Parental Control:
Photographs by Marlon James
Highly competitive and driven to leave his mark on society, photographer Marlon James discusses his work with ARC.
Friday, February 24th, 2012
Marlon James has set out to make his name known by showing the world as he sees it through his camera lens. Marlon aims to create powerful and thought provoking work that his fans will come to appreciate. He describes his own art as classic and iconic. His style is reminiscent of photographers like Robert Mapplethrope and Richard Aveon who both possess the ability to capture a story while pushing boundaries, ensuring that the audience takes note of what they are trying to do with their art.
So too does Marlon’s work push boundaries and tell stories, though admittedly some of his portraits don’t always have a story behind them, they are always interesting.
“Nothing is ever black and white…you have to make sure to look out for those gray areas”. And James’ photography is certainly packed with gray areas. At times you may linger over a photo wondering what is meant to be portrayed here and at other times the message is as clear as day. One thing that remains a constant is his ability to always manage to engage his audience. His message always subjective.
The Jamaican native has exhibited his work all over, from the Mutual Life gallery in Jamaica, Alice Yard in Trinidad, to the IDB Cultural Centre in Washington, D.C. and the Barge house in London. He is a perfectionist of sorts, his traditional dark room training has left little room for use of Photoshop to enhance his images “I don’t use a lot of Photoshop. My photography background started in the dark room…so I always shoot to get exactly what I want.” You see his strong point is his narrative everything else is secondary.
In his portfolio Marlon has included pieces in a three picture series he calls “Parental Control”. This is an example of Marlon’s more provocative work; he draws the viewer in with these controversial stills. The series was born out of Marlon’s childhood experiences. He relays the story of growing up being exposed to violent films. “Parental Control is personal because I grew up being exposed to violent films and mimicking things I saw with my friends. But when there was a lovemaking scene, I was told to cover my eyes or leave the room. Yet I could watch all the dancehall and hip hop videos with women dressing skimpy and shaking their booty.” He explores this contradiction in his stills forcing the viewer to wonder what is and isn’t acceptable. In arguably the most striking photograph of the series rifles can be seen in the background of a television program, while the viewer simultaneously holds a gun to the television. Immediately you are made to think. Marlon resurrects one of the most controversial and widely discussed issues with this single portrait .The Rifles captured on the television seems harmless and acceptable but not so much so the one that the television viewer is holding. The photographs do an excellent job of bringing to light society’s hypocrisy.
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Though Marlon has been formally trained at the Edna Manley College of Visual and Performing Arts he feels that one can only get better with continued education. Thus he continues to educate himself by studying with photographers whose works he admires. Some of these photographers come from his homeland of Jamaica while others come from the United States.
Currently Marlon is trying to create works that will attempt to examine his cultural identity as a Jamaican. As he puts it, he wants to show that Jamaicans are more than what the world perceives them to be.
From the Parental Control Series
It will be interesting to see what Marlon comes up with for his future projects. Like the great photographer Erwin Olaf who Marlon admires it will be sure to push boundaries reminding us that sometimes the narrative of the story is stronger than just aesthetics. To know more about Marlon’s work please visit: http://mjamestudio.com/home/
