Authentic Replications

Work thumb

Views: 311

  • Title: Authentic Replications: Conceptualizing the Effects of Cyberspace on Sacred and Secular Art
  • Author(s): Sharon Zelnick
  • Publisher: Common Ground Research Networks
  • Collection: Common Ground Research Networks
  • Series: The Image
  • Journal Title: The International Journal of the Image
  • Keywords: Art in Cyberspace, Appropriated Images, Photography Memes, Aura, Walter Benjamin, Meme Creator
  • Volume: 9
  • Issue: 3
  • Date: July 20, 2018
  • ISSN: 2154-8560 (Print)
  • ISSN: 2154-8579 (Online)
  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.18848/2154-8560/CGP/v09i03/49-62
  • Citation: Zelnick, Sharon. 2018. "Authentic Replications: Conceptualizing the Effects of Cyberspace on Sacred and Secular Art." The International Journal of the Image 9 (3): 49-62. doi:10.18848/2154-8560/CGP/v09i03/49-62.
  • Extent: 14 pages

All Rights Reserved

Copyright © 2018, Common Ground Research Networks, All Rights Reserved

Abstract

This article examines how memes, because of their ability to add something unique to original images, have novel aesthetic value. Through an analysis of four meme case studies including Dorothea Lange’s iconic photograph “Migrant Mother,” a nature photograph from Peter Lik, and two images that find their origin in Eastern religions, one of Buddha and one of Ganesh, I explore the ways meme creators exert their agency to reshape our understanding of the original images on which the memes are based. By focusing on distinct subject matters, religious and aesthetic, and distinct mediums, photography and illustrations, we are afforded a powerful lens through which to analyze the unique ways these images in their meme form maintain and transform the styles, sentiments, and meanings embedded in the original versions and how this shifts depending on the connection the memes have to spiritual and religious phenomena. Analyzing the memes against the backdrop of Walter Benjamin’s notion of the aura and contemporary conceptualizations of the positive aspects of appropriation, I argue that as art enters cyberspace it undoubtedly changes, yet these changes do not detract from a work’s aesthetic value, rather they add an element of innovation that centers on collaborative creativity.