Artist Research - Nick Waplington

Nick Waplington

Nick Waplington traveled extensively during his childhood as his father worked as a scientist in the nuclear industry, but grew up in London during London’s post punk era, skateboarding at the Southbank Centre’s undercroft and creating his own fanzines

 studied art at West Sussex College of Art & Design in Worthing, Trent Polytechic in Nottingham and the Royal College of Art in London.

From 1984, Waplington regularly visited his grandfather on the Broxtowe Estate in Aspley, Nottingham, where he began to photograph his surroundings. Friends and neighbours of his family became his subject matter of choice. He continued with this work on and off for the next 15 years and from it came two books (Living Room and Weddings, Parties, Anything) and numerous exhibitions. Always looking for inspiration from the world around him, his intimate colour imagery was scorned by a traditional college faculty, but Nick characteristically broke convention when it exploded years later, the book contributing to the radical development of contemporary British photography.

His book "Other Edens" (1994) focused on environmental concerns and, although it was conceived and worked on at the same time as Living Room, was seen as a major departure in style and content. This work is global in nature and its ideas are ambiguous and multi-layered.

Waplington's work was included in the touring exhibition, The Dead, curated by Val Williams and Greg Hobson, which opened at the National Museum of Photography, Film & Television in 1995. 

The Patriarchs Wardrobe Series

Hebron, 

These photographs were taken in the land that was once called Palestine, on a landfill site south of the city of Hebron. The waste delivered to the landfill comes from Jewish Settlements in the Judea region of the West Bank. Before the waste is buried, it is scavenged for anything of worth by Palestinian children, working in groups for adult ‘handlers.’ It was agreed Waplington would work at a distance as not to reveal their identities.

The photographs are juxtaposed with paintings Waplington made of the landscape of the West Bank. Each painting represents a piece of this disputed land, and they are titled with a mixture of Hebrew and Arabic place names. They are based on colours caught by the photographs he shot while on location, and reworked in his studio. 

I really appreciate the truth and respect in Waplingtons photography, these peoples lives are a completely different world to that of myself and others in England. We are faced with luxuries we completely take for granted and it is images like these that have potential to make big change. Waplingtons comparative painting of the landscapes highlight how they brightest parts of the photos are the rubbish, which is quite heartbreaking and could metaphorically show how the most exciting part of their day is searching through landfill for valuable items.

Double Dactyl Series

Skegness, 2005

The word 'dactyl' comes from the Greek dactylos, a word with a mundane literal meaning: finger. In the technical language of poetic theory, however, a dactyl refers to a unit of rhythm that has three syllables, with the emphasis on the first (the long-short-short pattern resembling the joints of a finger). And yet this aesthetic terminology seems less pretentious when we realise that a double dactyl simply describes the rhythm of the artist's name: Nicholas Waplington. If the photographs in Double Dactyl are united by anything, they are united by Waplington's own multiplicity as an artist. His body of work could be described as a journey around the documentary, one that has prodded and played with notions of authenticity, authority and truth that conventionally define the genre. It could also be described as an experiment in doubleness. 

- http://www.nickwaplington.org/double-dactyl/4

This landscape shot depicts british people on a beach in Skegness in what I am assuming is the beginning of the summer of 2005. The Ice Cream truck is parked up on the side whilst families set their tents and blankets up. The composition is quite nice in this image with the metal barred fence just to the left of the centre of the image, creating a shadow on the sand that actually frames a persons feet at the end. I am guessing that Waplington used quite a low F.stop such as 2.8 to 5.6 for this shot as the image goes quite far back and remains in focus, besides a buggy with a little white umbrella in the forefront. I also assume that this image has been some what edited to brighten the image, something that Waplingtons photography is largely recognised for.

Settlement Series

Palestine

It is possible in January to stand in the moun- tains above the Palestinian city of Ramallah and watch the rainstorms moving across the Mediterranean towards the shimmering mass of towers that are Tel Aviv.... In the coming weeks the high desert mountains will change from scorched ferrous gold to bright green and purple and back to metallic hues. Somewhere in between everything is possible and everything is watched and noted, for here on the West Bank of the River Jordan every inch of land is known, recorded, and potentially a source of conflict.  

- http://www.nickwaplington.org/settlement/settlement9

This image depicts a small Palestinian girl sitting on a home made tree swing most likely out the front of her house. Waplington has positioned in the camera to ensure that the girl is completely central in the image, most likely crouching on the ground for the shot. The sunlight behind the trees creates some lovely romantic kind of lighting and shadows on the floor below the girl. We can see some small buildings in the distance but besides that and her house next to her on the right, this feels like a quiet and peaceful area which is ironic considering the potential conceived ideas and stereotypes about Palestine and Israel. 

The way that this image has been shot creates an idea that this girl is an angel. Palestine is a religious country with large amounts of Muslims and Jews so this image could be relating to religion in some way. The little girl is dressed in all white, with a headband and her arms out. The head band could symbolise a halo whilst her arms appear like wings. The hoop around her emphasises her importances and makes her seem significant, additionally the way she is swinging in the air is like she is flying, the sunlight behind her emphasises it all and creates a heavenly effect. 

Living Room Series

Nottingham, 1987-1991

Waplington's "Living Room" series, completed between 1987 and 1991, invites viewers into untidy, crowded, noisy lives. We enter the bathroom, the kitchen, the lawn, and, of course, the living room, although ultimately every room becomes a "living room." A review of the "Living Room" series in the Village Voice said, "Such intimate social realism makes you think it must take exceptional people, on both sides of the camera, to achieve such a degree of osmosis.

- http://www.philamuseum.org/exhibitions/1992/529.html

This image depicts three little girls, all in matching outfits out on their front lawn with hoovers, imitating hoovering or lawn mowing perhaps. The composition is nice as the girl as the front with her hoover almost frames the two girls slightly behind , the image was most likely shot with a film camera and this is why the colours aren't completely natural. I am guessing that Waplington crouched to get this shot as he is in eye contact view with the girls who are very small. 

Although the girls appear a bit scruffy, I wouldn't say that their parents don't care about their appearance as they are all in matching dresses which is quite nice. The fact that the girls have hoovers is quite stereotypical and links back to the ideas about Nuclear families in which the father is the breadwinner and the mother takes care of the children and the housework. Perhaps these sex specific roles something that the girls have picked up and are copying as they probably see their mother as a role model wishing to follow in her footsteps.

Influence:

Above is one of my best images from shoot 1, and a shot from Nick Waplingtons "Living Room" series which was the main inspiration behind this particular shoot. I focused on the closeness and intimacy of family, shown in this shot, with everyone sitting around a table together having a chat. This is a similar idea to Waplingtons image shown above, with everyone sitting down facing each other. There are some differences in the contexts behind these images though, as Waplingtons photography focuses on poverty England, depicting untidy, crowded and noisy lives. This is something that my images can't relate to. They are much calmer and tidier, however this is obviously something that I can't change. This particular style of documentary photography is what I am focusing on the most. The compositions are similar in both of these images, as both have focused on framing devices, although whilst shooting Waplington has tilted his camera whilst mine is straight. There is something that makes these images products of their time, Waplingtons image is clearly very 80's/90's with the clothing and the furniture etc. My shot is quite modern in regards to fashion and home decor. A slight difference in these images though is the colours. I edited my images with the idea to imitate film cameras with a tinted colour and partial lack of saturation, Waplingtons shot seems to have a lot of bright reds on some of the clothing and the furniture making his over all image appear much brighter. 

Summary:

Over all I find the work of Nick Waplington both aesthetically pleasing and contextually moving, his work makes a strong statement about family and relationships in a very natural way. I feel that his work inspires me to capture the essence of the moment in family life and shoot what may appear to be weird or unusual things in a very natural way.