In April 2016 Manchester eScholar was replaced by the University of Manchester’s new Research Information Management System, Pure. In the autumn the University’s research outputs will be available to search and browse via a new Research Portal. Until then the University’s full publication record can be accessed via a temporary portal and the old eScholar content is available to search and browse via this archive.

Looking at Ourselves

Walmsley, Howard

[Thesis]. Manchester, UK: The University of Manchester; 2015.

Access to files

Abstract

Abstract:If we accept that the study of anthropology is to explore what it is to be human, then increasingly that involves being documented by a number of means, from surveillance, identity photographs, online profiles to auto portraiture and then to the various means of viewing them and the speculation regarding how they may be viewed. As more people carry camera phones we are looking at ourselves and others more than ever before. This technological advancement presents the question: How do certain forms of historical photographic practice (specifically anthropometry and the analogue photobooth) relate to contemporary attitudes to photographic portraiture and how do they affect spontaneity of performance, interior dialogue, memory and awareness in front of the camera? Using the philosophical reference points and analysis of Barthes, Benjamin, Edwards, Hiller and MacDougall, I will specifically examine subject / image relationships and how they relate to particular means of recording. The research explores these visual interactions and the effect that an image–saturated culture has on people who live within it or practice it, how we assimilate changing technologies into our lives and whether these transformations not only reflect but also contribute to a changing sense of self. I have worked with two groups of artists who employ photography and film as primary means of generating and / or communicating their work. One group is connected via their image-making practice, the other through associations with a studio workspace. Both groups reflect on their relationships with portrait images as creators, subjects and viewers. Most of us do not step back to reflect on the significance of these relationships and how they affect our response to the world. Artists in various ways are engaged in such reflection and that is why I have chosen them as mediators to be the subject of these films.

Additional content not available electronically

Two films have been submitted on DVD format:SavagesMixup: Friends and Strangers

Bibliographic metadata

Type of resource:
Content type:
Form of thesis:
Type of submission:
Thesis title:
Degree type:
Master of Philosophy
Degree programme:
MPhil in Ethnographic Documentary
Publication date:
Location:
Manchester, UK
Total pages:
69
Abstract:
Abstract:If we accept that the study of anthropology is to explore what it is to be human, then increasingly that involves being documented by a number of means, from surveillance, identity photographs, online profiles to auto portraiture and then to the various means of viewing them and the speculation regarding how they may be viewed. As more people carry camera phones we are looking at ourselves and others more than ever before. This technological advancement presents the question: How do certain forms of historical photographic practice (specifically anthropometry and the analogue photobooth) relate to contemporary attitudes to photographic portraiture and how do they affect spontaneity of performance, interior dialogue, memory and awareness in front of the camera? Using the philosophical reference points and analysis of Barthes, Benjamin, Edwards, Hiller and MacDougall, I will specifically examine subject / image relationships and how they relate to particular means of recording. The research explores these visual interactions and the effect that an image–saturated culture has on people who live within it or practice it, how we assimilate changing technologies into our lives and whether these transformations not only reflect but also contribute to a changing sense of self. I have worked with two groups of artists who employ photography and film as primary means of generating and / or communicating their work. One group is connected via their image-making practice, the other through associations with a studio workspace. Both groups reflect on their relationships with portrait images as creators, subjects and viewers. Most of us do not step back to reflect on the significance of these relationships and how they affect our response to the world. Artists in various ways are engaged in such reflection and that is why I have chosen them as mediators to be the subject of these films.
Additional digital content not deposited electronically:
Two films have been submitted on DVD format:SavagesMixup: Friends and Strangers
Thesis main supervisor(s):
Thesis co-supervisor(s):
Language:
en

Institutional metadata

University researcher(s):

Record metadata

Manchester eScholar ID:
uk-ac-man-scw:259662
Created by:
Walmsley, Howard
Created:
17th February, 2015, 15:54:11
Last modified by:
Walmsley, Howard
Last modified:
9th January, 2019, 09:49:15

Can we help?

The library chat service will be available from 11am-3pm Monday to Friday (excluding Bank Holidays). You can also email your enquiry to us.