Participation as observation: how I create myself from others
Date
2012-05
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Abstract
My work consists of images of the type of people I have had the most experience with: 20-something year old, white, middle-class men. Almost all of the images are of my closest friends, or of other young men I am around because of my proximity to the activities of college men. I have put their interests and actions in the context of family and tradition; thus, oval mats and hanging frames. The frames are made of different materials ' wood, plastic, metal ' and resemble the hodgepodge nature of frames found in most family homes. The use of frames and mats indicates my relationship to the men ' loving and familial ' while also pointing to the specific culture formed by a family. They each come bearing their own culture of traditions as all participate in a new one, one formed by their everyday interactions with their peers. Frames provide a familiar and dated method of presentation of the portrait, but the formality of a posed sitter is broken by intimate and specific views of young men's actions. By placing him in the home, I am drawing attention to a general familiarity with the modern young man and putting his seemingly innocuous actions up for consideration.
Description
Thesis completed in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Alfred University Honors Program.
Type
Thesis
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Keywords
Honors thesis, Art