Mis-taken
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The Ohio State University / OhioLINK
2002
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| Online Access: | http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1382638253 |
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ndltd-OhioLink-oai-etd.ohiolink.edu-osu13826382532021-08-03T06:20:07Z Mis-taken Schanberger, Francis William Art History <p><i>Memory does not make films, it makes photographs.</i> </p><p>Milan Kundera<sup>1</sup></p><p>Barring injury or disability, most of us construct an image of ourselves based upon visual information. We probably look at our reflected selves at least a few times a day and have our photographs taken several times a year. Even in very diverse cultures the photograph is available to record someone's likeness at least once. How we look in the mirror or look in a photograph confirms or contradicts a built up memory of "self".</p><p>Occasionally a photograph is made which we feel doesn't do us justice. It doesn't look like us or perhaps it looks too much like an unloved relative. Somehow, these images have missed their mark. They don't confirm our internalized self. They suggest that we may be someone else.</p><p>As cameras and technology change, the way we photograph one another and record our identities changes. Sometimes cameras impart a 'look' which alters our appearance; sometimes that look interferes with our ability to identify one another. In the case of the mirror we look at on a daily basis, the surface may be warped or imperfect. With regards to photography, a lens could be flawed or a digital camera may not be able to record the resolution needed to reproduce a useful image. New technologies employed in photography have promised superior fidelity but information is lost as we try and speed up download and upload of information on the internet or squeeze more data and processing speed into smaller, more portable spaces. Compression is delivering less space and also lost data.</p><p>The images in this installation are digital self-portraits taken with a children's digital camera and enlarged to the proportions of posters hung in a manner to suggest that they are not simply identification pictures but possibly political banners. They are comprised of dots, lines and pixels suggesting "lossy" images and a technological memory loss. The look is reiterated in the scratchy and damaged look of projected film at one end of the gallery.</p><p>It is my hope that the viewer sees other identities other than my own in these portraits and begins to question how his/her own identity and history is shaped by photography. The photographic banners, Super 8 movie and printed statement are presented in an installation meant to suggest that technology has not preserved our memory but lost it. It is also my intention to bring the viewer into a discussion of how new technologies are changing the look of our memories and our ability to retrieve it.</p><p><sup>1 </sup>Milan Kundera, <i>Immortality,</i> (New York: Grove Press, 1991), 314.</p> 2002 English text The Ohio State University / OhioLINK http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1382638253 http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1382638253 unrestricted This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws. |
| collection |
NDLTD |
| language |
English |
| sources |
NDLTD |
| topic |
Art History |
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Art History Schanberger, Francis William Mis-taken |
| author |
Schanberger, Francis William |
| author_facet |
Schanberger, Francis William |
| author_sort |
Schanberger, Francis William |
| title |
Mis-taken |
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Mis-taken |
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Mis-taken |
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Mis-taken |
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Mis-taken |
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mis-taken |
| publisher |
The Ohio State University / OhioLINK |
| publishDate |
2002 |
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http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1382638253 |
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