The Purpose Of This Page

This page is intended for the students* I work with to show them my research interests and my approach to research in order to create a space for conversation. Ultimately to help them better understand critical inquiry and to give me greater insights into their culture. As such social and cultural inquiry is an open dialogue.

This project is a work in progress and will go through many iterations before it is exhibited.

This work in progress is a very brief overview of my current research. It presents some of the themes and aesthetic approaches I am exploring and how the research follows on from my previous work. As such the research draws from and contributes to existing conversations.

Visual Sociology, for me, is a way of asking questions and developing a critical understanding of the societies we live in. Please feel free to ask questions.

*Most of my students do not have an arts background consequently and art educated audience may find explanations too simple. Please email me if you want to know more. hughmcelveen(at)mailbox.org

Duchamp, Porte-bouteilles. 1914

Duchamp, Fountain, R. Mutt. 1917

Marcel Duchamp

Robert Smithson

Smithson, Monuments

The aesthetic of the imperfect, unfinished and impermanent.

Orientalism is a stereotyping and cultural misappropriation by the West of the Middle East. The phrase was coined by Edward W. Said and the opposite, he argues, is Occidentalism. Occidentalism is the Middle East's view of the West.

Orientalism falls into three stages. Early (medieval), Mid (Victorian) and Late (Contemporary).

To engage meaningfully with a culture it is important to understand previous depictions of it.

Early Orientalism has its origin with the Christian Crusaders. Probably the first depiction of Orientalism was the British Crusaders' representation of the Christian Devil. The Devil's features are built on that of the Arab male.

While the images of the Devil permeated Christian society, manuscript bibles were not widely available. In the 19C Orientalism shifted from an overtly racist depiction to a more exotic and erotic one. In the days before mass travel third party images were how the world experienced the Middle East (which is itself and Orientalist term). The views of and attitudes towards Arab culture were determined by a select few explorer photographers and painters who chose to emphasis exotic landscapes and structures in tandem with erotic harems.

Joseph-Philibert Girault de Pragney, Small Temple, Djebel Sèlêseh, Egypt, 1842

Advertisement for 9.5mm film projector Pathé Baby from L'Illustration
17 March 1923

'Photography's Orientalism' by Behdad and Gartlan explores this issue.

An environment of an increased perception of terrorist threats coupled with a heightened fear of 'the other' has created the conditions for a New Orientalism. This is fueled by the polarising 'if you you are not with us you are against us' rhetoric of many politicians.

'Challenging the New Orientalism" by M. Shahid Alam is one notable book which seeks to address this issue.

Set Graffiti from the TV series 'Homeland'

Just as important as understanding the outsiders' Orientalist view it is also crucial to understand how Arabs visually explore their own culture, the diversity of social issues and variety of approaches.

Yto Barrada, Briques (Bricks), 2003/2011
French-Moroccan

Taysir Batniji, Watchtowers – West Bank / Palestine, 2008
Palestinian

Implied in all these works are themes of temporality and the re-purposing of artifacts.

Another common thread is the projection of meaning onto found objects by the artist (a reinterpretation of the object) and their subsequent further reinterpretation by an audience. This durational aspect of photography from the making of the image through it's continued interpretation is the Event of Photography.

The meaning of the image evolves as entropy consumes the objects depicted.

Classical and contemporary texts concerned with the temporal nature of things as well as the contemporary 'Event of Photography' are some of the philosophical themes explored.

The current research is a continuation of previous inquiry which documented the functional aesthetics of Eastern Italian Olive Groves.

The aesthetics in the current research are similar but the social inquiry represents a departure from the earlier work.

The two series will be exhibited together to enable a deeper understanding of the cultural use of space.

The full series of images as exhibited at Biospace can be seen at Fence.

Hugh McElveen, Fence 6, Vieste, Italy. 2012

Hugh McElveen, Fence 18, Vieste, Italy. 2012

Hugh McElveen, Fence 26, Vieste, Italy. 2012

Hugh McElveen, Couch 3, Al Ain, 2016

Hugh McElveen, Couch 10, Al Ain, 2016

Hugh McElveen, Couch 14, Al Ain, 2016

The outcome of research is the tip of the iceberg. What sits under the water and hidden from view is the previous work (research and conversations) the inquiry is built on. I hope this outline gives a sense of that balance.