Ways of Seeing
Following the death earlier this year of prolific writer John Berger, the Norfolk and Norwich Festival staged a discussion of his work with long-term collaborators and friends of Berger, artist John Christie and film-maker Michael Dibb. After introductions and thanks the event’s compere, curator and writer Gareth Evans read Berger’s 1980 piece Migrant Words before launching into a brief review of Berger’s most widely known work from 1972, Ways of Seeing.
Dibb, for whom Ways of Seeing was a directorial debut, shared production secrets including how budget constraints forced much of the footage to be shot and edited in an electrical goods storehouse, how Berger’s favourite blue shirt needed to be changed due to image overlaying (or greenscreening) techniques the crew used and how image reproduction rights and the programming intentions of the network almost caused the project to be shelved. Christie highlighted similar logistical, artistic and bureaucratic challenges in his collaborative creation of Another Way of Telling in 1989. Both speakers praised Berger’s democratic and cooperative approach to working on these projects and emphasised the benefits of working in partnership towards a shared objective; the strength of which they felt was evidenced in the enduring legacy of these works.
The Q&A portion of the discussion highlighted Berger’s various roles within audiences of novelist, critic, essayist and of his own consideration of himself as primarily a storyteller. The accessibility of his writing was noted for its avoidance of academic conventions which allows for a maintenance of lucid and fluent narrative and provides content for readers of all measure. His attentive engagement with audiences was further evidenced by reference to his willingness to reply personally, often with individualised postcards and beautiful handwriting, to the many letters he received from readers.
The talk was informative and offered anecdotes about the technicalities of producing and disseminating television programmes in a pre-YouTube era with personal insights to Berger as creative and as a friend also offered. Yet, when discussing a practitioner so deeply involved with visual culture, the absence of any pictorial accompaniments was noticeable and these may have enhanced the audience experience. As might some greater analysis of the works themselves, especially as many of Berger’s observations are so increasingly relevant in our hyper-visualised and media driven society. But there are understandable limits as to what can be covered in 70 minutes.
6.5/10
To learn more about John Berger visit Mandell’s gallery from July 8th, Flipside festival at Snape Maltings or the London Review of Books’ dedicated John Berger webpage.
