Thesis (MA (Visual Art))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie tesis is bemoei met die wyse waarop die fotobeeld konvensioneel aan 'n mimetiese kode van "gedrag" onderhewig is, met die gevolg dat alternatiewe voorstellingsfunksies dikwels buite oorweging gehou word. 'n Interessante area van ondersoek word blootgestel wanneer die komplekse verhouding tussen die toeskouer en beeld betrek word om die broosheid van eersgenoemde se agentskap in die waarnemingproses te beklemtoon. Dit is dus vanuit hierdie gewaarwording dat ek my bespreking van die fotobeeld grotendeels binne 'n psigoanalitiese raamwerk situeer en aan die hand van konsepte soos Einfühlung, die Lacanian Real en John Dewey (2005) se teorie van kuns as ervaring, bespreek. Die skynbaar teenstrydige aard van die fotobeeld as (onder andere) beide mimetiese realiteitskopie en piktoriale fiksie, ooglopend onafhanklik van taal en eweveel deurspek met diskursiewe vertolkings, openbaar volgens my egter die ideale vertrekpunt vanwaar fotografie se voorstellingsfunksie heroorweeg kan word. Dié opponerende tweespalt, wat as kenmerkende karaktertrekke van die fotobeeld na vore tree, noop die toeskouer om die beeld met 'n verhoogde sensitiwiteit te benader – met die gevolg dat die foto se onlosmaaklike skakel met "haar"1 diskursiewe grense en aptyt vir die "onsêbare" as konstruktiewe koalisie gesien word. Die fotografiese werk van Lien Botha, veral haar Amendment–reeks (2006) en Parrot Jungle (2009), sal deurentyd as visuele bevestiging van my argumente betrek word. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis is concerned with the way in which the photographic image has conventionally been subject to a mimetic code of "behaviour", resulting in the marginalization of alternative, representational functions. An interesting area of study is, however, laid bare when the complex relationship between the viewer and image initiates a discussion around the former's wavering position as autonomous agent within the observation process. Using this awareness as a point of departure, my discussion will be primarily situated within a psychoanalytic framework by focusing partly on concepts like Einfühlung, the Lacanian Real and John Dewey's theory of art as experience. An apparent dualistic rivalry, that situates the photo-image simultaneously as a mimetic agent of reality and pictorial fiction, apparently devoid of language and equally riddled with discursive interpretations, serves furthermore as an ideal complication of the photograph's conventional, representational function. These opposing "forces", recognizable as a typical characteristic of the photographic image, subtly challenges the viewer to regard it with a heightened sensitivity – resulting in an awareness that the photograph's inseparable bond with its discursive boundaries, and appetite for the "unrepresentational", does in fact represent a constructive coalition. The photographic work of Lien Botha, especially her Amendment-series (2006) and Parrot Jungle (2009) will serve as a visual emphasis of my arguments.