces. I like public spaces the most. My work is very sociologically based; I’m asking questions that I want to engage the general public with. That is not to say I don't hit on issues in art theory, I do. So the more public the space the more people who see it, then there is more chance of the questions being discussed. Federation Square is the most wonderful public place to show, and I’ve had a fantastic working relationship with them in putting this project together. Sydney doesn't have an equivalent space, very few cities do. It’s a real privilege showing in there.

Do you describe these works as portraits- tell me about how you feel they are best described?

They are not so much portraits because even for the people who are playing themselves (like my father) they are acting out a 'type'. The individual is usurped by a more generalised representation, though having said that I’ve left some quirks in. for example the watch worn by the lead Chinese guy is a Tag Heuer not a Rolex. 

And the juxtaposition of different images of men- describes two images and tells me something about the placement and the juxtapositions?

In Australian Anglo Celtic masculinity (ACAM) we privilege youth, particularly men that have natural talent and work hard at perfecting it. So footballers, sportsmen, entertainers. Behind the very handsome, well built man holding his footy boots is a 59-year-old man holding an Esky, wearing Speedos. They are the same type in many ways separated by 30+ years. A similar juxtaposition happens in reverse in the Chinese set, where the privileged masculine type the 50s professional and behind him is the 20s professional eager to climb the corporate ladder. In just these four photographs we have the key finding of my research and the core issue, which makes me uncomfortable with how we (ACA) see being a man. In ACAM we know whether we've achieved 'manhood' by the time we are 26 and the rest of our lives we attempt to reform how we view ourselves against the dominate images and themes that press and media present us with.

For most of us ACA men we don't fit this ideal of the sportsman and work at defining ourselves differently (see http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/the-true-history-of-the-beer-belly-gang-20101203-18jvj.html it's worth the typing), I’m interested in the experiences of men from other cultural backgrounds who have to interact with this dominate issue. In the Chinese view of a man it’s about using intellect you have to achieve while being cultural and moral. What I find interesting is in my peer group most of the ACA men relate more to the Chinese model then to the ACA model. So in part this show is about giving space within Australian culture for Chinese men to perform their masculinity and give permission for men like me, and you, to cast ourselves as cultural and about mind rather then body. Which is in part why I moved to Melbourne from Sydney. 

Masculinities, fluidity, and multiplicity - these may or may not be some of the art school/theoretical terms from the recent past that may also be an influence on your conceptual approach?

The way masculinity has been conceptualised in theory is that there are many competing masculinities in any society at any time, some based on the physical some on the intellectual. But the popular culture has an amalgam that is constantly refereed to, and presented as the 'real' man, the 'proper' man, refereed to as the hegemonic masculinity. In this installation I’ve distilled back to this culturally dominate (sportsman/businessman) type, for I wish to disrupt it. One size does not fit all. One masculinity does not suit a culture. There are many competing to be seen, to be acknowledged, but struggling against the dominant type. My theoretical frame is Lucan's idea of the "given-to-be-seen" which is the images that exist in a culture by which we feel we can construct our identity.

What my work has always been about is attempting to expand what exists in the "given-to-be-seen".  I'm presenting 20 masculinities; to the public hopefully get people to question what is an ideal man? Each person who approaches this installation will bring with him his own cultural understanding and will see this work through his/her eyes. The show will be very different for an Indian student who is negotiating Australian culture, than it is for a tourist from Qatar. It is hard to break down the stereotypes until you acknowledge them. Over the last 15 year with the rise of the internet and social media we have fundamentally changed the way a new generation is able to construct their identity (including masculinity) there is much more material and more variety. Much of this is hidden in cyberspace is not viewed by the majority of the population. What my work is doing is to bring forward these 20 types (carefully researched from cinema) and presenting them to the population at large and challenging the viewer to accept them as 'real' men.

Looking at these images in the Fed Square context you are placing them in, makes it clear to audiences that these are not images from advertising or does it? How do punters know its art, is it clearly signified and/or is this part of the mystery of the installation. What do you feel about this?

Great point, it has been part of my art practice since 2004 to use materials that are associated with advertising and present the work as if it is advertising without the company brand. This produces 'shock' for the viewer, the form is familiar and comes with a set of expectations but it's not advertising, it is a little confusing. The project I was commissioned to do as Esplanade in Singapore in 2004 was 6 full sized portraits that were stuck to the floor  on of the corridors leading to the concert halls. Singaporeans are used to lots of advertising. It was interesting seeing their reactions to the work. I was trained as a commercial photographer. I love advertising imagery. I want my work to use their vocabulary in order to subvert it.

Qingdao

 I’m Australian, we have a national obsession with sport, we cling to the coastline and we have an issue with alcohol. What does Qingdao have to offer? China’s most famous brewery, decent swimming beaches (though more Melbourne then Noosa), and big stadiums which I was not around for a weekend to see how they are used, although I did meet a former gymnast still staying fit on Number 1 Bathing Beach.

What sets Qingdao apart is its geography and early colonial history. In many ways the coastline of rugged textured stone headlands nestling bathing beaches is not that different to many areas in Australia. I did not find that Qingdao was unfamiliar in the way that Gaungzhou, or Jinan is. Qingdao is not as old as most Australian capitals, with the exception of Canberra. It’s founding was part of Germany’s attempt to keep up with the rest of Europe, by having colonies. History shows this was not a great idea long term. From this period the city has several sections of German buildings, both early 20^th century and modernist. The hills and headlands add a visual relief to the city that the river and inland cities do not have. 

Qingdao is wedding photography city. At every near every place we visited, except Number One Bathing Beach there are women in flouncy inappropriate attire, and men in white and pink suits…. Pink? It is always interesting to watch another country interpret and change things held dear in one’s own culture, I’m sure most Chinese are horrified at what passes as Chinese food in the west… as I am at the wedding photography.  I was a wedding photographer for ten years, there are rules about shooting weddings. Rule one is never, ever, under no circumstances let your bride to see another bride, or else it is bad luck. So on seeing another bride we would steer our bride away. Obviously this rule has been abandoned here. I have photos with up to ten flustered brides and nine frazzled grooms, I am guessing that one went absent without leave or maybe with leave. Thinking about it I didn’t see a couple being photographed on Loushan, wonder if it is off limits too?

Qingdao is home to three important Chinese brands that are changing perceptions of ‘made in China’. My most gracious thanks, to the public relations team at Tsingtao Brewing, for allowing us freedom of the floor in the brewing room and the bottling lines. We made great photographs thanks to your trust in us, and you made me forever a fan of your product. Other brands can learn from this example, providing you have nothing to hide. My apologies to Hisense whom I learnt too late was based in Qingdao, you sponsor a indoor stadium in my city. I would love to photograph your production line on a future trip.

I would like to express my thanks to the Dept of Information who trusted us to see their city, often unsupervised. I would like to thank our interpreters and the random people I met along the way, those who tried to talk to me, those whom posed for photographs or let me make photographs of them, it is in your honour I present my photographs of your city.

impressions of Changzhou

All experiences are mediated by the circumstance, and I feel it's important to give a background to this group of photographs. We were asked to make images of Changzhou how we saw it, in our style. We were hired because rather then commercial shooters we are 'artists', that is many of us had long CVs of photo media shows, two of us having just completed Masters of Arts looking at aspects of China and photography. We were briefed on the previous projects and their short comings, that is the western businessmen and politicians were not suitably impressed with the publications. So the way forward was seen to be to get foreigners to make the photographs thus (in a logic jump) the work would appeal to foreigners. What struck me about the books of Changzhou in the past is that they feature the built environment and almost no people at all.

For me a city is people in a geographic location with a history and a built environment. It is the people who come first they are the keepers of the memory and the historic narratives of the place. The built environment is the place where the narratives have happened.

What happened to me in Changzhou, was a difference in culture I had not yet encountered, let me explain. There is a Chinese way of doing thing and there are western ways of doing things. For a government official hosting is very important and must be done right. The Chinese way involves never leaving your guests, making sure they are cared for as long as they are reasonably expected to be out of their hotel rooms, and they are to be fed, spectacularly. For me, I will arrive in a city, go to the ‘down town’ area and see what is there. I like to randomly meet people, and get a feel for the city. This has been my way since I was a teenager exploring Brisbane. All the cities I have visited since I’ve never have I had more then a guidebook and a couple of addresses of bars to start with. Some of my random meetings turn into friendships that last a lifetime and these friends show me their city. Not the tourist sites but the daily life of what it means to be in that city for them. Needless to say this creates some frustration on both sides.  Interestingly the day that I decided that it was not worth pushing to see the city in my way, our hosts began offered us three choices during most sessions which seemed to have an eye to our requests made before arriving.

There were a number of things on the list of ‘must do’ and people we ‘must see’. Politics is about pleasing people and we were 6 foreign and 2 Chinese photographers who had come in a blaze of publicity to see the city with new eyes. We had three full time photographers documenting us, along with different reporters and photographers on a daily basis. These ‘must sees’ like the Dinosaur Park, Yan Chang, for instance were fantastic, as is the park life in the four parks I visited. Each of us had our own list of things to see, on mine was being imbedded with a family each day, we did get a family each for a Sunday afternoon, which gave each of a us the chance of living like a middle class Changzhouee or would it Changzhouer? A hospital for a birth, well ask for the moon (as Bobby says) and you’ll get something, I got the famous Chinese Medicine hospital, for only 90mins photography time, but really happy with the work, I made there. My spectacular achievement was asking for a factory that made big things. Bobby and a Kenza had already visit a car factory, which turned out to be the Research and development centre, so on our last day together, our hosts found a tractor factory that would give us permission to photograph. In one site there is the history of the Communist Party period to date. Established in 1952 it still using many of the buildings that where built then, including an office that is exquisite 1950s geometric design. It also has completely state of the art assembly lines. It is this photographer’s heaven, including my themes of men and masculinity, as well as my history working in sheet metal. If the Changzhou Dongfeng Agricultural Machinery Group would like to produce a book recording this moment in time, my hand is up!

Of course this essay is meant to be about how my experience of Changzhou and how I saw the city. So let me make some observations, as a man who stayed in 5 star luxury, ate Chinese banquets for lunch and dinner most days (before needing something my stomach recognised – and could only find Pizza Hut), who suffered low blood sugar with the change of diet and some gastro (one day my stomach will handle China), worked extremely long hours (8 days of 15-6 hours a day) these last two conditions caused some ‘irritability’. The streets are clean, as clean as Sydney or Melbourne much cleaner then Beijing where I am based, this may have to do with Beijing’s demotion of entire communities on it fringes and the dust it creates and the topsoil lost. There is not the constant guttural sound of people bring up phlegm and spitting, which I am still not coping with in Beijing. The men’s toilet floors are dry, now this observation I thought would be (for men) a given anywhere, but in my travels in China It would seem that it is remarkable the many men do not have wet shoes and jeans coming out of the toilet. I do have several photos of the men’s toilets to prove this point but they did not make it through the selection process. Chengzhou is couth, civilised and polite, it seems to have all the amenities I expect in a Chinese city without the rough edges. I just don’t know if there is a decent western restaurant…

http://garriemaguire.com/Changzhou

Portraiture in China is a verb, in Australia it is a noun

Sitting in a cafe in 798

Thinking about the residency I'm on and what is different about making a portrait in China as apposed to the west. My research brought up some interesting thoughts. Firstly we in the 'West' (I say South) are much more about naming things and catagorising them. In China things are described much more relationally, actively, and often as verbs. So this is a blog about exploring portraiture as a verb.

In the Head On photographic portrait prize several years ago a high commendation was awarded to Kris Machancho's ‘Hero's on a day off’. This was the Marcel Duchamp moment in the history of the prize, as the photograph did not have a face, but more so it was two people acting as famous fictional characters. So what can be considered a portrait was greatly enlarged. Perhaps now it is just that the photograph needs to have a human in it. So the great 'point' of portraiture doesn't hold anymore:

Yes, I cannot hide it any longer: I usually select content over form. Instead of creating a graphically surprising image, I am more interested in capturing the inner truth. - Philippe Halsman

Or perhaps Newman is closer to the truth:

I am convinced that any photographic attempt to show the complete man is nonsense. We can only show, as best we can, what the outer man reveals. The inner man is seldom revealed to anyone, sometimes not even the man himself. - Arnold Newman

In essence what photographers have endeavoured to do is find little more than the public persona of someone to show who they are to a wide audience. It’s a bit like letting us into a secret. In the work of Halsman and later Leibovitz, we find in their most involved work elaborate sets and with famous people that are PR people’s dreams (and if they go wrong, 'nightmares'). What they do is push a side of the famous that makes us think we are being let into a secret. These photographs are interesting - they are about doing, not sitting/being. Much of the Western portrait tradition is indeed about sitting or standing but in the end it's about physical appearance. Thomas Ruff, Irving Penn and many others' work comes to mind. It is about a noun, the person. It attempts to show more than the physical. But photography is about the physical - what is in front of the camera at any given moment (and what is done afterwards on the computer, ranging from slight colour and tonal shifts - like my work, to full scale changing of the person - see the blog photoshop disasters). 

So we photograph people motionless, and still and we usually call this a 'portrait'. But even in the West we do not define ourselves by physical appearance (except on personal adverts in social media). When someone asks me to tell them about myself I usually start with my hobbies, career, and aspirations; not my age, height, and build. I am not me unless I’m moving. Doing. I’m not a man unless I'm in action. When I'm sleeping I may well be less of a man.

Lets go back a step here and consider my work to date. I’ve been told my work is very formalist. I arrange things and still things. This is interesting. I've always been attracted to the work of Robert Mapplethorpe, but also Henri Cartier-Bresson. Though at this point I'm trying to move closer to HBC though (often) within a controlled environment. Here in Beijing I have an opportunity in that the Chinese don't mind being photographed by and large. Street photography works. Having a 200mm lens also helps; it allows me photographs before people are close enough to notice, before they pose. 

On this residency I have been making photographs that are street shooting (HBC style) formal portraits (RM style in colour) and a intriguing combination. That is when I find a situation that I like (for example on a subway) I find someone to make the photograph. Most of the people I arrange to photograph, I know their names. Many of the people I photograph in the street I also ask their name. In doing so I’m blurring the difference between known and unknown. In fact having just arrived in Beijing, how well can I ‘know’ any of the people in my photographs? But if they are doing something they are exhibiting their public persona. In doing so they are open to be photographed as a portrait. Portraiture can be no more then a representation of a persona. Unlike my Federation Square project I have not asked anyone to be something they are not. All the men in these photographs are being/performing/doing, themselves. 

Chinese culture has not had the emphasis on nouns that we do. Research shows that children in China learn as many verbs as nouns. The language and the culture likes defining things in terms of doing and relationships. I'm not picking up on human relationships here, but i am picking up on the relationship between doing and being. I've been trying to meet as many people as possible while I’m here and learn as much as possible. One of my meetings was with a linguist who talked about the interchangeability of nouns and verbs. This I found very interesting from a portrait point of view. 

http://www.garriemaguire.com/beijing1

the masters is up

funny how you do a major project and when it gets up and you give it to the world, it's like a child leaving home... nice if you don't see them for a while...

Still need more press... will do something about that tomorrow...

if you've not been able to see the show,


www.projeqt.com/garrie