UNFOLDING PRESENCE: AN INTERPRETATIVE PHENOMENOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF PHOTOGRAPHY by Helma Sawatzky B.F.A., Emily Carr University of Art + Design, 2009 B.Mus., Hanzehogeschool Groningen, 1992 THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in the School of Communication Faculty of Communication, Art and Technology © Helma Sawatzky 2011 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY Fall 2011 All rights reserved. However, in accordance with the Copyright Act of Canada, this work may be reproduced, without authorization, under the conditions for “Fair Dealing.” Therefore, limited reproduction of this work for the purposes of private study, research, criticism, review and news reporting is likely to be in accordance with the law, particularly if cited appropriately. APPROVAL Name: Helma Sawatzky Degree: Master of Arts Title of Thesis Unfolding Presence: An interpretative phenomenological analysis of photography Examining Committee: Chair: Dr. Kathleen Cross Lecturer, School of Communication _____________________________________________ Dr. Gary McCarron Senior Supervisor Associate professor, School of Communication _____________________________________________ Dr. Laura U. Marks Supervisor Dena Wosk University Professor of Art and Culture Studies School for the Contemporary Arts _____________________________________________ Dr. Ron Burnett External Examiner President, Vice-chancellor Emily Carr University of Art + Design Date Defended/Approved: October 7, 2011 ii Partial Copyright Licence SIMO N fl1AS E R U N IV E RSI T Y THI NK ING Of T HE vVOHLO STATEMENT OF ETHICS APPROVAL The author, whose name appears on the title page of this work, has obtained, for the research described in this work, either: (a) Human research eth ics approval from the Simon Fraser University Office of Research Ethics, or (b) Advance approval of the animal care protocol from the University Animal Care Committee of Simon Fraser University; or has conducted the research (c) as a co-investigator, collaborator or research assistant in a research project approved in advance, or (d) as a member of a course approved in advance for minimal risk human research , by the Office of Research Ethics. A copy of the approval letter has been filed at the Theses Office of the University Library at the time of submission of this thesis or project. The original application for approval and letter of approval are filed with the relevant offices. Inquiries may be directed to those authorities. Simon Fraser University Library Simon Fraser University Burnaby, BC , Canada Last upd ate: Spring 2010 ABSTRACT Media theorist Marshall McLuhan argued that media actively shape and transform the spatial, temporal and biopsychosocial dimensions of our lives, facilitating modes of perception and experience that are, arguably, medium-specific. Seeking to better understand the movements of mediation that unfold in and through acts of photography, I conducted a series of in-depth interviews with five artist- photographers in which I asked them to describe what photography does for and to them, what it ‘affords’ and what it ‘requires.’ Through these interviews, the medium and practice of photography emerged as an influential participant in a range of complex existential and hermeneutic processes. Drawing on Deleuze’s concept of the fold, I mapped the movements of mediation as they unfold in embodied consciousness as a flow of un/folding a sense of time, space and presence, of enfolding embodied being-in-the world and of infolding a range of contexts that give perception a place in experience. Keywords: Photography, mediation, perception; experience, phenomenology, post- phenomenology; meaning making, hermeneutics; un/folding-enfolding-infolding; flow DEDICATION iii DEDICATION for now we see through a glass darkly iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis offers a snapshot in time of a constellation of perceptions and experiences, stories and images that congealed into this narrative articulation during the summer of 2011. Many people, places, things and contexts participated in its becoming—all of which I celebrate with gratitude. I especially wish to acknowledge the following people: the study participants who generously shared their experiences and perspectives—your stories are the life of this thesis; my supervisor Gary McCarron, whose eclectic curiosity and down-to-earth advice infused this project with much-needed lift and thrust; Laura Marks, whose keen theoretical eye and passion for the unexpected both widened and deepened the overall picture; Ron Burnett, whose perspectives and questions set in motion myriad trains of thought heading in future directions; my fellow graduate students and faculty who offered their support and encouragement along the way; my friends, whose engaged conversations and generous affirmations have kept me afloat. My heartfelt thanks goes out to you all! Finally, I offer special thanks to my family for a lifetime of love and support, and to my husband and best friend Rick, who tirelessly listened, encouraged and valued this project and who never doubted my ability to complete it —two are better than one… v TABLE OF CONTENTS APPROVAL ........................................................................................................................ii ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................ iii DEDICATION .................................................................................................................... iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................................... v TABLE OF CONTENTS ...................................................................................................... vi LIST OF FIGURES .............................................................................................................. ix GLOSSARY ........................................................................................................................ x CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................ 1 1.1 About photography ................................................................................................. 1 1.2 The matter of mediation ......................................................................................... 4 1.3 Resonances ............................................................................................................. 6 1.3.1 Contemporary arts ...................................................................................... 7 1.3.2 Postphenomenology ................................................................................... 8 1.3.3 Film and media studies ............................................................................... 9 1.3.4 Unfolding the fold ..................................................................................... 12 1.4 Overview ............................................................................................................... 15 CHAPTER 2: FRAMES OF REFERENCE .......................................................................... 16 2.1 Thinking through the fold ..................................................................................... 18 2.2 Anemone theory ................................................................................................... 22 2.3 Photographer ........................................................................................................ 30 2.3.1 Embodiment.............................................................................................. 30 2.3.2 Intentionality ............................................................................................. 32 2.3.3 Perception and expression ....................................................................... 34 2.3.4 Mediated experience ................................................................................ 38 2.4 Photography .......................................................................................................... 43 2.4.1 Medium ..................................................................................................... 44 2.4.2 Ihde’s human technology relations .......................................................... 47 2.5 Lifeworld ............................................................................................................... 49 2.5.1 Media as ecologies .................................................................................... 52 2.5.2 Media as mediated ................................................................................... 54 2.6 Conclusion ............................................................................................................. 56 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ..................................................................... 57 3.1 Interpretative phenomenological analysis ........................................................... 57 3.2 Theoretical underpinnings of IPA ......................................................................... 58 vi 3.2.1 Phenomenological .................................................................................... 58 3.2.2 Hermeneutic ............................................................................................. 59 3.2.3 Idiographic ................................................................................................ 59 3.3 Data collection