critical writing task

The photography reader -  Liz Wells  


'the general watches his gardener' - James Jarche 

The writing of this image:

•   The 'look' itself has recently become an object of theoretical attention. To take an example — General Wavell watches his gardener at work, made by James Jarche in 19415; it is easy enough today to read the immediate connotations of paternalistic imperialism inscribed in this 35-year-old picture and anchored by the caption (the general watches his gardener).  

•   A first analysis of the object-text would unpack the connotational oppositions constructing the ideological message. For example, primarily and obviously, Western/Eastern, the latter term of this opposition englobing the marks of a radical 'otherness'; or again, the placing of the two men within the implied opposition capital/labour. Nevertheless, even in the presence of such obviousness another obviousness asserts itself — the very 'natural' casualness of the scene presented to us disarms such analysis, which it characterises as an excessive response. But excess production is generally on the side of ideology, and it is precisely in its apparent ingenuousness that the ideological power of photography is rooted.

•   In the reading implied by the title to Jarche's photograph, ‘the general looks at the gardener’, who receives this look with his own gaze cast submissively to the ground. In an additional reading, the general's look may be interpreted as directed at the camera, that is to say, to the viewing subject (representation identifies the camera's look with that of the subject's point-of-view). This full frontal gaze, a posture almost invariably adopted before the camera by those who are not professional models, is a gaze commonly received when we look at ourselves in a mirror, we are invited to return it in a gaze invested with narcissistic identification (the dominant alternative to such identification vis-a-vis photographic imagery is voyeurism). The general's look returns our own in direct line, the look of the gardener intersects this line. Face hidden in shadow (labour here is literally featureless) the gardener cuts off the general (our own power and authority in imaginary identification) from the viewing subject; the sense of this movement is amplified via the image of the mower — instrument of amputation — which condenses references to scythe and, through its position (still photographs are texts built upon coincidences), penis (the correlates: white fear of black sexuality/fear of castration). Even as we turn back (as we invariably must) from such an excess of reading to the literal 'content' of this picture we encounter the same figure: the worker 'comes between' the general and the peace of his garden, the black man literally disturbs. Such overlaying determinations, which can be only sketchily indicated here, act in concert with the empirically identifiable connotators of the object-text to show the gardener as out-of-place, a threat, an intruder in what presumably is his own land — material considerations thus go beyond the empirical in the overdetermination of ideology.

Key notes from text above: 

•  Immediate connotations of paternalistic imperialism inscribed in this 35-year-old picture and anchored by the caption (the general watches his gardener).

•  Connotational oppositions constructing the ideological message - Western/Eastern - capital/labour.

•  Receives this look with his own gaze cast submissively to the ground.

•  The general's look may be interpreted as directed at the camera, that is to say, to the viewing subject (representation identifies the camera's look with that of the subject's point-of-view).

•  The gardeners face is hidden in the shadow (labour here is literally featureless).

•  The gardener cuts off the general (our own power and authority in imaginary identification) from the viewing subject; the sense of this movement is amplified via the image of the mower — instrument of amputation — which condenses references to scythe and, through its position (still photographs are texts built upon coincidences).

•  The worker 'comes between' the general and the peace of his garden, the black man literally disturbs.

•  Such overlaying determinations, which can be only sketchily indicated here, act in concert with the empirically identifiable connotators of the object-text to show the gardener as out-of-place, a threat, an intruder in what presumably is his own land.

Notes on composition of image: 

•  Lawn mower acts as a leading line connecting general and gardener.

•  The path in which the general stands upon is half way up the mage creating a split from dark brush to light path.

•  The general is in the top left corner using rule of thirds.

• The gardener having a shadow over his face gives the impression of no identity - worthless. whereas the general has his whole face clear giving him authority. 

• The shadow of the gardener resembles that of a man bowing down on his knees and this is direct towards the general. 

• Even the name of the photo gives ownership of the gardener to the general - 'The general watches HIS gardener'.