I've started looking at political montage and I have come across this article and photo essay by Fatmah Tuggar, an artist of Nigerian descent now based in America, specialising in photo montage. The photo essay can be found at http://vcj.sagepub.com/content/12/3/375.short but does require accessing throiugh the University Login.

In the article Tuggar says that she wants "the viewer to contend with the protagonists as ‘real’ life people in real situations, rather than distant events in a magazine or postcard reality." She manages this by when the images are displayed in art galleries and museums, they are reproduced lifesize to increase and emphasise the notion of realness. This does make sense but also hints at the point that when two images are combined, they need the same scale for the final image to have a certain ligitimacy of reality. If the sense of scale is manipulated then elements of fantasy are introduced, which can undermine the connotation and the validity of the final meaning of the image.

Another point this raises is that the montage is suggesting 2 realities, which are often juxtaposed to create a conflicting final message in the connotation. With this being the case, and with bearing this particular project in mind, I could use beautified images as the main image and then use "gritty" images overlayed to challenge that beauty. For instance, I could photograph a beautified landscape and then overlay it B&W tenement housing to create the suggestion that the original perception of the landscape being beautiful is unrealistic. However, it also created the suggestion that both realities, the harshness of inner city housing and the wide open spaces of unspoilt countryside, are both unrealistic when taken to their extremes. But the element that is important is that the original perception is challenged and is not considered realistic or achievable.

But I do like the idea of starting with a beautifiede image and then challenging that notion with political montage as it will create a narrative that challenges the original perception of the manifesto. I also think that having the original image in colour and then adding B&W will work as this will increase the juxtaposition. I also like that the narrative for each set of imagery, both the colour and B&W, will be challenged and then it's left to the decision of the viewer which narrative to believe.