26/11/2011
All bent on uniting... By Pierre, Nathan, Nicolas & Fanny
The picture above is a
Benetton commercial from 1996. The Italian fashion brand is
famous for its punch-in-the-face ads which are probably the cause of
its worldwide fame.
We are supposed to
believe that the human hearts came from people of different race. The
hearts are identical, meaning that, whatever your colour, we are all
the same, inside. The politically correct message is that we should
not judge people on their colour as, deep-down, we are all alike...
This
picture was made in order to make people react. It seems to have
achieved its purpose, as we are writing an article about it and
spreading this picture ! However, does it make us want to buy an
over-priced jumper ?
20/11/2011
Campaign UNknitted! By Laure
Benetton,
the Italian fashion brand, launched its new advertising campaign last
week. This campaign uses modified pictures of Pope Benedict XVI
kissing Cairo's Imam Mohamed Ahmed al-Tayeb, Barak Obama kissing Hu
Jintao, or Nicolas Sarkozy kissing Angela Merkel. Although the
campaign's slogan is "UNHATE", it has provoked sometimes
violent reactions from all over the world. Alessandro Benetton
explained that the main idea of his campaign was to be "creative,
constructive and positive", not to
shock. The company has already been asked to stop using the photo of
the Pope and The Imam embracing. Benetton is known for other
shock-campaigns like a nun kissing a priest. How far will Benetton go
to sell scarves and sweaters?
12/11/2011
19/10/2011
3 photographes tchèques très réputés. Article de Barbora
Jan
Saudek est mondialement réputé.
Il est né en 1935 à Prague. Il a participé à plus de 400
expositions et il a gagné de nombreux prix prestigieux. Pendant la
Seconde Guerre mondiale il a passé de longs mois dans un camp de
concentration. Dans son œuvre, il travaille beaucoup les couleurs,
et ses thèmes de prédilections sont les murs et la nudité. C'est
un photographe vraiment extraordinaire.
Son ex-femme Sára
Saudková est également photographe de renom. Elle a fait des études en sciences économiques, mais la photographie l'inspirait
tellement qu'elle en a fait sa carrière. Elle utilise beaucoup la
couleur. Elle prend en photo surtout les enfants. Ses thèmes sont
essentiellement l'amour et la solitude.
Antonín
Kratochvíl
vit aux États-Unis. En plus d'être
photographe, il est journaliste et écrivain. Il a obtenu 12 prix
prestigieux. Il est courageux parce qu'il prend des photos dans des
situations dangereuses, par exemple en Afrique durant des conflits
armés.
10/10/2011
Sweet death... By Alice, Bénédicte & Lucile
This is a photo of a jolly human skull made of drugs or sweets. It is
very colourful, just like a Mexican Day of the Dead sugar skull, not morbid at all. The background, in contrast, is abysmally dark...
Is Death laughing at us because we naïvely think medicine is going to protect us from the inevitable? Or is this image saying that death is "sweet"?
Princess problems... By Marilou & Mégane
This picture of gorgeous Anne Hathaway is taken
from the movie “The Princess Diaries”. She’s sitting on a oversized golden chair which looks like a throne. She
wears a beautiful beige and golden dress. She seems to be at a lose end. Boredom is probably the biggest worry a princess can have...
Every little
girl wants to be a princess. Disney fuels this desire by telling the story of a princess who overcomes the difficulties in her
life with true love. Each woman wants to find a prince charming and live
the same life as in the Disney stories. But real life is far from a princess's life
because of all the lies, difficulties with money, problems at work, complicated love, etc. Although it is a little girl's dream,
all women carry on believing in this eternal dream...
01/10/2011
Cocorico! By Anne Sophie & Floriane
This is a black and white picture, probably from the 50s, of the famous stylist Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel, better known as Coco Chanel.
She is sitting on a bench, looking over her shoulder.
She is posing, and seems to be proud of what she has become.
She is wearing black with white jewels, several long pearl necklaces and big bracelets.
She behaves like a man as she is wearing a hat and she is smoking. This is typical of Chanel.
This self-made woman - from rural Auvergne! - revolutionized the fashion world by cutting her hair, and her skirt, short.
She's a fashion icon, and she knows it...
Bad taste... By Mégane & Marilou
This
baby is sitting down. We see only the upper part of his body. He’s alone
and in the foreground. He has got blue eyes. He is wearing a nazi uniform. He’s got a moustache
like Hitler’s. His hair is slick, just like Adolph's. He’s smiling and
seems innocent...
The image is shocking since a baby, symbol of innocence, has nothing to do, normally, with the evil we associate with Hitler. Is the photographer saying babies are not innocent? Or that babies can also become evil? Or that Hitler was also an (innocent) baby once?
Is this perhaps a parody of an Anne
Geddes photo? Anne Geddes uses babies in her pictures, she wants people to say “Oh, he's so cute!” Geddes uses babies in all sorts of situations, she "plays" with them as if they were dolls... There's something creepy about her pictures.
The photographer of this picture is surely mocking Geddes' “art”. She wants to shock and provoke a reaction in people’s minds; Should we use babies in this way, by putting them in silly costumes or bizarre situations? The photographer, using black humour, highlights the "bad taste" of Geddes' work...
26/09/2011
Which way up? By Lucile, Bénédicte & Alice
This
is an unusual situation in an usual place: just under a bridge, which
is dark and a bit dirty. It is a bit nightmarish; reality is lopsided here... The photographer confuses us.
What is
the link between the handsome young people, the clothes, the bridge’s darkness and the brightness in the background? Why choose this place to take an advertising shot?
The potential customer is young, a bit of a "rebel". The ad is "different", with artistic pretensions, just like the potential customer.
In the world of this ad, "smart" people are reactionary, and the "stupid" are rebels with imagination who wear Diesel. Their world is out-of-joint with boring reality, symbolized by "standing up" in another dimension...
The
photographer was obviously inspired by Philippe
Ramette's work: Video on Ramette's art
What about you, do you like this
ad? Is it "art"? Does it make you want to buy Diesel clothes? Comments please!
25/08/2011
Hands... By Anastasie, Madeleine and Agathe
This
picture shows us that we are all the same... but all different!
Indeed, these hands are of people from numerous cultures, ways of life,
nationalities, and we can see big hands, small hands, old and young,
meaning various ages and experiences. Everybody in the picture is putting their hand up to show common humanity, peaceful intentions, solidarity. These hands are a symbol of optimism for the future and the world...
Can you think of handy titles for these photos?!
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