User:Jakemorris/Researchproposal

For Steve

Research Proposal

In this Trimester my research will focus on psychological theory and its relationship with cinema and photography. Previously, I explored the topic of Trauma and Transcendence through the lens of my Hasselblad. The project began last year with photographing Lockerbie, a town where Pan Am Flight 103, a regularly scheduled Pan Am transatlantic flight from Frankfurt to Detroit via London and New York. The plane was targeted by terrorist activity on 21 December 1988. The aircraft operating the transatlantic leg of the route was destroyed by explosion, killing all 243 passengers and 16 crew, before landing on the small unsuspecting town of Lockerbie, killing the eleven residents below. The next steps to the project were in attempt to capture photographs of Aberfan in Wales, where the catastrophic collapse of a colliery spoil tip at around 9:15 am on 21 October 1966 crushed an entire school full of both teachers and children. And then finally images of the people and place of Hungerford, in reference to the Hungerford massacre, which was a series of random shootings in Hungerford, England, on 19 August 1987. Michael Robert Ryan, an unemployed antique dealer and handyman, fatally shot sixteen people, including a police officer before shooting himself. Admittedly, this did not work the way I originally intended as they somewhat felt like they held an element of dark tourism when shooting these steps of the project, and almost exploitative of the community. Defining them entirely by something that happened, a stigma which surrounded the town.

I enjoyed this project, but it was never really finished for me and I would like to attempt it with a fresh pair of eyes, in a way which would better align with my moral compass. In conversation with Steve, we spoke about what I like about the photographs i took of Lockerbie; STEVE: "I get the idea that you want to make a project that records the trace of some dramatic event. You seem to be fascinated by how time effects these sites, how a vague trace is left. The line of new builds in Lockerbie leaves a trace but this trace needs to be contextualised, it needs someone to flag the significance (the act of photography does that): the story of Lockerbie transforms an images of Lockerbie. This relation to a trace and evidence may harbour a deep research question. Someone once told me that trauma is a failure of representation. Fred wests’ house has been knocked down; Jimmy Saville’s gravestone was removed = it seems obscene to allow an image to prevail because an image cannot do justice to the events"

Reading list:

One of the outputs for this will directly be a website of my own, which may function as advertisement for my artwork whilst articulating my thoughts and processes in a way which could be used in professional context, such as if viewed by a potential employer. I always find it very difficult to write about my own work, and believe it would be a good opportunity for me to be able to collect my thoughts and show different meanings to what is first seen when viewing my images.

The project will be called A Crows Ability to Distinguish, and will be based on this theory: https://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/26/science/26crow.html https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/crows-a-bird-thats-not-bird-brained/

I would like to relate this idea that crows can not only recognise trauma, but can transfer this onto other generations of the species. I will explore this visually in people and place but more specifically how a traumatic event can leave traces on people and place.

The main output of this series will be in the form of a book or exhibition, showcasing my work and giving context to the subject in texts that surround the images.

documentary (?) / book (?) / exhibition (?)

tracing paper - crow

In 1953 there was a flood, deemed the greatest natural disaster to occur in the Netherlands in the 20th century. The combination of a heavy north-westerly storm and a spring tide caused flooding in large parts of the country. The disaster claimed the lives of 1,836 people and tens of thousands of animals, and many homes were destroyed:

https://www.rijkswaterstaat.nl/english/water/water-safety/the-flood-of-1953/index.aspx

Recently there has been flooding of the Waal river, which could create similarities in theme. Perhaps worth exploring.

Notable Terrorist attacks in the Netherlands:

On 25 February 1972, a small explosion hit the Evoluon in Eindhoven, caused by members of the Red Youth.[2] The group later also planted a bomb at Philips headquarters that failed to go off.[5] The attacks were aimed at Philips because of them doing business in Greece, which was under a far-right military junta regime.[6]

On 17-18 October 1972, members of the Red Youth planted several bombs: under the car of a Philips commissioner in Eindhoven; in front of a Bank of America branch in Rotterdam, which was defused; in front of a Zwolsche Algemeene branch in Utrecht; and in front of a Holiday Inn hotel in Utrecht, damaging the front façade. There were no injuries.[7][8][9]

1974 French Embassy attack in The Hague by the Japanese Red Army

1975 Failed attempt at kidnapping Juliana of the Netherlands by South Moluccan independence activists

1975 Indonesian consulate hostage crisis

1975 Dutch train hostage crisis by South Moluccan independence activists

1977 Dutch train hijacking by South Moluccan independence activists

1977 Dutch school hostage crisis by South Moluccan independence activists

On 22 September 1977, Red Army Faction member Knut Folkerts shot dead Dutch policeman Arie Kranenburg and seriously injured policeman Leen Pieterse in Utrecht

1978 Dutch province hall hostage crisis by South Moluccan independence activists

On 1 November 1978, two Dutch customs officials Dionysius de Jong and Johannes Goemanns were shot at and killed by terrorists belonging to the Red Army Faction in Kerkrade

Assassination of British ambassador Richard Sykes by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) Assassination of Turk Ahmet Benler by Armenian nationalists

On 12 May 1982, the offices of the Pacifist Socialist Party in Tilburg was attacked by a bomb. Martijn Freling from the far-right Centre Party is thought to have been responsible.[10][11]

On 1 July 1982, the Red Armenian Army attempted to assassinate the Turkish Consul General, Kemalettin Demiren, in Rotterdam. On 31 July 1982, the headquarters of the Labour Party in Amsterdam was bombed by a group called Militant Autonomen Front.[10][12]

On 5 November 1985, a group called Autonomous Cells Netherlands tried to kill mayor of Amsterdam, Ed van Thijn, by detonating a bomb at his house - blaming him for the death of a squatter called Hans Kok. The bomb failed to go off.[13][14]

A left-wing terror group called Red Revolutionary Front launched several bomb attacks in 1985 and 1986 targeting office buildings including American Express in Rotterdam and the Netherlands Christian Employers' Association[15]

On 29 March 1986, far-left terrorists set fire to a hotel in Kedichem where members of the far-right Centre Party were meeting. Hans Janmaat escaped injury but Wil Schuurman lost her leg. 1988 IRA attacks in the Netherlands, by Irish nationalists ETA attacks in the Netherlands 1989-90 by Basque independence activists Killings of Nick Spanos and Stephen Melrose on 27 May 1990. The IRA shot and killed two Australian tourists mistaking them for British soldiers.

On 19 March 1990, the Revolutionary Anti-Racist Action (RARA) group fire-bombed Royal Marechaussee barracks in Arnhem and Oldenzaal.[16] A few days later, an offshoot of the RARA exploded a bomb by the Ministry of Justice building in The Hague.[17]

On 13 November 1991 State Secretary for Justice Aad Kosto's house in Grootschermer was destroyed by a car-bomb by the RARA. On 1 July 1993, the RARA bombed the Ministry of Social Affairs building in The Hague.[18]

On 2 January 1996, a Banque Paribas branch in Arnhem was bombed, causing considerable damage, and later on 17 April the Dutch BASF offices in Arnhem was also attacked with a bomb. This followed a failed molotov attack on a Credit Lyonnais branch in Arnhem on 17 October 1995. It is suspected the attacks were in protest against France's nuclear testing in the Pacific.[19][20]

[21] The Earth Liberation Front claimed responsibility,[22] but in 2008 Marcel Teunissen, a squatter found guilty of murdering Louis Sévèke, claimed responsibility.[23]

On 16 February 1999, a group of people linked to the Kurdistan Workers' Party took the wife of the Greek ambassador, her son and a servant, hostage in The Hague. They did so following the arrest of Abdullah Öcalan in Kenya and feeling betrayal from Greece for handing him over to Turkish intelligence. The hostages were released unhurt after 24 hours.[24][25]

Murder of Theo van Gogh on 2 November 2004. Dutch filmmaker an political activist Theo van Gogh was assassinated by Mohammed Bouyeri, a second-generation Moroccan-Dutchman, Islamist and member of the Hofstad Network. On 27 February 2016, five men attacked a mosque full of visitors in Enschede with molotov cocktails. The perpetrators were later jailed.[26][27]

On 31 August 2018, a man randomly attacked two people in Amsterdam Centraal station with a blade weapon - both victims were American-Eritrean tourists who were injured.[28] The attacker was a 19-year-old from Afghanistan under the name Jawad S. who held a German residency permit and was denied asylum there.[29] The suspect was aggrieved at the Netherlands for insulting Islam, directly referring to politician Geert Wilders.