CRITICIZING PHOTOGRAPHS: STEPS TO WRITING A PHOTO CRITIQUE

In the world of art, especially photography, criticism is often perceived as a judgment on the shortcomings of a work. In fact, if interpreted more broadly, art criticism is more of an art review or response to appreciate and appreciate a work verbally or in writing. On that basis, Learn From Home Issue 67 held an online discussion with the theme "Criticizing Photographs: Steps in Writing Photo Criticism" on Tuesday (21/7) with the speaker Dean of the Faculty of Recording Media Arts (FSMR), ISI Yogyakarta, Dr. Irwandi, M.Sn.

According to Dr. Irwandi, M.Sn., art criticism in general is divided into two things, pleasant and unpleasant. Art criticism can even be an intermediary between artworks and society. Art criticism today also functions as a means to give people a better understanding of art. From the activities within the realm of art criticism, critics can introduce artists, works, and exhibitions to the public.

Related to this, in the world of photography, photography criticism should not only present reviews of works, but also be linked to a broader context so that the criticism becomes an archive that illustrates the development and shift of photography in each era. The application of contemporary art criticism methods, without leaving the academic essence, should be maintained and developed. Although the culture of art criticism in Indonesia is somewhat behind other countries, the process of building discussion space through art criticism in the world of photography must continue.

The journey of art criticism has begun from around 1967 through the writing of Edmund Burke Feldman with the title Art as Image and Idea. Feldman provides an overview of the procedure for conducting art review or art criticism. Meanwhile, in the world of photography, the concept of art criticism was written by Terry Barrett in the 90s to 2011 with his book entitled Criticizing Photographs: An Introduction to Understanding Images.

Art criticism has several categories, including pedagogical criticism, popular criticism, journalistic criticism, and scientific criticism. Currently, the categories that are often applied in writing art criticism are scientific criticism, which is often done by photography students in their daily writing, and journalistic criticism, which has a news dimension to provide art information to the public. From an art critique, critics offer argumentative truths based on methodology as an attempt to offer an opinion on the work of others.