Assignment 6
Click on image to see a bigger picture.
Do note that this blog only consists of my interpretations. Take a look at xinying's blog for her take on the picture.
Warning: Word intensive!
The picture was chosen because it was outstanding – the colours, the composition, the entire feel of it. Perhaps it is also because as one matures in years, the inkling of nostalgia begins to stir and a longing for one’s childhood days emerge. This picture is brimming with elements of ‘Old Singapore’, and even though it doesn’t mirror the one I grew up in, the emotion portrayed is one and the same.
It doesn’t just stop at the surface though. There are many whimsical elements within the picture – like the reflection of the old man in the mirror – that are each established signs, as well as certain little details that only pop out at you when you inspect the picture closely, like the manner in which the old man is standing begets amusement because it is such a ‘Singaporean uncle’ pose.
The single most prominent aspect of the image would probably be the shophouses across the road, or in particular, the manner in which they are framed by the windows of another shophouse. Other then being the brightest part of the image, they also provide the greatest contrast to the dark interior of the shophouse. The windows and the shophouses then produce a striking reminder that we see neither in modern architecture, and this casts an appropriate light unto the picture – that something antique is framing another antique.
The significance of the window do not stop there however. The three different portions that make up a single window frame – the decorative portion right at the top, the open space in the middle, and the grid at the bottom – all produce signs and meanings of their own. The inclusion of the entire window frame is particularly significant in the picture, as the photographer could have easily left out one or another of the various portions. Despite being the most intricate carpentry out of all the three, the decorative portion is placed the highest, partly because practically, it allows the least ventilation, and would block the airflow if placed in the middle or at the bottom. Perhaps a different interpretation would be how the generation past viewed such things, that decorations are meant to be placed high, out of harm’s way, as an art, or even a pleasant surprise for someone who takes time to observe the place. The middle portion, an open and always moving canvas of sorts, is there not only because it allows for the best ventilation, but also maybe because it offers the most unobstructed view of the outside world, as it is where most people would look out from. The last portion then, is there for safety’s sake, to prevent people from falling over when standing at the window. It must be asked then, why a grid of sorts, infused with its own pattern? It could have just been a solid board, no doubt which would have been safer. This way however, it offers the viewer, and the resident, a different and I daresay a more unconventional view of the street and all the things outside. One can either see the grids in their totality, or observe it piece by piece, a little like a live version of Hockney if I can say as such.
Here's some examples of other window shots:
Can you see how an open window frame is like a picture in itself?
It's about the same as the frame we put on our photographs when we display/present them, just albeit a lot more natural and ever-changing.
The 'real-life Hockney' type of window. The grids cut the picture into smaller pictures of their own, giving the viewer so many alternative viewpoints.
An example of decorative windows. You can't really see out of them, but they're still nice to look at anyhow.
As mentioned in a previous paragraph, there are many details in the picture that will be missed with a casual viewing. This is a shot of the old man’s life in his home – the shophouse – and having lived in it for such a long time, there must be elements scattered around that make this house his home. The clothes, the table…all of these may be overlooked in comparison to the brightness of the shophouse across the road, but they are still there nonetheless, and offer the viewer a brief glimpse into the old man’s life. Similarly, the picture as a whole has a Singaporen context to it; and people unaccustomed to our culture will probably not read the significance that Singaporeans will accord to it, and take it simply as a pretty picture instead.
It must also be noted that different individuals have different interpretations of the same scene, hence, Xinying has done her own detailed analysis of the picture, which will be combined for our presentation.
Yet, despite all that I feel the picture represents and all that I interpret from it, at the end of the day, not only may it differ from what others may think of it; it might differ as well from the photographer’s intention. Our previous assignment is evident of that, especially when it came to formalistic or expressionistic shots.
Self-evaluation:
I would give my group 90/100, because we definitely chose a picture that was well-composed and that drew the viewer in; and we utilized what we had learned from previous assignments as well.
Labels: a6, hockney, singapore, windows
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