[LAUIL601] Artist Research: John Sayers

 

Figure 1

Figures 2 and 3

Figure 4

John Sayers is a photographer who I found through the Bethlem Gallery who has potentially exhibited with them or been treated at the hospital. Unfortunately he has no website so I cannot located the names of his works or find any more information.

From my own interpretation, it seems that we are looking through his lived lens and his point of view. The camera is his lens. The lighting is often dark or washed out and the lens of the camera is pointed downwards looking at his hands or feet to avoid social interaction and suggest isolation and seclusion from his mental illness and depression. The photographs of him standing on ledges could suggest thoughts of suicide. One photo, Figure 4, looks up - setting itself apart from the rest of the portfolio in many ways along with the lighting only having one small light source. It's like a crack in the ceiling. Perhaps a higher being looking down, sayers looking up for any kind of sign or answer to his eternal moral questions. The lens flare, the expanse of dark and the small light source make us as the viewer feel small and insignificant. Despite the dar subject matter, he considers his composition in a balanced unity with plentiful strong light, a sense of depth and direction and careful consideration of where the audience will be looking in the photograph. There are cool tones and values, and a relationship with the exterior.