However, apart from a handful of strong images, I did not think the overall essay told me much about the vision you were trying to convey through the pictures. Your write-up was much stronger. There were a few images which made the point, but then there were others which had the same feel and repetition. I longed for more images and different approaches. I don’t know how much time you had on this subject, but wished to see more. Would love to hear back from you.

Thanks for sharing this world through your eyes. Hope my comments help.

The guys and me take photos in the ward all the time ……….then we make the rest of the stuff up,……….. it only takes one photo to get us up there with Walt Disney

In a conceptual photographic context the art and authorship of photography really come alive and this is what makes it so fascinating and compelling. As photographers we are taking over the creative reigns in a conceptual framework even if based on or in “reality”. The subjective reality of the photographer is what really matters. I do have issue with overt conceptualization to a point of Dadaism. I think the nihilistic and narcissistic tendencies that pop up in conceptual photography from time to time are of limited value today. There is no great need to repeat past artistic movements from the avante-garde art world of the 1920’s in photography. We have the power, presence and capability to revisit the themes which inspired these artistic movements and which are still relevant today and conceive new ways forward. Photography is evolving as is our collective consciousness toward new revolutions of thought. This is where I think the future lies in the appeal and efficacy of photography in a post-post modern world.

What I’ve articulated in my introduction – that all came after the fact. I wasn’t aware of why I was photographing what I was at the time, but rather pieced it together later.

I’d be interested in knowing about others’ experiences in this regard? Have you always began with a clear agenda, or do projects grow from an experience, a loose idea, a single photo?

It seems that there are two issues that have been twigged here: Paul, you’ve voiced your concerns about fair representation- a valid one, I think, and others have commented on the conceptual nature of the project.

I’ll admit that I have been wrestling with the first. This project did not begin, and never became for me, a critique of zoos. As callous as it may sound, politics never really entered into the picture (ahem) for me. I began photographing in zoos because they are visually interesting places, I then discovered the visual trope created by the reflective nature of the plexi-glass, and worked that trope as much as I could. As such, it has been primarily a formalist exercise. If the monkeys represented look terrified/angry/depressed, well, that’s because that’s they way they looked. But, as we all know, photos lie. The wide-mouthed fellow in photo 7 – that’s not a scream. He was yawning. Does that make this a mis-representation? Probably. Does that make this photo dishonest? Possibly. I’m still not sure. Context certainly suggests that it’s a scream, but the viewer brings their own politics/experiences to bear as well.

Another comparison that I would like to make is the similarity between these photos and the story by Jenn Ackerman on the mentally disabled in prisons. From a purely visual point of view I see many parallels. There are other deeper comparisons to be drawn as well.

Herve, it’s interesting what you say about the trend on Burn toward more conceptual work. I also made similar comments 6 months – 1 year ago. However, I’m beginning to be drawn more towards these projects that perhaps have some documentary aspect, but perhaps lure the viewer in, with small nuanced suggestions rather than direct news style communicating. The difficulty seems to offer some comprehensible information while at the same time finding a new conceptual framework that is fresh for the audience. The balance between the two without going too conceptual appears to be the challenge. I think publishing “A Monkey Business” and “A Troubled Paradise” next to one another illustrates this difference perfectly.

Happy holidays and lot’s of health and happiness to everyone in 2010!

Not a criticism at all, but a very interesting trend in BURN submissions, and maybe a sign of David following that trend, ie. photography is to be more art than simply “my eyes have seen…” from now on. No idea, personally, save that, of course, the greatest, or most achieved photographers were/are also supreme artists, since 1849. So, maybe all the others too, now! ;-)

The highly contrasted pictures don’t come out that great, as I think this is the perfect type of essay for classic medias, like book, prints, and walls, rather than our screens. But your idea is well conveyed, we do react when looking at them, and that’s testimony to the veracity of the feelings gripping you inside, Jonathon (than?).

Last, We do treat each other (humans) like that. probably more guys and gals are and have been living in stolid, abject penitentiary conditions than monkeys in this world.

These were the ones:

1,2,5,6,7,9.

That’s a pretty darn high ratio.

I was reminded too of a moment that I experienced in the Mysore zoo in Southern India. In one of their enclosures, there is a very old chimp of some sort other than the most common ones that we are used to – so old that it has lost much of its hair. I spotted it as it walked upright across the grass. It did not even look like a chimp, but like a very old man, naked and forlorn.

Then I thought of a certain monkey in the zoo in Eureka, California, where I lived for a short while in my youth. This monkey would throw poop at people, and masturbate in front of them.

Anyway, I think you’ve got a good start on an essay that could use a little more work, yet.

On the other hand, if you feel you’ve spent enough time with it and want to move onto something else, fine, because you can never get it all.

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