Lucas Simoes

Lucas Simoes 

The reason I have chosen Lucas Simoes as one of my research photographers is because his work comes from physically distressing images. He burns holes into the printed image as a way of adding meaning that relates to the original context. Although his work doesn't reflect the style I am working with (camera obscura), I think what he does to his images after could link really well to my photographs. 

The pictures that we see are not taken by Lucas Simoes himself as he is more of an artist. Therefore he puts a coloured band at the bottom of each photograph as a way of showing they are 'ink on paper'. The reason he burns a hole into specific areas of the photograph is a way of erasing a memory. By burning the photo it get's rid of the memory within it. I really like this concept and think I could work with it in my own photography. 

This is the first image I picked out of Lucas Simoes work. It shows a young man lying in bed shielding his face, perhaps still asleep. The burn in the image directly covers his face, obscuring his identity from the viewer so that we can only imagine the expression on his face. I think the burn has been purposely placed here because it shows that the memories in his head are what he is trying to escape. By burning the head it erases the memories that are there, consequently relieving the man of any emotional pain he is going through. I think the purpose of him being in bed could symbolise depression or anxiety, this could perhaps be the debilitating force that is being burnt from his memory. It seems to me that the muted or drained colour of the photograph could reflect the amount of time the man has been there. When photographs are left the loose their vibrancy, the same as when humans are lonely for a long period of time you could say they lose their vibrancy or happiness. As you can see there is the purple band at the bottom of the image that indicates that the image doesn't belong to Lucas, instead, he uses already existing images to do his artwork. 

The image above shows a man sitting on the side curled up in a ball with the burn over his face. We can tell from the setting it looks like he's at an underground station as the man in front of him looks like he is waiting for a train. The man looks quite young from his physical appearance although we cannot see his face, however, his body language makes him seem very vulnerable. The way he is holding his legs and resting his head on his knee shows that he is trying to hide or protect himself from something. It almost seem's to me that he has social anxiety or is in fear of his surroundings. I can tell all of this from the way he is sitting without even seeing his facial expression which is a very powerful tool the artist has used to make the viewer look deep into the image. Similar to the image above it is the man's face that has the burn over it, perhaps inferring that the reason he is acting the way he is could be due to something that's going on in his head that he is trying to forget. I like the fact that the image is in black and white as I think it adds to feeling that we get from the man, perhaps he feels his surroundings are dull and can't see much light or colour due to mental illness. If the image does represent what I think it does, I think it is a really powerful way to show how someone struggling with mental illness might feel by erasing their memories from their head. 

The image above shows a picture of someone dressed as an angel with a burn mark over the front of their body. We cannot see their facial expression of body language in this photograph which is unusual as in most of the other pieces of Lucas' work we can. Therefore I can't infer much about the way this person is feeling or what they were doing. However, one thing I can say is that by burning an image of an angel it juxtaposes the gentle nature with something quite destructive. Our common perception of an angel is very pure and fragile however the one above looks like they are in a dirty and perhaps dangerous setting, to me it seems that they could appear as an angel compared to the people around them. Therefore by burning the identity of the person is could show that their angelic exterior is disappearing as they become like those they are with. believe this image displays the loosing of ones innocent self and loosing the memories of the past.


Lastly, I chose this image because it really stood out to me. As we can see there are two men sitting on the sofa, one is leaning on the other. I believe that this could signify a relationship between them, a romantic relationship that perhaps could be secret due to their identities not being evident. It feels like quite a sad scene, one that shows that the relationship between them is all that they have. This could be due to the stigma against gay couples in society, perhaps they feel they can only express their emotion in private and still be kept a secret. The fact that their faces are the only thing blurred out reinforces the idea that this is a secret. They know they are being photographed but still want their identity to be obscurred due to the nature of the image. I think this is a powerful way or portrayed the issues that many homosexual people experience, whereby they feel that their sexuality has to be a secret from the rest of society to avoid stigma.