My research topic will be exploring digital photography as an artistic medium.I will be evaluating photography as a way to vigorously explore the world and an avenue to express visual thinking. I am interested in photography’s nonrealistic qualities, and how it serves as a representation of the artist’s intuitive vision instead of an accurate depiction of the real world. The production of altered realities is a phenomenon in photography that allows artists to express their unique world of visions. A photograph can be as abstract and unrepresentative as a painting. However, we tend to believe that a photograph accurately depicts the subject it is representing, and if it does not we are quick to judge the photograph and discredit it instead of trying to appreciate and understand it. “Am I taking photographs of existing reality, or creating my own world, so real but nonexistent?”- Misha Gordin. Photographers are essentially creating their own representations of what they see through their camera
“In a world of high technology, will you still believe in the truthfulness of a photograph? And does it matter?” “All too often, the photographer’s individual approach to image-making is hijacked by conventionally accepted photographic aesthetics; that is, how things “should” look.” –Lois Greeenfield.
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I created two collages of alternative Facebook logos. The first collage includes several landscapes and sceneries of different locations I have photographed and placed behind the Facebook logo. The images include, beaches, lakes, skies, mountains, city lights, clouds, buildings, forests, waterfalls, and gardens. The collage has a total of 20 images, five rows and four columns. The second collage consists of sixteen images of faces I have photographed from people of different ages, nationalities, ethnicities and cultures. I cropped these images so that only one eye were visible and placed them behind the Facebook logo as if they are trying to peep through the corners of the iconic blue “F.” I created these montages using Adobe Photoshop, I downloaded an image of the Facebook logo from the web and copied it onto Photoshop placing the logo on top of one of my images and then cropped each image to create the finalized logo. I was inspired to create these collages by the personalized documentary series “Do Not Track” which talks about how we are being tracked by several digital platforms. The mini series explains just how little online privacy we have and how closely we are being monitored and tracked by the web. It is even able to reveal personal character traits based on our social media usage and Internet activity. We live in an era that if we choose to participate from the Internet culture and engage with technology we no longer have much power over our privacy. Many people are not aware the extent to which they are being monitored. I am not trying to make a commentary about if it is ethical or not that we are being tracked because I believe that we are just evolving towards a more open internet sharing economy and people are caring less and less about their privacy. Therefore we should focus on the future of this social media culture and how we decide to interact with it. In Participating in The Always-On Lifestyle Danah Boyd argues “Being always-on and living a public life through social media may complicate our lives in new ways, but participating can also enrich the tapestry of life.” It is important to be very aware about what we post and share. In The Political Economy of Facebook Christian Fucks argues that “Facebook should reveal what data the platform stores about its users, and users should be protected from Facebook’s economic exploitation of their data.” It is important to know that there is no such thing as online privacy and anything you put up online is essentially out there and accessible. Companies are monetizing of off our data and the amount of information they have about us should become public and more transparent. Our participatory culture pressures us to share, create and disseminate content, which has been very beneficial because it has enabled people to connect with each other and has unified communities. Nonetheless as audiences and consumers of these online services we should be able to know what exactly is being done with our information and data. If people are aware and accepting of what Facebook and other social platforms do with our data then I do not see any issue. However, the way these companies go about collecting data may be misleading and not clear as to what is on the backend of the system. My series of images serve to display that wherever you might go, no matter where in the globe, your every move is being tracked and stored. Similarly, no matter who you are and how hard you try to protect your privacy there is no way to really escape the data collectors. I see my collages also serving as educational material for younger students who are entering this social media era. We have reached the point where elementary and middle schools should be brining to attention the importance of being cautious online. I intend my images to serve as a wake up call and get peoples attention. They are very provocative and intrigue the viewer to question its meaning and produce discussion and conversation. The eyes behind the Facebook logo evokes a creepy uncomfortable sensation as if someone is watching you without you knowing. It is meant to represent how social media is everywhere, especially Facebook and how it holds a central part of our lives and we cannot really escape it so we better learn how to interact with it responsibly. 11 panes by Gerhard Richter is exhibited at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta. The piece displays a freestanding three-dimensional construction of glass. The mirror reflects the environment and engages space, drawing the viewer in and evoking the audience to participate with the work. Richter creates a spatial relation between the viewer and the object, having the spectator play a crucial role in the artwork and essentially be part of the exhibition. Richter designs a space that allows the spectators to interact with their own reflections in relation to reality. In doing so, many visual phenomena’s concerning individuals’ self-reflections and imagery arise. In 11 panes we see how Richter’s attempts to question the conventional roles of painting and photography and the inherent ideas regarding the representation of reality. He alludes to perception and utilizes the power of mirrored reflections in order to force viewers to confront themselves while interpreting the artwork. Observing how people engaged and responded to the piece was very interesting, and through photography I was able to capture these interactions and concentrated in analyzing the differences in reactions depending on age and gender. I was able to observe children in the midst of the ‘mirror stage’; a transitional phase in which infants both recognized and identify themselves as individual bodies. I found it fascinating to watch how infants reacted to their own image as art. During my observation, I was also intrigued by the difference between how men observed themselves and how women observed themselves. Men accepted their appearances while women tended to mold their bodies and pose in order to be satisfied with their own reflections. When couples approached the piece, the way they interacted with each other also changed. Some would give each other a kiss, pose, or get close to one another intending to appear as art, externalizing their internalization of their own perception of a framed painting. |
AuthorI am from Panama and a sophomore at Emory University. I am passionate about photography and media making. Archives |