Performing the Uncanny: An Exploration of Self Through Alternative Process Photography

• Main Author: Thomas, Caroline
• Format: Others
• Published: Scholarship @ Claremont 2016
• Subjects: Photography; Self-Portraiture; Uncanny; Fine Arts
• Online Access: http://scholarship.claremont.edu/scripps_theses/789; http://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1767&context=scripps_theses

This paper considers how the tradition of self-portraiture and alternative process photography can be used in conjunction with one another to perform the uncanny. I discuss the "uncanny" through three theoretical lenses: Sigmund Freud, Hal Foster, and Rosalind Krauss. I then go on to discuss how the "uncanny" has been used in alternative processes of contemporary work by examining Robert Heinecken and Joyce Neimanas. Finally by looking at Francesca Woodman's self-portraiture, I address how self-portraiture can be a type of performance and how this influenced my own series during my 2015 Fall semester. As a whole this paper addresses how my senior thesis work functions within art theory and art history.