Marieke Self-Directed Research

My favorite English words right now:

1. Visceral

2. Cathartic

The most complete PORTRAIT possible

This research is about the notion of a visible identity. What are ways to make the most complete portrait possible? When is a portrait valid, genuine and authentic? How can you make the invisible parts of anatomy visible? Let's say with an MRI or X-Ray hospitals can make photos of the invisible. Or words, are words also valuable when you describe a person?

But people are also fluid and ever-changing so maybe still figurative images wouldn't be a wise choice. Unless they would be able to say something more then the first-hand impression.

Before I had questions about the meaning of reality but this has grown into more specific questions. The questions I have now are more clearly focused on humanity I guess. Maybe this reality is now more translated into concepts of authenticity and genuineness. So when is an image humanized or dehumanized?

To me this also has a lot to do with vulnerability and protection and the tension between them.

Important quotation from Steve's class: Maybe it's not about realities, but about different levels of abstraction.

Visual Research

As a result of the Toolbox class I made a personal challenge for myself: No programs for altering in experiments. This is to stop myself from always changing my imagery afterwards with digital programs. By doing this I hope to expand my visual language. I realized that with these programs I mainly tried to mimic infra-red, ultraviolet and (psuedo)solarisation images. So I decided to research new ways for me to get images like this.

Until now I have researched infra-red the most. I started this research by putting the Hoya IR72 filter over my Nikon D40 lens. A few of the results:

Media:Infra-red 1.jpeg

Media:Infra-red 2.jpeg

Media:Infra-red 3.jpeg

Media:Infra-red 4.jpeg

Media:Infra-red 5.jpeg

Media:Infra-red 6.jpeg

As you can see most of these pictures are not that clear and sharp. There are some sharp ones but I didn't select them. Because in a way the poetry loses when you see it clearly (I'm not saying this is always the case). So I think I prefer it when the information you get from the image stays vague in a way.

Resources

Artists:

• Masahisa Fukase
• Jesse Kanda
• Chris Cunningham
• Francis Bacon
• Richard Mosse
• Bill Viola
• Daisuke Yokota

Stuff on infra-red and solarisation:

• Solarisation
• Rollei IR 400
• Infrared film photography
• Introduction infrared photography
• History of infrared detectors

Planned resources:

• Cesare Lombroso - https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/cesare-lombrosos-museum-of-criminal-anthropology
• Museum Boerhaave - https://rijksmuseumboerhaave.nl/
• Morbid Anatomy - http://morbidanatomy.blogspot.com/
• Design and the Elastic mind - https://www.ted.com/talks/paola_antonelli_previews_design_and_the_elastic_mind?language=en
• Foundations of Social Theory, James Coleman - http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674312265
• CLARITY - https://www.nature.com/news/see-through-brains-clarify-connections-1.12768
• Matthew Cetta - https://www.wired.com/2013/08/matthew-cetta/

Reading List:

• The Emergence of Cinematic Time - Mary Ann Doane - 2002
• Psychofarmaca - Solomon H Snyder
• Taking the mask off - Cortland Pfeffer, Irwin Ozborne
• Mothernism- Lise Haller Baggesen
• Objectivity- Lorraine Daston and Peter Galison