Eyes vs Camera
When reading The Drawing Lab (Salmon 2018) by Michelle Salmon I found the following quote very interesting.
‘‘Acting as a form of recording mechanism, each drawing, as an instance of memory, retains an element of self. This is in contrast to visual records from mobile phones and other snapshots or movies, which store the record of a moment frozen in time but do not contain the subtle nuances provided by exploration and analysis of the physical sensory experience. (Salmon 2018)
We live in a digital age and emerging technologies have had a dramatic effect on the way we interact with the world. One area in particular is how we view art. Since Covid we have seen virtual museum and gallery visits rise in popularity. There are of course many advantages to these virtual visits, including Inclusivity for patrons who have disabilities and geographical and financial restrictions. However there is an emotional disconnect which I believe is changing our attitude to, and relationship with, art. When you view a piece of artwork in a gallery you see how it exists within its environment, how it changes with the light, take in its textures, you experience its presence in the space. None of this information is successfully conveyed in a photograph or on screen.
“Our eyes are also capable of dynamically adjusting exposure. As we scan a scene, object by object, our vision adjusts the exposure for each one, allowing us to see its value and color relationships more clearly”. (Christensen I 2019)
This is relevant to my own experiences and something which I find quite worrying. For instance, I am increasingly seeing students taking pictures in museums/galleries to draw from later rather than sketching the actual object at that moment in time. People at events taking pictures or holding up cameras and filming rather than actually physically engaging and experiencing the live event. I call it the’ Mona Lisa effect’. On a recent trip to the Louvre I was shocked and surprised by how many people were just taking photos and walking away, instead of actually looking and appreciating it as the artist intended. Appreciating a piece of artwork in its peaceful surroundings is not intended to be a rushed process.
The current trend among our student cohort’s is to capture everything on camera and I believe we need to encourage them to leave their phones in their pockets and use their eyes.
Below are some strategies which may help the active process of engagement
- Create drawing challenges to capture particular elements or details
- Include the use of digital tools within the drawing process
- Prepare students before the visit with information about artists, products and processes
- Group work for a more interactive experience
- Provide sketch pads for all gallery/museum visits
- Make it an experimental process, not an outcome based one
- Focus on perspective and proportion
- Put emphasis on understanding rather than recreating
In conclusion, drawing combines physical, mental and emotional input, which creates a unique connection to the experience, imprinting it onto our memories in a way that we wouldn’t get from observing a photograph or digitally recording the same experience. We often speak about a piece of art ‘speaking to us’, I believe this sensory connection is what drives that narrative.
Bibliography:
Christensen I (2019) ‘Why You Should Draw from Real Life, Not a Photograph’ Artsy, available at: https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-draw-real-life-photograph
Salamon, M. (2018) ‘Drawing laboratory: Research workshops and outcomes’. Spark: UAL Creative Teaching and Learning Journal, Vol 3 / Issue 2 (2018) pp. 131-141