Thesis (M.F.A.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 2005. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaf 31).

Thesis (M.F.A.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 1993. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [27-28]).

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With this dissertation I propose an investigation of how the photographic portrait attempts to construct and confirm identity through the representation of types. Drawing from theoretical texts by Roland Barthes and Robert Sobieszek and engaging with my own process of self-portraiture, as a means of troubling the usual power relations involved between the photographer and the sitter, I will demonstrate the dialectical nature of these roles involved in photographic portraiture. Looking at Pieter Hugo's portraits of judges in Botswana permits me to deal with issues of masquerade and how fashions and uniforms mask an individual allowing him/her to perform roles and stereotypes in society. Referring to another set of Hugo's images from his ongoing series Looking Aside, I will explore the paradoxical nature of the portrait through the dialectic of the 'self 'and 'other' subject and object split through an exploration of notions of skin and prosthetic skin and the relationship to the liminal space 'opened' between subject and object, or viewer and image.

The purpose of this study is to look at how the figure is imaged through the photographic medium today. Through this purpose I aim to explore the individual expression of the photographer in his photographic medium; the expression of the figure within the medium and the diverse practises of this medium in society - to build up an awareness and understanding of the diverse representations of the human form. The general aims of study are: 1 - to study how these three photographers choose to photograph the figure, through their technical, compositional and individual approach. 2 - to show how diverse the usage of the photographic figure is in the visual world. 3 - to expose an awareness of the photographic figure as transformation of an expression of self. 4 - to show the relationship between the photographer and the figure, the camera and the photographer, the camera and the figure, and the photographic figure and the viewer. 5 - to study my own photographic imagery in relation to the other imagery discussed. My research information was collected through: observations, discussions, literature and practical exploration. This study will attempt to draw conclusions, from its explorations, that will highlight the importance of the individual eye: that it is the individual eye that becomes the vehicle of transformation.

Much like a photograph, a casts creates a replica of its referent, thereby immobilising the subject in time. While the subject continues in time and hence ages and inevitably dies the replica does not. With this basic notion of fixing a subject, I have built an argument to contextualise my sculptures, which are made using casts of elderly people. In this discussion I have looked at my works through the ideas of different theorists. The main theorist I have cited is Roland Barthes, specifically with regards to his notion of the photograph as discussed in his book Camera Lucida. I have also referenced three particular artists: Rachel Whiteread, Diane Arbus and Churchill Madikida, as I have found each of their works relate to my work in various ways, creating a different reading from each viewpoint.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 62-64). / In Camera Lucida Roland Barthes (1980: 64-66), describes the process of looking through his mother's photographs after her death. He weighs up how much of her he recognises in the images he comes across. He evaluates the versions of her that are portrayed and deduces that "none seem to be really 'right':" neither as photographic performances nor as existing recurrences of "the beloved face" that he carries in his psyche. He talks about trying to find her, and achieves only part satisfaction in pinpointing fragments in each image that seem to depict parts of the mother he knows. He concludes that by being partially true, the total representation in each image is false. He suggests that the physical details and direct documentations of his mother's physical self, do not contain the sense of her, as he knows her.

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The notion of doubledeath, as an idea to generate work, can be seen as both an ironic reflection on the medium of photography and a critical attempt to comment on contemporary culture. In short, the inherent characteristics of the photographic medium and its function within society are combined. Photography embodies both death and the beginning of something autonomous and new in the very moment of the picture-taking process. A photograph is a mere simulation of what was once there, in front of the lens, transformed onto photographic paper. It then opens up a whole range of new possibilities to the viewer. The photograph's almost life-like appearance informs the photographic myth that is the idea that a photograph provides evidence of absolute truth. This characteristic together with the possibility of manipulating and altering a photograph has been continuously exploited by mass media to influence, make and guide our perceptions towards reality. These characteristics of image-making have left the borders between fiction and fact blurred. Living in a world of over-mediation it is hard to escape and find one's way around in this melting pot of the various realities suggested. Reality today is informed by the present trace of an absent original. When this is recorded photographically, it could be described as a doubledeath. Both this research documentation and the studio work are social comments on contemporary life and artmaking. Where photographs record scenes from life informed by visual simulation (the presence of the absent) the notion of doubledeath becomes most obvious. Moreover, they reflect contemporary culture, addressing and investigating concerns fueled by today's omnipresent commodity and life-style culture, and provoking thoughts about illusion and the crises of the real. In the 21st century we interact with, acknowledge, accept or even prefer the surface over the essence of things, and real experience becomes more diluted.

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