Essays on Art

“The relation between what we see and what we know is never settled”. This quotation from the beginning of John Berger’s book Ways of Seeing describes the failed relationship between viewing and understanding, particularly in reference to creative works. In his book, John Berger explores the connection between perception of and interpretation of art through...

A lot of articles criticized technology for being too powerful on the society now a days. Some of those articles I searched online about the connection between creativity and technology tried to make me see the other side of it, such as if “the internet give us a template for everything, and limitless supply of...

The definition of the term Orientalism has been devised by Palestinian and intellectual critic, Edward Said in 1978. Said composed a deep criticism on Western Oriental studies and how the concept of ‘Orientalism’ and the image of the ‘Oriental Other’ was scheme of imaginative fictions; created by the European-West to justify colonial dominance and imperial...

The term avant-garde, originally a French term translating to vanguard, means ‘advance guard’ and is used to describe the shock troops which went ahead of an army (Kostelanetz, 2013). In terms of art and design the term means art that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox (Picchione, 2004; 63) and work that is exploring new forms...

Within this essay I will be exploring the idea that the typography on film posters can have a direct impact on the mise èn scene of a film. The term ‘mise èn scene’ is a French phrase, literally meaning ‘placing on the stage’. Within the world of film this is technically taken to mean the...

Photojournalism is a practice that has been used for decades to visualise news stories, replacing old-fashioned illustrations and woodblock engraving. While it is closely intertwined with other photography types, like documentary, street, or social commentary,like those popularised by Thomas Bewick at the end of the 18th century photojournalism is distinguished by complying with a stringent...

Orientalism is a key concept that provides a new perspective on the study of the impact of colonialism in the Middle East and the relationship of the region with the rest of the world, mainly Europe and North America. Edward Said’s definition of orientalism was to bring attention to the false narrative built by western...

First of all, before discussing the above statement in relation to any contemporary photography practice, I would like to analyze John Berger’s perspective upon photography. While writing his book Understanding a photograph, Berger comments on the fact that a photograph is a result of a photographer’s decision that a particular event/object or person are worth...

You cannot escape the past. All that we do in every walk of life has some link to the way things ‘used to be done’. Our culture, our traditions and our beliefs are based around our history and the present is linked to the past, often trends and ideas go full circle but are adapted...

Traditional African architecture consists of houses or buildings which constructed from local materials such as earth, timber, straw, and stone/rock. This is normally built with the simplest of tools and methods to allow a straightforward and quick build which is habitable. Earth and mud have been one of the most vital building materials which when...