Michelle Sank is a photographer based in England. Her work is a social documentary of the human condition. She looks into issues around social and cultural diversity.
The first series of hers that I am interested in is ‘Sixteen’. She was documenting what it is like to be 16 now. She focussed on Cornwall where she could explore the economic poverty and physical isolation. The series is really interesting as she incorporates text with it. The images alone are fairly simple. The subject is sat or stood in a location, usually looking at the camera. Some feature other people with them, perhaps important people in their lives. They look comfortable in the locations they are posed in so they might of chosen them themselves. What I like is that the images can only show so much about the person. The text that accompanies it lets you understand more about the subject and feel more engaged in the image. Adding media other than photography can add more depth to the work.
The other series I am particularly interested in is ‘Teenagers Belfast’. This was a commissioned work by Belfast Exposed Gallery. It was intended to ’empower these teenagers with a sense of individuality and to locate them within environments that bear no reference to the political struggles’. These images have inspired me visually. Each person looks moodily into the camera, they each pose differently suggesting ideas about them. For example one boy stands with his arms crossed in front of him, it looks as if he is doing this to show his authority.
The way she has photographed is really effective. The shallow depth of field means the subject stands out, but she is far enough away that you can see the background and surrounding area. A flash or some kind of artificial light must of been used as there is no shadow on the subjects. I like this as you can fully see the details of them and their expressions. These details are what make you begin to make assumptions about who they are.
Looking at Michelle Sank’s work has been inspiring. There is a few ideas that I would like to try out such as the text accompanying the images. She has also done a lot of portrait projects that I am going to use as visual inspiration, especially the Teenagers Belfast project. I will experiment with a flash and see if this is more successful.
Lucy Davis 