New Multimedia

I have just finished a short multimedia for Gallery Primo Alonso on Matt Clarks new exhibition. He's a good name to look out for in the fine art world (his next exhibition is in the Saatchi gallery). He was a very relaxed person to interview and I was very impressed with his work. The multimedia should be appearing on the Primo Alonso website soon http://www.primoalonso.com/ but until then I have put it on Vimeo for all to view.

Matt Clark: Flagmaker from Joseph Bolt on Vimeo.

British artist Matt Clark talks about his recent exhibition "The Flagmaker" in Gallery Primo Alonso. Based on a piece of fictional writing by Matt this installaion takes you to a lonely underground dwelling where the Flagmakers builds flags for a market that doesn't need them.



Produced, photographed and edited by Joseph Bolt

Copyright©Joseph Bolt 2010

Artworks by Matt Clark all rights reserved.

Multimedia Example

I have abandoned my project idea in Hangzhou but the trip gave me the chance to test a new sound recorder and compact reflector so I put together a short multimedia piece to test this equipment and see what the quality is like. There is no developed story, its just an example of technique but see what you think, I am very happy with my new sound recorder (its a Zoom H2 if you were curious).

Track 1 live recording in Hangzhou

Track 2 by Rob Shields as Skypilot.

Untainted Tea

I came back from Hangzhou on Thursday and after much reseach have decided not to base a project there. Whislt it is a beautiful place and good shots will be easy to come by I don't think there is enough of a story. There is more to mobile journalism that pretty pictures. If I spend a little time there I could do a story on the increase in Coffee shops there and the trend for younger generations to drink coffee instead of tea. I could also look at the fall in tea sales due to the current economic decline and the rise and importance of internation tourism in Hangzhou, but I don't think these are strong enough stories to spend 6-8 months on which is the time scale for these project. If anyone is looking for a short form subject to do a piece on Hangzhou might be worth a visit. If you are looking for a major issue it is not the place to be though, you will not find a story like Munem Wasifs tainted tea. http://www.munemwasif.com/ . The fact is despite a decline in sales, the industry in Hangzhou is doing pretty well compared to other parts of the world, if anything they are taking sales away from places like Bangladsh where many farmers are reported to have invested in equipment for processing green tea not expecting a global trend for Chinese green tea. Looks like I may well be heading back to Tibet for a project now. More on this to come so watch this space.

Been A While

I know it has been a while since my last post and I am afraid this one wont be too long as I have lots to do. I am currently planning 2 project that will take me to the end of the year. The first of which will be on the Chinese tea industry and the second on the recovery and re-building of the Wolong Panda reserve after the 2008 earthquake. I have completed my Stoddart essay and the previously published piece was totally changed and pretty much not used. As of yet there is not a copy online I am affraid. I am off to Hangzhou on Monday to do some reseach on the tea industry and have recently signed upto twitter so you can see updates there at http://twitter.com/josephbolt

Stoddart Essay

I am currently in the process of writing an essay in which I am focusing on the Sudan works of Tom Stoddart and their appearance in the Guardian newspaper in 1998. I have been given a limit of 2000 words, a tough challenge to say the least. Many moons ago I would of been glad to only write 2000 words but now its a testing task to write such a small piece that remains in depth.

I guess the real task is to remain focused, keep to the point and don't beat around the bush as they say (something a blog doesn't stop us from doing). Coming from a fine art background makes this a real challege, years of studying conceptual art means I can read endless meaning into, and intellectualise even the smallest of things. I am sure other artists and my old art tutors wouldn't like this comment but I don't mean it as negative thing. I think what I am trying to get at is I have to change my approach slightly with journalistic writing, picking out the pieces of most relevence to the story and issue, and this doesn't always mean the most interesting pieces, but pieces when put together give a clearer and more forcused and driven debate (which in the end turns out to be something of more interest and worth) Perhaps this isn't even the move from fine art into photojournalism but the jump from BA to Masters. None the less it is a tricky tasks but one I am enjoying.

Below is a small section from the essay, this may totally change at a later date though as I am still writing:

On discussing the BBC's Children in Need telethon in 2005, Guardian writer James Harkin writes;

(…)compassion fatigue, refers to the psychological exhaustion said to be induced by endless appeals for money and sympathy. If charity begins at home, then compassion fatigue begins when it comes to places far away.
(Harkin. J, 2005)

He suggests that due to what he calls “the latest buzzword” (Harkin. J, 2005), compassion fatigue, many viewers of this appeal did not donate. He also makes the suggestion that there is a link between compassion fatigue and distance, the phrase “one fireman in this town is worth 10 in the next” springs to mind. He goes on to say;

In an interview with this newspaper earlier in the week, the head of the UN development programme offered it (compassion fatigue) as the explanation for the pathetic response to the humanitarian crisis following the earthquake in Pakistan and Kashmir.
(Harkin। J, 2005)

This phrase has been popularly used for some time now. In her 1999 book entitled Compassion Fatigue Susan Moeller discusses cases of it in the 80’s, the 90’s and earlier. Given this idea of compassion fatigue, why then did Stoddarts images published in the Guardian on 12th August 1998 still manage to raise huge awareness and funds for the cause.

Old Blog

Some of you might be interested to know I started (but never finnished) a blog when I went on a world trip in Jan 2007. It is a less formal blog design for my friends back home to keep up with my journey but contains some pictures I posted as I was on the road. This is quite interesting as the pictures you post in the moment are not always the ones you would sellect at a later date. You are inevitably influenced by having just had the experience and cannot evaluate the image as a standalone. I am sure the same is to happen with this weblog but I guess that is part of the point. Here is the link http://joestravelling.blogspot.com/

Josephbolt.com launched

www.josephbolt.com is officially up and running, whist its been online for nearly a week now I have been tweeking a few things but it should all be running smoothly now. Featured on the site are 4 image galleries, 2 of which are documentary based and 2 band based. As I produce more documentary projects these will be posted. Furthermore there is an animated slideshow in the video section of my site. This displays more images and tells the full stories of the people I met during the urban poverty project as discused earlier in my blog (see here) As always I am updating my flickr account. To see what I am currently working on its a good idea to keep an eye on that as I put more images on there and you'll generally get an advanced preview of the projects I am working on.