Photography and the Paradigm of the Trace
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Edith Cowan University Research Online Theses: Doctorates and Masters Theses 2013 Photography and the paradigm of the trace Daniel Nevin Edith Cowan University Follow this and additional works at: https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses Part of the Photography Commons Exegesis and accompanying photobook Recommended Citation Nevin, D. (2013). Photography and the paradigm of the trace. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/571 This Thesis is posted at Research Online. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/571 Theses Theses: Doctorates and Masters Edith Cowan University Year 2013 Photography and the paradigm of the trace Daniel Nevin Edith Cowan University, [email protected] This paper is posted at Research Online. http://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/571 Edith Cowan University Copyright Warning You may print or download ONE copy of this document for the purpose of your own research or study. 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Higher penalties may apply, and higher damages may be awarded, for offences and infringements involving the conversion of material into digital or electronic form. Photography and the paradigm of the trace Daniel Nevin BA (Hons), MBA, MPC Faculty of Education and Arts January 2013 ABSTRACT The idea that photographs can be explained as traces made by the things they depict has been a recurring paradigm in theories about the nature of the photographic medium. Walter Benjamin, Charles Sanders Peirce, Susan Sontag, Andre Bazin and Roland Barthes are a few of the many theorists who have used the paradigm of the trace to explain the nature of photographs. The paradigm can also be argued to have been a significant influence in the work of prominent artists such as Gerhard Richter, Adam Fuss and Cornelia Parker whose work has explored the photographic medium. Through an exegesis and accompanying photobook this thesis addresses the question as to why the trace has proven to be such an enduring paradigm for explaining the nature of photographs, and how the paradigm can be perceived in art practice in recent decades. The subject of the photograph as a trace is investigated through conducting a review of the history of theoretical uses of the paradigm of the trace to explain the nature of photography. The work of visual artists whose practice can be seen as in agreement with or in opposition to these theoretical approaches was also reviewed. In conjunction with this research a series of photographic works was produced using alternative photographic techniques including pinhole photography, photographs and techniques combining digital film projection and phosphorescent plates. Seeing photographs as traces links these forms of image making to one of humanity’s earliest “discoveries”, the ability to interpret traces found in nature. Through such a connection photographs can be seen as a continuation of humanity’s ability to read traces and thereby understand and deal with the passage of time, to buttress processes of memory and belief. This thesis thereby explores a key means through which the photographic object is explained and understood, at a time when the use of photographs as a means of documenting and understanding the world is expanding at an exponential rate. i ii DECLARATION I certify that this thesis does not, to the best of my knowledge and belief: i. incorporate without acknowledgment any material previously submitted for a degree or diploma in any institution of higher education; ii. contain any material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made in the text of this thesis; or iii. contain any defamatory material. Daniel Nevin iii iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Without the help, support and patience of my friends, colleagues, family and supervisors this work would not have been possible. I will be forever grateful for the continuing support of my supervisor Panizza Allmark who guided me through the long writing process. My progress owes much to her unstinting encouragement and commitment. My secondary supervisor Rod Giblett provided me with valuable advice and feedback. In an earlier course of study Rod introduced me to the works of Walter Benjamin and inspired me to follow this line of research. Thank you also to my models and fellow students at Edith Cowan University who made the process of study enjoyable and provided feedback on my work, in particular Cath Gomersall, Yvonne Doherty and Tahly Stozer. Finally, special thanks to my family, especially Sharon, Anetta and Elodie, who stoically endured our bathroom being converted to a darkroom, our home overrun over by pinhole cameras and other inconveniences without complaint and always gave me love, encouragement and support. v vi TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION 1 2. THE PARADIGM OF PHOTOGRAPHS AS TRACES 7 The meaning of trace 8 Photography and the hand of nature 12 Charles Sanders Peirce, the index and trace 15 Water Benjamin’s theory and history of photography 17 The relationship of photographs and trace to aura 19 The optical unconscious 24 Inscription 25 Memory 28 Contingency 30 Andre Bazin and the ontology of the photographic image 32 Sontag, Tagg and others and the relevance of the form of photographs 33 Barthes and Camera Lucida 39 The trace and digital photography 47 3. THE PHOTOGRAPH AS A TRACE IN ART 57 Gerhard Richter, Walter Benjamin and the trace, blur and inscription 59 Shomei Tomatsu and the photographing of traces 64 Postmodernist perspectives on photographs as traces 66 Photographs and contiguity 69 4. MY PHOTOGRAPHIC WORK 80 Shadowprints 81 The hidden room 91 The combination of photogram and photograph and a hierarchy of traces 102 Living into the image and the quality of aura 111 Images reproduced in the photobook 119 5. CONCLUSION 124 The evolution of photography 124 Trace - a resilient paradigm for photography 125 The trace and art photography practice 127 6. REFERENCES 131 7. LIST OF IMAGES 144 vii viii 1. INTRODUCTION Ever since the 1839 public unveiling of the daguerreotype, photographs have been a pervasive presence in Western societies. Despite the ready availability of motion pictures and digital recording, a place remains for the still image snatched, as French film critic Andre Bazin would say, from the flow of time (1967, p.9). Indeed, new technologies are providing increasing means for sharing and using photographs to communicate with friends or family, for self-promotion and documentation, not to mention for purposes of surveillance, recording people in public places, such as on buses and trains, and even from space by satellite. The result of all this image-making is that people living in contemporary urban locations are photographed at seemingly every conceivable moment from birth to death. Contemporary society is, as Andy Grundberg notes, a predominantly visual one, in which photographic images have become the primary means by which we obtain information about the world (1999, p.263). Yet despite the ubiquitous presence of photographs and their important roles (perhaps indeed because they are so ubiquitous) their nature and form are often overlooked. This may be due to the way in which photographs are viewed. They tend, like a window, to be seen through so that we think we see the object that the photograph depicts while overlooking the material form of the image itself1. In order to contemplate the form of the photograph the observer must draw back from viewing what is represented to see the photograph itself. In this research I examine a specific paradigm that has frequently been used to explain the nature of photographs, that is the conception of photographs as being a trace formed by contact with people, things or events. When theorists have considered the form and function of the photograph the idea that these images preserve traces – residual impressions caused by the presence of an object – has had a central and enduring role in their arguments. Authors such as Walter Benjamin, Susan Sontag, Rosalind Krauss, Roland Barthes _ 1 See Walton (1984) who describes the function of the photograph as a kind of optical device, like a telescope, through which things may be observed, or Kriebel (2007, p.3) who describes photographs as things that are seen through in order to gain information about the world. 1 and Andre Bazin have made use of this concept. It is what Geimer calls an “undead paradigm” in reference to its repeated appearance and rejection in literature on photography (2007, p.7). As well as functioning as a critical metaphor this paradigm can be seen as an ongoing motif in the practice of artists such as Gerhard Richter, Susan Degres, Anne Ferran and Cornelia Parker. This thesis examines the uses the paradigm of photographs as preservers of traces. By following the use of this concept we can revisit and compare the theories and ideas that have arisen around photography since its inception. By providing an account of the history of the paradigm of the photograph as trace this thesis explores the enduring nature of this paradigm and the reasons for its recurrence and application by historians, theorists and artists.