Freya Telling Tales

Examples of visual storytelling

(Photographic examples)

Julien Nespoulet

Duane Michals

Cindy Sherman

Ryan Schude

Andrew Skoda

George Rousse

(Non-photographic examples)

Even though these examples are photographs, I don't think they're trying to look professional or picturesque. They're simply just images giving you an insight of something that's happened and that's why I think they belong in this category. 

This example is narrative on a piece of pottery. It shows a family that could be working for their food (picking crops). 

In this lesson, we were given a narrative photo or photo set to look at and try to guess things about it, like the story line. Also, just talk about it in general. Giving the colours and mood of the piece.

We had to fill out a sheet about it without searching anything on the internet.

This is the piece I got first:

How has this particular piece been created? What sort of artwork is it?

This piece is a painting

Describe the image:

It has dark colours (black, grey, red)

I would say it's A3+ in size

 the central subject is a man being murdered on the bed

The composition is simple and not too busy, there is nothing distracting you're eyes other than what you see first

There are 3 people in the piece

They are decapitating the man on the bed

I think this would have been in the Victorian/Tudor times

It has a depressing/sad/morbid mood and feel to it

It makes me think about why they would be doing this to the man and makes me feel shocked/sad

Interpret the image:

The subject of the image is the man and the two women.

My thought is that maybe the man was caught cheating on his wife (I think that's the woman who has the sword) with the other woman in the piece

Now we used the internet to see the real facts about the piece and to compare how right we were

What's the title of the piece? 

Judith Slaying Holofernes

Who created it?

Artesmisia Gentileschi

When was it created?

C. 1611-12

How big is it?

158.8cm x 125.5cm 

Where is it displayed?

National museum of capodimonte, Naples

What's the story behind the piece?

Judith is the woman with the sword and Holofernes is the man being decapitated. Holofernes was an Assyrian general which was the leader of an empire or kingdom. He was about to destroy Judith's home but then he overcame with drink and is decapitated by Judith. His head is then taken away in a basket.

What sort of story is this?

It's historical/religious/biblical 

Does this piece show the story as a detailed series or as a single scene?

This story is shown in a single scene

How close were you in your interpretation of the piece?

I was quite right, with the decapitation part but I wasn't right in why I guessed it was happening

This is the second piece I got:

How has the piece been created? What sort of artwork is it?

A painting

Describe the image:

Dark and light colours (black, grey, blue, red)

I would guess the size is A3+

The central subject in this piece is Jesus

It's a busy piece, there are a lot of people and are all doing different things

In this piece there is Jesus and the 12 Apostles

They are all eating and talking

I would say the age of the people is 20+ 

I think it's a celebration, it doesn't make you feel sad or depressed like the first piece did. This one makes you feel happy 

Interpret the image:

The subject of the artwork is Jesus

I think the story is just of them having dinner together/ Jesus having his last meal with the Apostles

(Now I used the internet to find out about the piece)

What is the title of the piece?

The Last Supper

Who created it?

Leonardo De Vinci

When was it created?

1495 - 1498

How big is it?

460 x 880 cm

Where is it displayed?

Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan

What is the story behind the piece?

On the first day of the Passover, Jesus sent 2 of his disciples with instructions on where to prepare the meal. That evening Jesus sat with his 12 Apostles to eat his final meal before going to the cross. He told the group that one of them would betray him at any point soon. He broke bread and passed it around for people to eat saying ''This is my body'' and then did the same with the wine saying ''This is my blood''.

What sort of story is this?

Religious/ Historical

Does this piece show the story as a detailed series of events or as a single scene?

A single scene

How close were you in your interpretation of the piece?

I was very close because I went to a Catholic primary school and learnt about this story and recognised the painting. 

What's the story?

In this lesson we were given a series of images and we had to try and guess the order they went in, what the story was and different things about it like the timescale in which they were taken. 

This is a series called 'Self Burial' by Keith Arnatt

I guessed the right order of this series because I'd seen it before, but I think that even if someone hasn't seen it, it's still really easy to get the order right.

What made you decide on this order?

I think this series has a very obvious order to it

What's the story?

I think the story is just simply a man doing a self burial

What's the timescale?

The timescale of this I think could have around 20 minutes to get the whole set

What elements stay the same in each image?

The person, the scenery, the camera angle and the composition stay the same in each photograph

This is a series called 'Life is good and good for you in New York' by William Klein

What do you think the story is?

I think it's a walk around town, seeing lots of different people in lots of different places

What kind of photography is it?

It's documentary photography

How would you describe the subject of the photographs?

I would say none of them know they're having their photograph taken. A couple of them look into the camera but I don't think it's staged

What is the timescale?

I think the timescale is around 1 hour+ 

This photo series was definitely a lot harder to put into order than the first one because it's not a set story where something happens first and then it leads up to something else. This could be put in any order and still have the same meaning. 

In our lesson, when we got our narrative images, we made a timeline on the floor and put them all onto it after we searched about them on the internet and found out what year they were made. This is the timeline below:

(end of timeline)

(beginning of timeline)

This is the photo I've chosen to analyse. It's by Gregory Crewdson and is in the photo series 'twilight'.

Describe:

Dark colours, flooded room, woman floating on water, messy living room, a lot of square/rectangle shapes

Analyse:

I notice the woman first, she is in the center of the image and catches your attention. 

There are no relationships shown as there are is only one person in the image.

Interpret:

The mood of the image is loneliness/sad/depressed.

I think the artists intention is to create a shock and make you question why there is a drowned woman in what looks to be, her own home. 

Evaluate:

I think this image gives the sense of loneliness because there's just the one woman in the image and it looks to me like she's drowned in the flooded house. I think it could have maybe been suicide, maybe she's had a hard and upsetting time in her life. 

I do like the image, I like how the water has been flooded into her own home rather than being taken into a lake or something. I think that adds more of a personal feel to the image. I also like how it's composed, you can see her in the middle and then all her belongings surrounding her. I think that's really effective. 

It affects my way of thinking as it makes me question what the image is actually about. Also, the fact she is face up which I think is odd because this contradicts the idea of the woman drowning in that amount of water because when you look closely, the water is only up to the sitting point of the sofa.