Fourteenth International Conference on The Image

Abstract

Since the invention of the permanent photographic image in the 19th century, photographers have considered the relative accuracy of the photograph as the representation of the subject that stands in front of the camera. While many photographers value the veracity of the photographic image, many intentionally distort their images to disrupt the relationship between the image and its referent. This type of disruption can be seen in the work of many artists, such as Michals, Ulesmann, and Tress, who often reference the surrealist movement when speaking about their images. In addition, artists from that era, including Dali, Magritte, and Tanguy, often referenced the unconscious as first described by Freud. In my own work, I draw on these ideas about surrealism and the unconscious to make minimalist still-life photographs created as a metaphor for the mind and memory. In a studio, I rephotograph projections of images. I begin this project by making minimalistic photographs of water and the sky in the landscape. The subject is the sky or the water without other identifiable objects. Then, I use a small projector to cast the digital photographs onto transparent fabric prior to recapturing the projection with a digital camera. Due to the quality of the fabric, the images are distorted and, sometimes, blurry. These photographs are removed from the context of the subject and, while they are camera-based images, are free of representation. Thus, they become illustrations. In this way, the images do not represent us, they create us.