How Culture affects the Use of Different Backdrops in Photography for Hand Painted Backdrops
Photography is a language that can’t be translated.
That does not mean it is universally the same – across locations, cultures or history.
Photography can be a wonderful way to express how you view the world and people. I remember I got my first camera when I was 10, it was a small digital camera that malfunctioned every time it was in contact with the sun. But to me, it was the happiest day of my life. Since then, I developed a collection of 15 cameras and counting!
But photography can be as challenging as it is intriguing. You need to pay attention to your surroundings; the subject as well as the background, the lighting and think about what you’re trying to do with that photo.
Why are Backdrops Important?
In photography, the subject is just as important as the background. The background of an image can make or break it. At times, it is up to the backdrop you choose whether an image looks cluttered, clean or creative.
Backdrops can tell a story, provide depth to the image and help the photo come together.
Having a unique backdrop in your studio can even add personality to your work as an artist and distinguish you from others.
The photo backdrop has been a dominant expressive device since photography was established as a common artistic medium in the 19th century.
Where do Backdrops come from?
We have come a long way since 1816 when the first camera was invented.
Now we can take photos in any place, any time we wish. But back then, that was an impossible task! Taking photos outside during the early days of photography was expensive but at times, dangerous.
So, photographers had to get very creative. Victorian photographers often used hand painted backdrops in a studio, much like theatre stage sets. This gave studios the flexibility to cater to their client’s wildest fantasies. Whether it was driving a car, dressing up like a royal or even space travel!
As cameras became cheaper, competition grew between studios. This put photographers in a tight spot, forcing them to innovate with every step. Everyone had the same cameras essentially so they chose to innovate in the area which studios had control over: backdrops. Photography studios were a lot like mini theatre productions at times, with elaborate designs to allow people to do the impossible.
A great example of how elaborate and surreal these backdrops could be, comes in the form of one of the first films in history: A Trip to the Moon (1902) by Georges Méliès. It features one of the first instances of practical special effects and the sets were exclusively made of hand painted backdrops to create the illusion of the moon.
Or, what people thought going to the moon would be like, at a time where man was nowhere near knowing what that was like!
Backdrops and Cultural Expression
Looking at the past of photography can be endearing to see where we have been and how we developed the art form that we have today.
At the Dalhousie Art Gallery in Halifax, Canada in the winter of 1999; there was an innovative exhibition titled “From the Background to the Foreground: The Photo Backdrop and Cultural Expression”.
Curated by James Wyman, this exhibition incorporated a series of hand-painted backdrops, photographs and props related to commercial portrait photography across the globe. From various countries in Africa, to China and India, with additional material focused on Black and First Nations communities in the USA, Guatemala and Mexico.
This exhibition generated wonderful and thought-provoking discussions around portrait photography. The project aimed to explore art and photography in the context of culture and representation, but also history.
The historical selection covers the period 1880 to the present. Some of the work demonstrates transitions from colonial regimes to post-colonial conditions of self-expression. The juxtaposition of these suggests how photographic realism is contained and sometimes contested in societies previously dominated by other forms of visual expression.
One of the best and most curious things about this exhibit was that visitors were encouraged to bring their own cameras and use the backdrops to create their own photographs.
Photography and Cultural Translation
With photography being a universal expressive mode, there can be issues with misinterpretation and mistranslations.
Photographer and researcher, Dr Lucy Soutter from University of Westminster run into this exact problem after the publishing of her monographs, Why Art Photography?
She details how after her monograph was translated into Chinese back in 2016. A British friend had asked her “Which Chinese characters did your translator use for the word ‘photography’ in the title of your book? You do realise that there are several possibilities, don’t you, with quite different connotations?”.
This caused Dr Soutter to panic, thinking about the fundamental issues with the translation of text from one language to another. In her work, she explores the issues with the cultural translation of photography, with a focus on the divide between East and West.
Her work raises some key issues with photography and the translation of photographic ideas. Even with the greatest fluency, a single word will always change the meaning of a text in many ways because it can lack cultural understanding.
Localisation is a form of translation services, that involves the process of translating something in character with its location or setting. This is often applied to translations that require cultural knowledge.
Dr Soutter raised some interesting ideas; one would think that a visual medium does not require localisation but the ideas and explanations behind art does. The meaning of art can get often get lost in translation.
Dalia Rodriguez de Oliveira
PR & Content Writer