Self as Subject Artist Statement

Joe Ziolkowski
P.O. Box 546 · North Tonawanda, NY 14120 · 716.692.8352
www.joe-ziolkowski.com · email: joez@joe-ziolkowski.com

"Photographing on the Path of Life."

"CITY 2000, Looking East from North Avenue Beach, November 11, 2000".

Since early in my life photography has played an important part of how I interact in society and the community at large. Self as subject has been an important subject of the lens of my camera as I often found myself trying to fit into the communities I was living in. Raised in a military family I was accustom to my nuclear family relocating every couple of years. This brought on the sense of being isolated from the new community until I developed a bond to the land and relationships with others. As I left the immediate family and moved to various towns and cities for higher education degrees, the pursuit of artistic and commercial photography, this style of living continued. Self as subject was always available as a way to view and document the environments of living, study, work and play that changed around me over time. Life is continually changing around us and a wonderful characteristic of photography is the honesty it delivers in documenting that line of life that is in constant flux. As I write this at my computer I am making self portraits documenting the moment.

Shadow Dancer © 1986

With this style of photographing I have found the self as subject a wonderful way to trace the actions of an individual. My knowledge of self portraits were brought on by many artist I was introduced to early in my career, such as Christian Boltanski, Duane Michals, Anne Noggle, Bruce Nauman, Judy Dater, Francesco Clemente and Barbara Degenevieve. Every artist has a different approach to how they document the mood, environment or political climate they are experiencing. Whether the artist uses photography or other mediums or combinations, they depict very personal events that happen to them. Such as the sequence of photographs by Anne Noggle having a face lift, or the sequencing of an event or story in several photographic images of Duane Michals staged dramas. Using the body as a tool or symbol in the work of Bruce Nauman, self as subject invites the viewer to weave aspects of their life into the mind of the artist at that moment in time.

Decade 90':
September 15, 1994

With each passing year I have accumulated hundreds of self portraits depicting the life I have experiences. I feel compelled to do this on a variety of levels, and will continue to do so for the rest of my life. Sometimes traveling to areas specifically to document my interaction in the unfamiliar landscape, say of the southwest, or at times when I cannot even get out of bed due to the loss of a loved one. Each frame documents the event in front of the camera as a time capsule of the moment. Many times the simple act of photographing brings the pleasure to me, other times I am amazed at what the camera has actually seen beyond my wildest expectations.

168 Hours © 1986

During the course of my life I have developed sets of rules to help generate certain sequences of self portraits. One series that I completed in the mid 1980's was using a 35mm camera with a 24 mm lens focused at 2 feet. At every hour on the hour I would hold the camera out at arms length and point the camera back at myself and make several photographs. After editing out one photograph per hour for the entire week, this project was titled "168 Hours", the length of a full week. Very little sleep happened during that week and I walked away from the project realizing how mundane our daily life routines can be. When living the daily routines of life, I realized how banal the event were. But when I documented these events, it suddenly shows how important they become when we stop to photograph them. Also how important they become when the time line moves away from the moment they are taken. The cityscape and landscape change, living and work environments change, people change.

"A Year in the
Life of Joe Z."

This project lead to another series of photographs titled "A Year in the Life of Joe Z". A self portrait with more liberal parameters than "168 Hours", but had one thing constant during the course of the year. I made a self portrait at least one time a day for a year. This project allowed me to look closer at the environment around me and use the photograph to document the environment I was involved with over a longer period of time. Light, atmospheric conditions and design in the camera became critically important in this series as the depth of the topic continued. The project left me wanting to always have a photographic device around me to document all that the society had to offer to me and my relationship to those events and places I suddenly was part of, not excluded from. Photography and the self portrait took me from an idle member to an active participant. Photo is fun!

Decade 90'

CITY 2000

Two very important self as subject projects have recently come to an end for me as an artist, that in turn opened other doors. One series of work started January 1, 1990 and continued through December 15, 1999 titled "Decade 90'". Offering myself as subject to the camera on the first and fifteenth of every month for 10 years. These 24 photographs a year document the life I lead during the last part of the 20th century. The collective 240 black and white photographs serve as a time capsule and take on more significant importance as the progression of time moves from the moment and event the photograph were taken. This series also lead to be part of "CITY 2000". I was included with a group of 100 photographers commissioned to photograph Chicago in the year 2000. I chose to generate a self as subject photograph once a month for the entire year. Documenting areas of Chicago that were important to me and my life and over time, will stand as time capsules for the area I was part of.

The Silence Series:
The Portal

The self as subject series have allowed me to experiment with various artistic ideas. These experiments manifested into other portfolios that allowed models and tableaux's to be the main subject in front of the camera, and I became director behind the camera. My long term goal with all of these series is to create photographs that cause the viewer to consciously evaluate his or her own social and cultural parameters. As a self portrait, I was able to document the environment I was part of. Whether it was during a public event, or a private moment. Sometimes as an active participant to the event or surroundings, other times as an observer. Producing these series of work has allowed me to engage in a discourse with topics that challenges our cultural ethics. Photography has been a valued tool to open that discourse, and I hope that the dialogue created expands the issues presented.

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Joe Ziolkowski P.O. Box 546 · North Tonawanda, NY 14120 · 716.692.8352 www.joe-ziolkowski.com · email: joez@joe-ziolkowski.com
"Photographing on the Path of Life." "CITY 2000, Looking East from North Avenue Beach, November 11, 2000". Since early in my life photography has played an important part of how I interact in society and the community at large. Self as subject has been an important subject of the lens of my camera as I often found myself trying to fit into the communities I was living in. Raised in a military family I was accustom to my nuclear family relocating every couple of years. This brought on the sense of being isolated from the new community until I developed a bond to the land and relationships with others. As I left the immediate family and moved to various towns and cities for higher education degrees, the pursuit of artistic and commercial photography, this style of living continued. Self as subject was always available as a way to view and document the environments of living, study, work and play that changed around me over time. Life is continually changing around us and a wonderful characteristic of photography is the honesty it delivers in documenting that line of life that is in constant flux. As I write this at my computer I am making self portraits documenting the moment.
Shadow Dancer © 1986	With this style of photographing I have found the self as subject a wonderful way to trace the actions of an individual. My knowledge of self portraits were brought on by many artist I was introduced to early in my career, such as Christian Boltanski, Duane Michals, Anne Noggle, Bruce Nauman, Judy Dater, Francesco Clemente and Barbara Degenevieve. Every artist has a different approach to how they document the mood, environment or political climate they are experiencing. Whether the artist uses photography or other mediums or combinations, they depict very personal events that happen to them. Such as the sequence of photographs by Anne Noggle having a face lift, or the sequencing of an event or story in several photographic images of Duane Michals staged dramas. Using the body as a tool or symbol in the work of Bruce Nauman, self as subject invites the viewer to weave aspects of their life into the mind of the artist at that moment in time.
Decade 90': September 15, 1994	With each passing year I have accumulated hundreds of self portraits depicting the life I have experiences. I feel compelled to do this on a variety of levels, and will continue to do so for the rest of my life. Sometimes traveling to areas specifically to document my interaction in the unfamiliar landscape, say of the southwest, or at times when I cannot even get out of bed due to the loss of a loved one. Each frame documents the event in front of the camera as a time capsule of the moment. Many times the simple act of photographing brings the pleasure to me, other times I am amazed at what the camera has actually seen beyond my wildest expectations.
168 Hours © 1986	During the course of my life I have developed sets of rules to help generate certain sequences of self portraits. One series that I completed in the mid 1980's was using a 35mm camera with a 24 mm lens focused at 2 feet. At every hour on the hour I would hold the camera out at arms length and point the camera back at myself and make several photographs. After editing out one photograph per hour for the entire week, this project was titled "168 Hours", the length of a full week. Very little sleep happened during that week and I walked away from the project realizing how mundane our daily life routines can be. When living the daily routines of life, I realized how banal the event were. But when I documented these events, it suddenly shows how important they become when we stop to photograph them. Also how important they become when the time line moves away from the moment they are taken. The cityscape and landscape change, living and work environments change, people change.
"A Year in the Life of Joe Z."	This project lead to another series of photographs titled "A Year in the Life of Joe Z". A self portrait with more liberal parameters than "168 Hours", but had one thing constant during the course of the year. I made a self portrait at least one time a day for a year. This project allowed me to look closer at the environment around me and use the photograph to document the environment I was involved with over a longer period of time. Light, atmospheric conditions and design in the camera became critically important in this series as the depth of the topic continued. The project left me wanting to always have a photographic device around me to document all that the society had to offer to me and my relationship to those events and places I suddenly was part of, not excluded from. Photography and the self portrait took me from an idle member to an active participant. Photo is fun!
Decade 90' CITY 2000	Two very important self as subject projects have recently come to an end for me as an artist, that in turn opened other doors. One series of work started January 1, 1990 and continued through December 15, 1999 titled "Decade 90'". Offering myself as subject to the camera on the first and fifteenth of every month for 10 years. These 24 photographs a year document the life I lead during the last part of the 20th century. The collective 240 black and white photographs serve as a time capsule and take on more significant importance as the progression of time moves from the moment and event the photograph were taken. This series also lead to be part of "CITY 2000". I was included with a group of 100 photographers commissioned to photograph Chicago in the year 2000. I chose to generate a self as subject photograph once a month for the entire year. Documenting areas of Chicago that were important to me and my life and over time, will stand as time capsules for the area I was part of.
The Silence Series: The Portal	The self as subject series have allowed me to experiment with various artistic ideas. These experiments manifested into other portfolios that allowed models and tableaux's to be the main subject in front of the camera, and I became director behind the camera. My long term goal with all of these series is to create photographs that cause the viewer to consciously evaluate his or her own social and cultural parameters. As a self portrait, I was able to document the environment I was part of. Whether it was during a public event, or a private moment. Sometimes as an active participant to the event or surroundings, other times as an observer. Producing these series of work has allowed me to engage in a discourse with topics that challenges our cultural ethics. Photography has been a valued tool to open that discourse, and I hope that the dialogue created expands the issues presented.
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