15 August 2016
Relationships
Distance/displacement
Why are relationships so fleeting? So brittle? So often “non-existent”?
We see each other around and we often go
EHHH HELLO, HOW ARE YOU?!!!!!!
But the conversation often quickly ends with Good. You? Eh, I got to go busy, catch up with you soon.
But soon never ever comes.
And it’s this distance I hope to explore next. How people view themselves as “with a relationship(any kind – platonic) with someone, when in actual fact, is there really?
I’m not quite sure, but maybe also how technology shapes relationships. For instance Whatsapp, Pokemon Go(Dating Go LOL).
During lesson, I shared my idea. I said I would try taking photos of my mum calling me. No comments were given since I was last to present and that the class was running late already.
22 August 2016
With the rushed encouragement, I looked towards how my mother communicates with me. Since I’m living in hall now, my mum would call very often to check how I am doing. It is as if she is trying to bridge the relationship that has grown further apart due to distance(yes despite in small small Singapore). I explored the idea of her calling me, by taking pictures of her calling me using the payphone. She often calls me using the payphone at the foot of a neighbouring block on her way to the market. Hence the payphone is a significant “tool” and not just an object I anyhow chose, for instance instead of a handphone. My mum rarely uses her phone too.
Even then, the calls are brief as I’m so busy and caught up with things to spend more than 5 mins talking to her. It’s quite sad and pathetic of me actually. Hence there is this sense of ephemerality.
Below are some of the photos I took for the sharing session. I have also included a few more that I didn’t show the class so that the narration flows better.
Personal reflections:
The linear narration of the photos look very short. It’s just pick up phone, talk, put down the phone. The narrative is very short and documentary like. Also, I don’t like how the ‘picking up the phone’ scene looks like the ‘putting down the phone’ scene. (I didn’t include that above as I didn’t present it in class but I did take photos of it) So I’m feeling quite stuck here.
Teacher and classmates comments:
– Usually it’s the older people using the payphone. And it is usually them trying to initiate conversation. Probably can take photos of them using the payphone.
– Try finding many payphones, people using them. Take photos. Talk to them and take notes. Something along the lines of Humans of New York.
– I mentioned that my mum calls me at different times throughout the day. The idea of showing the different times of the day she calls me through changes in clothes and props. For instance in the afternoon is bright and there is a shopping trolley beside.
– 10 cents for 3 mins. That’s a very short time – also precious time. What can you say within these few minutes?
– It is quite weird that I’m taking photos of my mother when she is calling me. Ask my sister to take photo of my mum when she calls me on the payphone. Kinda like the work The Shadow by Sophie Calle whereby she got her mother help hire a P.I. to follow Calle and Calle hired another P.I. to follow the first P.I.
– Communication is 2 way. Feels lonely if you only take one side. Take a photo of myself when I’m on the phone with mummy. Then lay these two photos side by side.
– Fleeting communication. Our phone calls usually last less than 5 mins hence it can be an idea to record the conversation. Put it as a text beside the photo. Like how Sophie Calle does it too. Gives the audience a greater idea that I’m talking about fleeting communication.
29 August 2016
Following up on the class’s comments(the next two):
Some conversations I have with my mum – that often short (less than 5 minutes) hence it show the fleetingness of relationships:
– “Hello? Are you on the train yet?” “Yea.” “Was he there already?” “Yea.” “Why are you talking like that.” “I’m busy doing homework.” -hangs up-
– “Hello, have you eaten dinner yet?” “Yea. I ate liao.” “Who did you eat it with, him ah?” “No, he working today, I ate alone.” “sigh. Hurry up finish your work and go sleep earlier.” “Cannot, got lots of work today, I rushing homework now.” “Okay hurry okay, good nights” “Nights mummy.” -hangs up-
– “Hello?” “Hello, hi mummy. I talk to you later okay? I rushing to bathe, got the empty good empty cubical!” “Okay bye, sleep early horh. Call me before you sleep.” “okays can, bye.” -hangs up- (doesn’t call back too)
-Recurring theme of care and wanting to know more of my day – being closer? Especially poignant idea of wanting to be closer and connecting even though we’re physically far apart: Don’t sleep too late?, Have you eaten dinner?, How’s your day?, How’s school?
Research on Sophie Calle’s works to get some inspirations for my work:
– pictures and thoughts
Calling with mobile phones – teenagers calling a rare phenomenon
– I asked my sister to pretend as if she was calling someone on her mobile phone. I felt that in the following images that she was quite fake and uneasy looking. Possibly due to it being not natural for her to make calls, as she really does not make any phone calls. She hates calling. Like very much and I’m not kidding. She would always redirect you to drop her a text instead.
Why I decide to abandon the exploration of mobile phones:
I felt that mobile phones are quite insincere. They are too common and in your face – lame even. I think I prefer a more subtle approach to it. Whereby I approach the issue of human relationships from a non
Hunting Down Payphones, Events & Thoughts
I basically took 4 types of layouts, 1. Close up of the payphone in a straight-on manner, 2. Slightly further away from the payphone still in a straight-on manner, 3. The payphone(s) in it’s immediate surrounding to give a feel of where it’s situated and what are people’s reaction to it if any, 4. The payphone with people using it.
Number the sequence of places went and upload the photos for it.
1. IKEA Alexander
2. Beside NTU Giant & 7-11
3. Blk 964 Jurong West St 91
4. Blk 959 Jurong West St 91
5. Pioneer MRT
6. Toa Payoh MRT
7. Blk 190 Toa Payoh Lorong 6
8. Blk 183 Toa Payoh Central (near zebra crossing)
9. Blk 183 Toa Payoh Central Lift Lobby H
10. Blk 183 Toa Payoh Central Lobby E
11. Blk 178 Toa Payoh Central Beside Bata
12. Blk 179 Toa Payoh Central
13. Blk 998 Braddell Road Factory
14. Blk 205 Toa Payoh
15. Blk 109 Toa Payoh Lorong 1
16. Braddell MRT
17. Blk 126 Toa Payoh Lorong 1
18. Blk 128 Toa Payoh Loring 1
19. Blk 546 Woodlands
20. Vista Point Near Kopitiam
21. Vista Point Near Gian Supermarket
– talk about any funny experience felt or any story behind it:
-At Blk 959, the payphone beside Best coffeeshop, I saw this Chinese uncle in blue using the phone. I tried to be inconspicuous in taking photos of him using the phone, and since he was my first subject using the payphone, I was very nervous and excited. I walked around a bit in 360 degrees shooting random buildings and surroundings to try to make it less obvious that I was interested in him. He obviously noticed me and wasn’t happy about it. He tried turning his back towards me or at an angle from where I was that made the photos turn out as if he was standing near the payphone but not using it, which was not what I wanted. He started getting grumpy. And this Chinese auntie(at first I thought she was an uncle) in red, who I assume is his friend, has been eyeing me for a while, stood up from the bench nearby, walked in between me and the camera to shield him completely. It was quite obvious from body language and unhappy grunts that they were unhappy with my actions.
– At Toa Payoh MRT, I was photographing the payphone on the left out of 3 in a cluster. To my amazement, an old Chinese uncle just walked up calmly to the one right beside me and picked up the receiver. He pushed the coin in and said “我要一包horfun和一包yeemin。” – Which translates to: I would like to order one packet of horfun takeaway and another packet of yeemin takeaway. He then puts down the receiver and walks away.
– At the payphone at Blk 178 lift lobby E, there was a lady giving out flyers who was originally perching on her chair that was placed right beside the payphone. Upon realizing that I was taking photo of her there and the payphone, she got up and swiftly moved away. Standing far from me, she constantly moved, probably not wanting her picture to be taken.
– While photographing the red payphone near Bata shoe shop, there was this old Indian auntie pushing a red grocery shopping cart. I heard a loud clank, and through the corner of my eye I saw her shuffling past the black payphone to my right. Only after about 2 mins later did I realize that she must have been trying her luck/looking for small change in the change release slot. I just felt bad for her.
Feelings about asking ppl – cannot bring myself to do it. Especially after the first guy at best coffee shop scared me. – The humans of NY style won’t work sadly ):
I did mini experiments by lifting up the receiver and watching the different changes on the screen. This one in particular shows the common countries to call and the numbers to add before dialing. Which I think is useful as the caller ID sheet is quite a lot higher than a normal height person reads.
Different phones – different call duration with same amount of money
Test calling with the red-white payphone(Blk 178 TPY):
Test calling with the black payphone(Blk 179 TPY):
The red-white phones had a total call time of 2 mins for 10cents, whereas the black phones had a total call time of 3 mins for 10 cents. I feel that 10cents for 3 mins is really cheap!!
– This could be different suppliers having different regulations.
When testing the black payphone at Blk 183 Toa Payoh central for the money to limit of call duration, it had a call number appear on the handphone instead of the usual “blocked”. Being all excited, I tried calling back that number to see what would happen. Will the public phone ring? Sadly it didn’t. The screeen lit up and stated “phone busy”, even after I hung up my mobile phone side. It just continued like this for 2mins, even when I lifted up the receiver and placed it back down in a bid to restart it.
Analysing components of the phone:
What makes an effective means of communication? The components that make up the vessel of communication.
The overall design of payphones does vary, however, the individual components are roughly the same. A parallel that even though every relationship is very different but are essentially the same when it boils down to the fundamentals for instance, care, concern, effort.
Trend:
I notice that at the general same area, the same kind of phones are installed.
– Toa Payoh and Braddell: red-white and black
– Woodlands: red-yellow and red-white
– Pioneer: red-white
That being said, I mainly went to these 3 general areas only, so it may not be a good representation of Singapore as a whole. But it shows you a rough idea of how which payphone supplier has a stronghold over a certain area.
Top Up Machine
Found a top up machine at Blk 206 in Toa Payoh. It was quite cute lol.
Parallel that we have to make effort in connecting to one another, if you don’t put in, no one will ever receive and the chance of holding on to the relationship or reconnecting with one another is slim.
Self Portraits? Relationship Portraits?
I had a revelation that throughout this journey, I was in a way documenting indirect self portraits or indirect relationship portraits. There are generally 3 kinds of self portraits, direct self portrait – which almost uses a frontal imagery of the person, indirect self portrait using objects, often personal, to depict/tell a story of the person and lastly indirect self portrait with a reflection of the person on the object.
This was definitely a indirect self portrait, or even indirect self portrait with a reflection of the person on the object. It is the latter as you can see the reflection of my legs in the reflective metal piece at the bottom of the payphone, and sometimes a reflection of my camera on the top half of the payphone. It irked me a lot at first that I couldn’t take pristine photos devoid of people. But I realized that that wasn’t my point. My point is someone trying to connect this fleeting almost non-existent relationship. There is someone, hence presence, making the effort. Whether or not the other person responds to the initiation is a different matter. It is an indirect portrait that converted a public subject matter(public payphones) into something very intimate and personal within the short call duration time frame.
Presentation Layout Ideas
– People on the payphone photo on the left and their respective interview transcript on the right. Mimic Humans of New York style. A good thing about this layout is that it is very clear in providing information to the viewer. Visually, we know that the left pictorial corresponds to the right, with the text providing further insights of what’s going on in the picture. The following are some screenshot examples I took off Humans of NY’s Instagram page. (All credits to Brandon)
He continues using this style even in his books (hence it can’t really be said that the above layout was because of Instagram default layout settings). He carefully selects interesting parts or even mundane things in his interview/conversations with strangers and pairs it up with his pictures.
This idea was sadly scraped as I was too uncomfortable to approach strangers to ask them why the choice of using a payphone instead of their mobile phone, who are they calling, and what’s the relationship like with that person.
– using photos that show the payphones in their environment
As mentioned earlier, as I went around hunting for payphones, apart from capturing the payphone itself, I also took it in it’s surroundings. I found it amazing and intriguing how they seem to be juxtaposed in a space, sometimes blending in to the surroundings(due to colour) or standing out, yet no one notices it and walks by as if nothing was there. I want to give the idea of coldness in these pictures.
– small phone booth photos in passport size placed side by side. WHY passport photo size.
Reflection:
I learnt to be more aware of my surroundings, both the people and places.
Looking for payphones was hard as they are not common in Singapore anymore (I was hoping to find the iconic orange one, but to no avail).
I spent a lot of time walking around, staring intently at walls and walkways. And through this I was forced to notice other things like signboards, pipes and letterboxes – things that we normally ignore naturally. I also become more aware of people, their curious or annoyed piercing stares on me taking photos of people/themselves using payphones or the payphone itself (like seriously ah girl why are you taking that?! Is it that interesting?! – and it felt very very uncomfortable with them staring/glaring at me) or how inconsiderate some people can get when they clearly see you taking photos from a distance but still decide to walk right in front of your camera lens when you press the shutter. Maybe even then, I’m assuming they say and processed in their mind that I was taking photos, it may be like how we often only “see what’s important” to us and ignore all other visual information.
At first I was very apprehensive about taking photos of strangers using the phone. What if they see me and get unhappy(which my first stranger payphone user did). So I came out with methods like taking photos of the surroundings a bit first and not aiming at the payphone. I’ll do a 360 degrees photo taking session manner till I reach the payphone subject matter. This helped in building confidence. After a while, I just snapped away, and if I felt unsafe/uncomfortable, I would walk further away.
I wished I was able to muster up the courage to talk to strangers, it’s such a daunting thought and task. I felt really uncomfortable. But better insights could have been gained and added into this assignment, so it’s quite a shame, and I’m disappointed in myself.
I also felt quite frustrated about my composition. I wanted to frame all my payphones in such a way that they would take the same proportion of space in the paper size so that they look like a uniform documentary. This was hard as the red payphone was shaped vastly different from the black ones – red being shorter and a wider. Hence the positive and negative space differed a lot.
Artist Statement
I’m interested in relationships and how fleeting they seem in present times. How often do we really keep in touch with others and know about their lives in-depth? This particular concept sparked and caught my interest during a time where I was doing a lot of self-reflection regarding my relationships with my friends and family, and how they all seem quite non-existent, especially so for my friends in particular. I remember I used to be the one asking people out to meet and to catch up. Yet, after multiple empty promises and even rejections, I stopped putting in the effort altogether. Eventually I started seeing parallels to this with regards to my family relationships. In a way, I’m pushing them further away from me as I use reasons (or excuses) like being overwhelmed with schoolwork to keep conversations invariably short.
The choice of doing a documentary style, photo after photo of zoomed-in frontal view shots of payphones, was to make it devoid of emotions, to make it empty. In a way, this reflects the nature of many of our relationships: drained and empty. It also serves to make the viewer come face to face with the subject and reckon with its presence. There is a sense of irony, as we often walk past these payphones and not give two hoots about it or even notice that they are there. In addition, I chose to print them in passport sizes, to draw parallels to passport photo portraits, which are often very intimate belongings that we rarely want to show openly. Furthermore, due to their small size, it forces the viewer to come forward to view and scrutinize the payphone, creating a sort of tension.
Revised Artist Statement
Through the process of looking out for these payphones, it struck me how obscure and forgotten these machines were. It was almost as if they were relics of a time long past. And the only people who seemed to use them were remnants from that same time: a time when a phone call was the fastest way to reach someone distant. In today’s age of mobile phones, a phone call is an anomaly, text messages having replaced them as the most popular means of communication. Communicating via voice seems almost as archaic as these forgotten artifacts that I have photographed. The elements of expression in one’s voice: tone, pitch, volume, and accent, have been replaced with emojis and acronyms. I feel that this development of technology has taken away that element of humanity from our long-distance communications. Genuine communication has become lost to history, just as these payphones have.
Presentation of Artwork – Hung Up
35 photographs of payphones
1″ x 2″ each