This study hinges on photography's intrinsic dialogue with memory to explore recent developments within photographic art practice in Northern Ireland. I argue that it is possible to trace in artworks which interrogate the contested past, a formulation of cultural identity in which memory plays a key role. Furthermore, I suggest that they frame an analytical understanding of this identity as operating performatively. Familiar perceptions of the conflict open up problematic territory, often betraying an over-simplified understanding of polarised communities which is based on crude binaries. This has the effect of perpetuating the constitution of identity in oppositional terms. As a result, the artists featured exploit the narrative properties of the medium to scrutinise and subvert common predispositions about the nature of the conflict. I assert that they complicate a prescriptive account of belonging in Northern Ireland, and create an alternative space in which to represent the many transgressions and contradictions which characterise everyday experience here. The various techniques and compositional strategies employed by the artist often assume a form which is in itself performative; I therefore discuss also the capacity of the photograph to function performatively. As a 'post-conflict' setting Northern Ireland has undergone monumental change in recent years, however, what are the dilemmas it faces as it attempts to emerge from the shadows of the past? I borrow largely from recent studies in the interdisciplinary field of cultural memory to theoretically underpin my research. I debate its methodological scope in supplementing an understanding of both the public and private claims made on memory, as well as addressing the intricate workings of the past in the present. In short, I question how changing subjectivities are being articulated in contemporary lens-based practice in Northern Ireland, and my structural framework engages themes of place and landscape, tradition and ritual, portraits, trauma and the archives.

In the light of current political changes in Chile, this thesis evaluates how the Chilean traumatic past (particularly the period of the Popular Unity government 1970-1973 and the subsequent military dictatorship 1973-1990) has been represented in fictional and factual films produced iIi the second stage of the transition to democracy (2000 - 2010). After systematising all the trauma films into one corpus, a selection of the most relevant films produced between 2000 and today are analysed through a methodology that combines Film Studies and History. The interdisciplinary approach proposes four meeting points between film and history to study memory and historiophoty in the films: Mise-en-scene as a representation of material culture and space, cinematography through documents and points of view, sound and silence as non-verbal testimonies, and lastly, discussing montage through historical and narrative times. Throughout the social and textual analysis of the films, tendencies on memory and historiophoty were revealed. The results of these analyses can be divided in two. Regarding memory, there is a continuation of Steve Stern's classical categorisations, albeit new memories that have arisen. Particularly, regarding frustration about the construction of contemporary society and more importantly, of sons and daughters of the dictatorship. A further tendency is to represent the right wing in a way that problematises their role in the traumatic events, rather than simply judging. Regarding historiophoty, the corpus evidences how film has managed to change the valence of the 'official memory' and include counter hegemonic retrovisions into the cultural capital of the nation. The combination of trauma, memory, history, cinema, and aesthetics has never been achieved before for the Chilean case and through this novel work an intrinsic connection between the traumatic times and visual culture is provided. Thus, this thesis contributes to deepen the construction of citizenship in Chile.

This thesis describes work carried out on an uncooled pyroelectric infrared array camera with the aim of improving performance and increasing its value in commercial markets. The image processing circuitry of the camera was bypassed and replaced by a purpose built 14 bit digitiser and processing algorithms running on a PC. The constructed digitiser was shown to meet the performance needs of the detector. A model was developed for the camera's performance, taking into account the nature of the chopped pyroelectric detector, and the wavelength passband of the camera. The model suggested that placing a temperature sensor close to the chopper blade of the camera would allow radiometric measurements to be made with the camera. Experimental results verified the predicted camera behaviour and radiometric performance was found to be accurate to within +1.5K when imaging flat fields in a stable thermal environment. Significant distortion and radiometric errors were found when imaging high contrast scenes an algorithm was written to correct this distortion. The algorithm was shown to perform well, drastically reducing distortion and improving radiometric accuracy in all scenes tested. The source of the distortion was not identified, but it is thought to be unrelated to the physical behaviour of the pyroelectric array. The performance of the modified camera is discussed in relation to the current state of the art, and in relation to the performance needs of existing and emerging infrared imaging markets.

This research project sets out to define a methodology for photographic imaging in the field of contemporary [me art that goes beyond utilising representational means and moves towards an encounter of lived experience. My original contributions to existing knowledge are: • Taking the photograph out of an abstracted system of representation and situating the photographic image in the immediacy of viewer's lived event of actuality. • Demonstrating a working dialogical model of photographic imaging in terms of the imaging event and the image encounter. • Combining the imaging event and the image encounter to form an all encompassing approach to photography in which the photographer, image and viewer hold collaborative positions of invested responsibility. • Formulating a model that combines ideas of becoming and synchronicity which can be used in art processes as a means to encounter what can be described as coincidence or patternicity in the locale event of the artwork, depending on the viewer's viewpoint. Using a strategy that incorporates Dialogical Practice, Performative Action, Mimesis and Methexis, this research places the image in the lived actuality of the receiver. Led by studio experiments, live action performance and exhibited projects, the research is augmented with textual essays and reports, examining the concepts at play and bringing light to those operations that are not so easily observable in the documentation of the practical research. Keywords: Contemporary [me art photography, improvised performance, performative action, mimesis, methexis, dialogism, Bakhtin, becoming, synchronicity, actuality, representation, aesthetics.

This practice-led research project is centred upon a photographic ‘recording’ of everyday ‘objects’, which has been built up since 2004. I have ‘recorded’ everyday ‘objects’ that I have experienced using the camera lens, selected because of the form of the ‘thing’ and to act as a vehicle to signify the ‘encounter’, or a related signified memory. The images act as signifiers. The aim of this practice is to ‘record’ ‘encounters’ and memories through the positing of ‘objects’; to make a selection from this body of work and consider the relation between images, between images and their subject, and between images and a lived life. This led me to a distinctive phenomenological approach to a photographic – based practice. The sequence of chapters in the written thesis is intended to reflect the research process. It moves from a consideration of the individual photograph, to groups or suites of images, and thence to a larger body of work. In a series of parallel movements the act of taking the photograph, the consideration of images in relation to each other, and the relation between the image and possibilities of narrative become the focus of discussion. In each of these sections relevant examples from other practitioners and theoretical writings, strongly based in phenomenology contextualise specific aspects of my practice and my practical research. The practical element of the project is represented by a portfolio presentation of a selection of my images at the beginning of the thesis along with their accompanying texts, and by an exhibition of a similar selection of images also with their accompanying texts taken from my body of work. Both of these presentations parallel the discursive structure of the thesis supporting the enquiry through performing or demonstrating aspects of individual images, groups of images and the story-telling or narrative capacities of the photographs. Extracts from personal narratives are presented alongside some of the photographs. In other sections, the importance of the word - image relationship is comparatively analysed by presenting a further set of artwork, which remain untitled, and without narrative.

This critical appraisal presents the processes and outcomes of a coherent research programme carried out between June 2008 and June 2011 that interrogates the representation of disabled people through in-depth, practice-led case study and analysis, leading to the formulation of a praxis framework for presenting collaborative social documentary photography practices associated with disability. Through the systematic production of bodies of commissioned and personal projects, both successful and unsuccessful, an epistemology of practice is presented that constitutes an independent and original contribution to knowledge. This practice-led research investigates claims that photographic images of disabled people often fail to represent individuals as empowered members of society because of societal references to stereotyped constructions of 'otherness' defined by negative signs of their disability. In order to question this, polemics from disability rights commentators who have referred to, but failed to engage fully with discourses surrounding photographic ontologies and professional practices, thereby constructing a binary line between disabled subjects and their image-makers, are challenged. The implication in their arguments is that photographers have been participating, knowingly or unknowingly, in disablist practices, contributing to the 'othering' of disabled people. By taking an interdisciplinary approach, co-locating photography and disability studies' theoretical frames within the trope of collaborative social documentary practice, orthodoxies surrounding representational outcomes are challenged by investing disabled people with the responsibility for the construction of their own images. Therefore, it contributes to the body of photographic theory concerning representations of the 'other' demonstrating that collaboration is a complex landscape of asymmetrical power structures on many levels -client, photographer, subject, audience - that are difficult to stabilise. By demonstrating synergy between academic theory and professional practice through publication, exhibition and critical discourse, this investigation informs and gives voice to disabled people themselves. Moreover, it adds to, and stimulates scholarly debate on a high-profile public matter by informing policy-makers, health professionals, commissioners and photographers on a controversial area of representation.

No description available.

This thesis deals with the relationship between narcissism and narrativity in photographic self-portraiture. The thesis consists of two parts, one theoretical (the text) and one practical (my photographic work). The text analyses the complexity of this link through psychoanalysis, semiotics, narratology and photography/art theory. My main argument is that the relationship between self-portraiture and narcissism can be rationalized through psychoanalysis. In a psychological sense, however, narcissism is not evident in either the contents or the production process of photography, especially in images that are obviously constructed and suggest a narrative. Self-portraiture emerged historically more as a solution to photography’s ‘authority-consciousness’ than an indication of any underlying psychological causes. Besides, the centrality of narcissism in typical twentieth-century views of photographic self-portraiture has recently started losing ground to systems of interpretation inherited from painting and the growing emphasis on the superficial use of the genre. The aim of this thesis is to recover narcissism as a ‘sense-making fiction’ (in F. Kermode’s terms). Drawing on literary criticism (John Barth, Linda Hutcheon, Patricia Waugh), I have addressed the paradoxes contained in photographic self- portraiture through those typical of experimental fiction. Critical studies on the ‘self- conscious fiction’ highlight the interrelation between psychological phenomena and meaning-making procedures in narratives. Narrative devices aiming at eliciting reader/viewer self-reference acquire special value as attempts to incorporate what is repressed and produce a more ‘real’ narrative order. By eluding structured language systems, narcissism provides a vocabulary for narrativizing procedures, as well as meeting the viewer’s modes of engagement. It can simultaneously represent an imaginary withdrawal of the artist, a projective mode of identification for the viewer, and a structure within the work. By these means, I argue, narcissism is responsible for the criticality of photographic self-portraiture as illustrating psychological, social and narrative de-structuring.

Demosaicking is the interpolation of missed colour samples in a colour filter array (CFA). The term demosaicking has its roots in the word "mosaic" which, in turn explains the structure of a colour filter array typically used in a digital camera. The detectors (cells) of blue, red and green colours or their combinations are spread regularly (mosaicked) on the electronic sensor chip (CMOS, CCD or other technology). The resulting mosaic of colour samples is passed through an interpolation procedure to determine the intensities of colours that are not sampled by the array. The pattern of the mosaic is important as most interpolation methods make use of a priori knowledge of the configuration for a more precise image restoration. The most popular is currently the Bayer CFA. It has twice as many green detectors than blue or red, however there are alternative sensors which are based on cyan, magenta, yellow and green colours.

In this thesis, we present a new image completion method that automates the filling in of holes left by the removal of undesired areas in images so that the final output image is visually plausible. The reconstruction of the hole is based on the assumption that regions, particularly in natural images, tend to be spatially continuous and are only separated by the hole and must therefore be linked. Therefore, our approach is based on first creating image structure (regions boundaries) in the hole and then propagating texture from surrounding areas constrained by this structure. Structure reconstruction is performed in order to preserve the global structure of the image, by creating regions in the hole with well defined boundaries such that they match the surroundings. The images are first segmented into homogeneous regions. The regions touching the hole are then relabelled based on their colour and spatial distances. Similar regions are then linked resulting in creating a new area in the hole that will be flood-filled and then synthesised to match the surrounding structure. This reconstructed image is then used for texture synthesis as a constraint. Our texture synthesis method proposes two modifications to the generic texture synthesis method and this includes a parallel synthesis order and an iterative synthesis scheme. The parallel synthesis, in which a pixel being synthesised is independent of other pixels during any given iteration and not affected by other previously synthesised pixels, helps reducing the directional bias caused by sequential scanning orders such as the raster scan. The iterative synthesis scheme allows global randomness which will progressively converge towards fine detailed texture. This scheme ensures that the created texture has sufficient, but not excessive, randomness and does not have replications of entire patches. As a result, the method is able to convert gradually the input image into plausibly synthesised image and to remove visible boundary artifacts. The combination of the image structure and texture synthesis methods results in having an image completion method that is capable of dealing with images with large holes that are surrounded by different types of structure and texture areas.