Typology - White & Brown Eggs

[Manfred M]

This image is a photographic typology made famous by Bernd and Hilla Becher, starting in the 1960s. The Bechers were conceptual artists and have influenced many contemporary photographers.

This typology is a commentary on discrimination and racism. While in Western Societies we are conscious of our attitudes towards people that look different than we do, I have seen racism in many of the countries in South and Central America, Africa and Asia where minorities (including Caucasians) are discriminated against because they look different than the majority population.

I used white and brown eggs as my subjects; all advanced life originates from eggs. I spray painted one egg flat white and left another its natural colour. Each flat contains 30 eggs that I photographed from above. I used the classic Becher approach of a 3 x 3 typology.

The individual pieces are named:

Top row - left: Harmonious World
Top row - centre: There goes the neighbourhood
Top row -right: The invasion continues
Middle row - left: Threatened majority
Middle row - centre: Being squeeze out
Middle row - right: Time to bail out
Bottom row - left: Deterioration
Bottom row - centre: Renewal
Bottom row - right: Harmonious World II

[escape]

Definitely thought-provoking. It invites self-examination and discussion. If that was your aim, you hit your mark. Well done.

[Round Tuit]

+1 to Daniel's comment.
Questions:Why did you turn the crates for the first two "squares" of the bottom row and why did you go back to a white crate for the last one?

[Manfred M]

+1 to Daniel's comment.
Questions:Why did you turn the crates for the first two "squares" of the bottom row and why did you go back to a white crate for the last one?

The only difference between the centre right and bottom left image is that one more brown egg has moved into the neighbourhood and that the neighbourhood has declined from being that pristine white colour to more of an unrefined gray.

That continues as white eggs start to move back; the neighbourhood is mixed population again, but is still not well maintained in the bottom centre image, but at least the population has started to recover.

In the bottom right, we have a good mix (i.e. equal numbers of both brown and white eggs, that are completely inter-mixed), unlike the last time we saw a (roughly) equal populations, where eggs of the same colour were among other eggs of the same colour. The whole egg flat is that pristine, well-maintained white again.


The model for this "neighbourhood" was the area of Bangalore, India where my daughter and her family lived. It was a Muslim part of town, full of Indians, but the Muslim men generally dressed in white, whereas the Hindu men wore what we would recognize as more "normal" clothing (coloured shirts, jeans). My daughter, husband and son live in a small complex in the part of town, but there were no Muslims living there and in fact, so far as they could tell they were the only non-Indians that lived in that area. The white / brown can represent neighbourhoods in many parts of the world..

[Manfred M]

Definitely thought-provoking. It invites self-examination and discussion. If that was your aim, you hit your mark. Well done.

Thanks Daniel - Thought provoking was definitely my intent here, although I was not dwelling on the usual "western" views of discrimination, but rather an unfortunate aspect of human behaviour that I have seen applied by the majority to the minority all over the world. There are many societies that are racist, but they often do not appear to notice it amongst themselves, but can certainly spot in in others. Northern Europeans looking down on darker skinned southern Europeans, northern Indians looking down at the darker skinned southern Indians, a number of Asian countries looking down on anyone that does not look like them, etc. etc.

I just wish chicken eggs came in colours other than white and brown...

[FootLoose]

I just wish chicken eggs came in colours other than white and brown...

They do. Apart from obvious variations of "pure" white to cream, some breeds lay coloured eggs. The Chinese Silky, for example, lays pale blue eggs, though I doubt you would buy any of them in your local supermarket. The bird also has black skin, which might interest you.

[pnodrog]

Obviously an eggstatic collection. Sorry but someone had to mention it...

An interesting lot of photographs. The possible permutations will delight a maths fanatic. I enjoyed looking at them.

[Manfred M]

They do. Apart from obvious variations of "pure" white to cream, some breeds lay coloured eggs. The Chinese Silky, for example, lays pale blue eggs, though I doubt you would buy any of them in your local supermarket. The bird also has black skin, which might interest you.

Thanks Greg - I am aware of some of the interesting colours produced by exotic breeds, but I had no intentions of hunting down farmers or other hobbyists that might have these types of hens around. My props are 100% from the local grocery store; an easy supply should clumsy me break any...

I had contemplated having a few shell-less yolks in some of the partitions, but I didn't really want to suggest that level of violence....

[Manfred M]

Obviously an eggstatic collection. Sorry but someone had to mention it...

An interesting lot of photographs. The possible permutations will delight a maths fanatic. I enjoyed looking at them.

You are eggsactly correct Paul!

[pnodrog]

You are eggsactly correct Paul!

I have to eggspect the the inevitable. My sincere appologies everyone.

[pschlute]

Very effective.

[nonacaremac]

I like the idea and as a set of pics it is effective and works well. But I wonder, is it a little too idealized and perhaps a little too civilized. In our real current world with extremism coming from all parts of the political and international spectrum it makes me wonder if a truer world view should include the centre pic having a whole lot of smashed eggs in the middle, almost as if a boot had come down and squashed them. For me that would have more impact and reflect reality. The rest of the pics would still follow and provide some sort of faith in the potential for reconciliation, regrowth and harmony. Just a thought and I presume many would disagree.

[Manfred M]

I like the idea and as a set of pics it is effective and works well. But I wonder, is it a little too idealized and perhaps a little too civilized. In our real current world with extremism coming from all parts of the political and international spectrum it makes me wonder if a truer world view should include the centre pic having a whole lot of smashed eggs in the middle, almost as if a boot had come down and squashed them. For me that would have more impact and reflect reality. The rest of the pics would still follow and provide some sort of faith in the potential for reconciliation, regrowth and harmony. Just a thought and I presume many would disagree.

That was one option I certainly thought about, but decided not to go in that direction. The violence is certainly front page news, but the daily biases and discrimination are not. One makes front page news, while the other has even deeper insidious cultural impacts. That is what I decided to focus on.

[DanK]

Literally, it should mean the study of types, like geology (study of the earth), psychology (study of psyches), and cardiology (study of the heart). However, the "ology" part, from the Greek "logia" (study) is often not used that way these days. E.g., in many scientific papers, people use "methodology" to mean "methods" (the methods used in the paper), while methodology is actually the study of research methods, e.g., statistics.

[Manfred M]

Literally, it should mean the study of types, like geology (study of the earth), psychology (study of psyches), and cardiology (study of the heart). However, the "ology" part, from the Greek "logia" (study) is often not used that way these days. E.g., in many scientific papers, people use "methodology" to mean "methods" (the methods used in the paper), while methodology is actually the study of research methods, e.g., statistics.

I have yet to figure out the original German name on what the Becher's did, but their impact on contemporary photography was profound with their collections of images (all taken with 8" x 10" B&W film). In English we refer to much of their their work as Photographic Typologies. Water towers, mine headstocks, grain elevators, etc. displayed in a grid pattern was what they are remembered for.

The Düsseldorf School is a term for the work that they and their students did.





https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-term...ol-photography

https://www.moma.org/artists/422#works


Bernd and Hilla Becher

[DanK]

They used the same word, but spelled with an ie at the end, as is typical in German, I think.


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[Manfred M]

I received a nice surprise via email this afternoon:






There were a total of 683 images entered and my work, at 26.5 our of a possible 30 points received the second highest score given in the competition. The highest was 27.0 points (our of a maximum of 30). Unfortunately for me, two images tied for second place and mine was bumped down to 3rd place on a tie-break. This has happened to me before... Still, I'm quite pleased with the result.

[Round Tuit]

Congratulation.

[Martin A]

Congratulations, Manfred!!

[mugge]

Well done, Manfred!