Figuring the photographic portrait studio as a psychic apparatus.
Figuring the photographic portrait studio
as a psychic apparatus.
Jonathan Baggaley
A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of Brighton
for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy September 2015
Abstract:
'Figuring the photographic portrait studio as a psychic apparatus.'
This research project makes use of photographic art practice as an investigative tool, through which a variety of strategies have been employed in order to picture the traditional photographic portrait studio. The thesis provides both a context within which to understand this art practice and expands upon and develops the themes proposed by it.The history of the photographic studio is presented in traditional narrative form and as a discursive formation; being analysed at two specific junctures within this narrative. This historical and cultural contextualisation allows the studio to be viewed in terms of a space and apparatus that embody particular characteristics. It is suggested that whilst these characteristics are explicitly located within discourses relating to class and aesthetics they also incorporate an implicit psychical dimension.
The studio as an apparatus is analysed as constituting particular subject positions. These are discussed in relation to ideas drawn from film theory that utilise Lacanian psychoanalytic concepts. The studio is considered as a space in which the presence of the Lacanian Gaze becomes suggested with particular prominence. As an architecture that embodies the presence of the gaze, the studio is discussed in relation to a number of theories around the nature of space and modernity. The possibility of transference as an element of the studio encounter is also posited.
Four artists (Helmut Newton, Jemima Stehli, Broomberg and Chanarin and Christopher Williams) are identified as producing work that critically engages the space of the studio. Analysis of this work serves to develop the arguments made so far and provides an extended consideration of the particular subject object relationships that become played out in the studio. This becomes developed further in relation to commercial portrait practices and is demonstrated through analysis of portraits by Mike Disfarmer and Suresh Punjabi both of whom have been the subject of significant theoretical discussion.
The thesis concludes with a reflection on how the practice produced for this research has both been conceived and executed in relation to theory but also on how it can be thought of as providing, in itself, a unique and valuable contribution to knowledge. It is argued that the practice not only makes visible a coercive discourse and psychic economy implicit within the studio but that it also promotes a particularly compelling and pertinent consideration of how the two might be related.
Keywords: studio, apparatus, Lacan, Gaze, portrait, backdrop, l'objet petit a, commercial photography, subject, transference.
I: P H O T O G R A P H S II: T H E S I S
PART I PHOTOGRAPHS
................
................
In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.
To fulfill the demand for quickly locating and searching documents.
It is intelligent file search solution for home and business.
Related download
- steven h begleiter 50 lighting setups for portrait photographers
- kylie thomas history of photography in apartheid south africa 2020
- kodak 10a century studio camera and 1a semi centennial stand
- portraits and headshots
- portrait photography agreement danelle lubinski photography
- photographers in the new york public library s photography collection
- nineteenth century new jersey photographers
- professional portrait studio for amateur digital photography hp labs
- family portrait guide leasure designer portraits
- figuring the photographic portrait studio as a psychic apparatus
Related searches
- a day as a lawyer
- as a result used in a sentence
- the role of culture in teaching and learning of english as a foreign language
- working as a team in the workplace
- write the decimal as a percent
- a nurse as a detective
- as a side note in a sentence
- as the result vs as a result
- poetry for the aztec was considered as a very scared practice they used this li
- express the integral as a riemann sum
- write the percent as a decimal calculator
- save a jpeg as a pdf