A1: Initial Submission – Context and Narrative

The distinctive skyline of Oxford City and the buildings of the University of Oxford were referred to by Matthew Arnold in his poem Thyrsis as:

And that sweet city with her dreaming spires,
She needs not June for beauty’s heightening,

[Thyrsis: Matthew Arnold, December 1865]

As a result the term “dreaming spires” has become synonymous with the perception of the skyline of Oxford City.

The view Arnold refers to is from Boars Hill, west of the city, and although some of this skyline has changed there is still a perception that it remains the same as the one he described. It is so distinctive that one can search for “dreaming spires” on Google, and numerous images showing the skyline will be displayed. These images have been carefully framed to ensure it appears to confirm what many believe to still exist today, the reality.

However, there are two sides to this story. When Arnold wrote his poem, Thyrsis, Oxford consisted mainly of the University buildings with little else close by, and anyone relying on the Google images to portray Oxford today could be fooled into thinking this is still the reality.

According to Bate:

“Reality” is what we believe exists, whereas “realism” is the mode of representation.

Bate (2016)

So to use Bate’s analogy, the images of the dreaming spires, for many, is the “reality”, and the images themselves are the “realism”. That is the mode of representation; the way the images have been created to give the impression that Oxford is unchanged.

Estate Agents are very skilled at taking photographs of buildings and their surrounds to create interest when marketing a property. I took a series of photographs of one well known Oxford University building: the Radcliffe Observatory.

The first set is the reality, the perception of how this building appears, particularly to those searching for images on Google. I took these photographs from the perspective of an estate agent trying to market the building.

The second set shows the other side of the story. The building is actually very close to a 1960s ex-NHS building, currently used as offices by the University, and due for demolition in the future. Not the view that appears in any Google search.

Contact sheet assignment 1