Photography, as a form of art has different approaches according to the perception and approach of the photographer. Different photographers use different social themes and photographic production techniques to create their art. In this review, a comparison is made of the photographic approaches of Ann Parker and Manuel Alvarez Bravo, looking for similarities and differences in their art.
Ann Parker, like Manuel Alvarez Bravo’s photographs, has human beings and human life as the central element. However, Ann Parker is an American photographer in Latin America that acquires the photographic approaches of local photographers. Parker gets fascinated with the approaches of the itinerant photographic forms.
She uses old painted backdrops with different scenes like cityscapes or religious locations as the background of her photographs. These backdrops were set up mostly in rural fairs and marketplaces, where peasants who were the main users of this form frequented. This is seen in Ann’s famous photograph “Young Indian Couple with Cityscape” taken in 1973 in Solola Guatemala.
The photograph revolves around a young Guatemalan couple with a backdrop of a city portrait. This photographic approach is different from Manuel Alvarez Bravo’s photographs that are portraits. Manuel Alvarez Bravo is a major photographer from Mexico, whose photographs entail mysterious and eerie visual images adopting surrealism form.
This surrealism influence is the result of his modernist photographic approach, which focuses on form, Mexican art and Mexican life. The modernist approach in his photographs focuses on themes like “death” or “birth.” In addition, the photographs are allusions intertwined with Mexican folklore, ritual, myth, and reflections of life.
For example, this modernist photographic approach is indicated in the “La Buena Fama Durmiendo” 1938-1939 photograph. The photograph’s name means “Good Reputation Sleeping,” which shows a young woman sleeping in the sun. Manuel focuses on the young woman as she rests on a Mexican blanket as her thighs and ankles are wrapped with what appears to be bandaged.
Manuel’s modernist approach leads him to focus on the woman’s physical form, which indicates her pubic area emphasized against the backdrop of white fabric. Manuel Alvarez Bravo’s humanist approach is distinctly different from Ann Parker’s approach for her focuses on surrealism aspects like the sexuality and seductive aspects of the naked woman.
On the other hand, Ann Parker focuses on the simple and everyday life of peasants on city backdrops. Manuel’s modernist approach is emphasized by the focus of eroticism and the different altered states of human consciousness. This is unlike Ann, who focuses on depicting the simple life of peasants from Latin America, dressed in their Sunday best as they visit fairs and marketplaces.
Her photographs center on the traditional colorful dressing and adornment won by rural Guatemalan’s. This especially focuses on the brightly colored blankets often wrapped around women’s shoulders or men’s waists. In addition, Ann Parker’s photographs indicate the western influences on these communities, especially in the backdrops used in the photograph, while Manuel focuses on the realism of Mexican life.
Ann tries to show western influences like high-rise buildings, motor vehicles, airplane, paved streets, and street lighting in her photograph. However, Manuel focuses on Mexican folklore like the thorny cactus pieces lying next to the woman on the blanket, and which imply danger.
In conclusion, Ann Parker and Manuel Alvarez Bravo are both accomplished photographers that use different approaches to depict the way of life in their communities. Ann parker differs from Manuel Alvarez Bravo by using the itinerant photographic approach that uses still painted backdrops, while Manuel uses modern approach with surrealism influences.