The medium format photographs created in conjunction with my senior thesis exhibit, Everyday Decay, use texture, line, intimate framing, warm color palettes, and layering to explore an aspect of the everyday landscape that we interact with often but generally ignore. The choice of medium and subject of decay creates a sense of the past, aided by the warm tones that imply affinity and nostalgia.

Ansel Adams, one of the world’s great photographers, once said, “There are always two people in every picture: the photographer and the viewer.” This thesis will explore the relationship of the photographer, the viewer, and the photographed subject in the context of humanitarian photography, which has historically internalized a specific balance of power between the worlds of the photographer, viewer, and subject. By examining this tangible expression of the internalized world, this thesis is also performing a critical examination of humanitarianism itself with the intent of improving humanitarian practices and interior worlds. In examining these topics, this thesis will answer the following questions: What is the humanitarian gaze? And: Why is the spectatorial nature of sympathy reserved for Global South? These are questions that will lead to the core question that this thesis asks: what is the relationship between humanitarianism and colonialism?

The photographer discusses work in Blue-Collar Backroads, a Master of Fine Arts thesis exhibit held at downtown Tipton Gallery from February 1st through February 18th, 2022. The exhibit consists of 17 archival inkjet prints selected from the artist’s two-year exploration of rural backroads as a vehicle for creating images. Using aesthetic traditions of large-format film photography, the photographer poses questions of identity, place, memory, and the intentional pursuit of meditative practices in art. Non-photographic influences are listed, including Claire Wellesley-Smith and Elizabeth Catte. Photographic influences include Joel Sternfeld, Rachel Boillot, William Christenberry, and Mike Smith. A catalog of the exhibit is included at the end of this thesis.

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.

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Arts, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partlal fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Fine Arts. / The research for this degree comprises a theoretical dissertation and a practical component of photographs. The theoretical research investigates the practice of documentary photography in America and South Africa. The photographs of Walker Evans, Robert Frank, David Goldblatt and Bob Gosanl are examined against the background of two organisations, the Farm Security Administration and Drum. These organisations influenced the documentary genre in their respective countries because of their socio-polltical concerns: their choice and presentation of subject matter for publication influenced both the photographar and the viewer. Documentary photographs appear, because of their seemingly candid and unmediated nature, to present historically factual images. Examples from the work of the four photographers reveal their distinction from, continuity with the confines of the documentary genre. Their respective approaches reveal the role of perception as it manifests itself in their work. Subjugation, attltudes towards subject matter, and the pictorial construction of images are analysed in relation to each photographer's work. The relationship of image and text in documentary photography is seen as an element of intervention by the photographer. The selection of these photographers was motivated for their partinance to the subject matter and to the pictorial considerations of the candidate. These issues are therefore examined in relation to the candidate's approach to photography. / Andrew Chakane 2018

The photographer discusses the work in Big Rock Candy Mountain: Photographs from the Great Smoky Mountain Tourist Towns, her Master of Fine Arts exhibition held at the Reece Museum, Johnson City, Tennessee from September 22 to December 18, 2009. The exhibition consists of 17 large-scale color Archival Inkjet Prints edited from a large body of work done in the tourist towns surrounding the Great Smoky Mountains. Topics include the historical and contemporary artistic influences on the work, examining the work of Jacques-Henri Lartigue, Weegee, Martin Parr, and Joel Sternfeld. A short history of the area, the subject of tourism pertaining to the work, and works from the exhibition are also discussed. Included is the complete catalogue of the Big Rock Candy Mountain exhibit.

The research investigated the artistic and photographic processes corresponding with two studies motivated by the artist's personal history and focused on the role, affect, and history of various female idols represented in art history, religion, and modern American popular media. The first part of the study documented female models as they were simultaneously asked by the artist to think of a range of personal but nonspecific moments from her life, the women were asked not to share their thoughts, only the moment spent thinking, with the artist. The second part of the study documented aspiring models as they awoke during sunrise in the nightwear they slept in (fig 1). This study incorporated landscapes near the models home. A similar notion is iii exemplified between the two studies as the models are asked to procure an intimacy with the photographer and in consequence with the viewer. The written part of the study gathered information regarding the female idols presence in a variety of cultures and eras, which transitioned to question the female idols current role in western culture. Findings showed that all idols stress an approved appearance, behavior and morality; furthermore research shows that the modern female idol stresses an importance on appearance more than any other factor. The research continued by breaking down the importance of a viewer-subject relationship in iconography and other artworks. A focus was made on what factors might create this viewer-subject relationship, and furthermore what do the subtleties of the subject tell the viewer. Reference of the artist's memories of an inconsistent female role model in her own life combined with the idols that were constantly solicited by the media resulted in this investigation. A positive relationship was found between the photographic process and the study of models in personal moments.

Inspired by Buddhist philosophy, the photographic series Architectural Zen attempts to beautify banal and pragmatic architecture through limiting and preexisting artificial light conditions. The selective illumination of artificial light eliminates the non-essential details and enhances the pure forms and saturated color presented by the camera lens. This encourages the photographer and the viewer to enter a state of meditation. The resulting process is similar to a Zen approach to image making. The ancient Zen artist's compositions are strengthened by a meditation on form and subsequent elimination of the non-essential elements of the subject. Through embracing this Zen mentality and mindfulness,aspects of Eastern aesthetic and balance also appear through the work. The warm glow of artificial lights, long recessed shadows, and surreal colors contribute to the feeling of rest, contemplation, isolation, and solitude. Although the work in Architectural Zen is not directly about Buddhist doctrines, the process of creating the art parallels the ideas and practices of Zen Buddhism and meditation, finding the Buddha nature of typically unappealing architectural forms during a different time of day.

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