Mirror, mirror
Mirror, mirror
Greek philosopher, Plotinus, argued that sight is the clearest of all senses. However, he added that sight is incapable of seeing the soul because if we were able to see the soul, then it would awaken in us a terrible, intolerable love (Blumenthal 1971).This lesson I remember from a childhood fable, The Dog and the Bone. A dog sneaks into a butcher shop, stealing a bone and dashes away. Panting, he stops at a bridge over a stream. Thirsty, he wants a drink. Seeing his reflection in the stream, the dog mistakes his reflection as another dog with a larger bone - snarls, opens his mouth - Splash!
Lacan (1977) explored this stage of recognition, "the mirror phase" whereby a child realizes his or her full identity in the reflection of a mirror and mistakes it as the "real" self. The myth of Narcissus, tells how he rejected the love of a nymph, Echo. The goddess, Nemesis condemns Narcissus by making him fall in love with his own reflection. Sitting by a pool, he watches until he dies and turns into the narcissus flower. From Lacan's theory of the mirror stage, emerges the concept of the gaze. The mirror offers the subject an instance to establish its own subjectivity through the fantasy image inside the mirror.
The Photographic Myth
In class, we discussed the crisis of representation in academia. Photography's development was enmeshed in this polarization between subjectivity and objectivity.The camera, was perceived by some as outside the user and maker. Images that were captured by the camera were seen as "truth". However, this "myth" of photographic truth was highly criticized by Barthes (1966). Nonetheless, the existence of photos serve scientific and artistic purposes, as pieces of identification and much more. For example, the choice and ability to capture the environment around us, subjects of interest is a relational activity and reflects power relations. Yes, there are technical aspects of image-making (eg. composition, focus, aperture etc.) but what a photographer chooses to photograph or not photograph, and what is deemed appropriate to photograph is socially constructed in a given context. Today's visual culture is remarkably accessible, and instantaneous sometimes to the point of saturation.
In the same way that Lacan argues narcissistic tendencies derived from gaining pleasure from looking, I argue that we are attracted to others in which we find characteristics that may be complementary to ourselves, which appeals to our unconscious and fantasies. Interpellation, pinpoints the way images hail or call us. (Althusser 1989) I have experienced this and can attest to this power that images can have over us.
posted by Odz on flickr
Frida Kahlo
It wasn't until recently, that I felt the need to watch, FRIDA [2002]. Before, Kahlo's paintings were familiar having taken visual arts in highschool but they never captured me the way they do now. The movie compelled me to learn more about Frida's life and her work. What attracts me to Frida is the personal, and social politics in her life and her perseverance to experience a colourful life. Themes in her work were based on her experience: motherhood, disability etc. Marked by polio as a child, and then suffering from surgeries after the bus accident she reconstructs herself through her art. She likened her own suffering to that of Mexico. "The body is the temple of the soul. The face is the temple of the body. And when the body breaks, the soul has no other shrine except the face." (Fuentes 1998:3) She painted numerous self-portraits, herself being the subject she knew best. Accentuating her brow, and facial hair, she defies the ideals of female beauty then and now. Her manner of dress cut-across ethnic identity, gender, and class. While her manner of dress, and paintings represented herself publicly her journal was for private reflection. Myth, fact, reason, and fantasy: with the history of Mexico, and her work she "shows us successive identities of a human being who is not yet but who is becoming" (Fuentes 1998:9).
Greek philosopher, Plotinus, argued that sight is the clearest of all senses. However, he added that sight is incapable of seeing the soul because if we were able to see the soul, then it would awaken in us a terrible, intolerable love (Blumenthal 1971).This lesson I remember from a childhood fable, The Dog and the Bone. A dog sneaks into a butcher shop, stealing a bone and dashes away. Panting, he stops at a bridge over a stream. Thirsty, he wants a drink. Seeing his reflection in the stream, the dog mistakes his reflection as another dog with a larger bone - snarls, opens his mouth - Splash!
Lacan (1977) explored this stage of recognition, "the mirror phase" whereby a child realizes his or her full identity in the reflection of a mirror and mistakes it as the "real" self. The myth of Narcissus, tells how he rejected the love of a nymph, Echo. The goddess, Nemesis condemns Narcissus by making him fall in love with his own reflection. Sitting by a pool, he watches until he dies and turns into the narcissus flower. From Lacan's theory of the mirror stage, emerges the concept of the gaze. The mirror offers the subject an instance to establish its own subjectivity through the fantasy image inside the mirror.
The Photographic Myth
In class, we discussed the crisis of representation in academia. Photography's development was enmeshed in this polarization between subjectivity and objectivity.The camera, was perceived by some as outside the user and maker. Images that were captured by the camera were seen as "truth". However, this "myth" of photographic truth was highly criticized by Barthes (1966). Nonetheless, the existence of photos serve scientific and artistic purposes, as pieces of identification and much more. For example, the choice and ability to capture the environment around us, subjects of interest is a relational activity and reflects power relations. Yes, there are technical aspects of image-making (eg. composition, focus, aperture etc.) but what a photographer chooses to photograph or not photograph, and what is deemed appropriate to photograph is socially constructed in a given context. Today's visual culture is remarkably accessible, and instantaneous sometimes to the point of saturation.
In the same way that Lacan argues narcissistic tendencies derived from gaining pleasure from looking, I argue that we are attracted to others in which we find characteristics that may be complementary to ourselves, which appeals to our unconscious and fantasies. Interpellation, pinpoints the way images hail or call us. (Althusser 1989) I have experienced this and can attest to this power that images can have over us.
posted by Odz on flickr
Frida Kahlo
It wasn't until recently, that I felt the need to watch, FRIDA [2002]. Before, Kahlo's paintings were familiar having taken visual arts in highschool but they never captured me the way they do now. The movie compelled me to learn more about Frida's life and her work. What attracts me to Frida is the personal, and social politics in her life and her perseverance to experience a colourful life. Themes in her work were based on her experience: motherhood, disability etc. Marked by polio as a child, and then suffering from surgeries after the bus accident she reconstructs herself through her art. She likened her own suffering to that of Mexico. "The body is the temple of the soul. The face is the temple of the body. And when the body breaks, the soul has no other shrine except the face." (Fuentes 1998:3) She painted numerous self-portraits, herself being the subject she knew best. Accentuating her brow, and facial hair, she defies the ideals of female beauty then and now. Her manner of dress cut-across ethnic identity, gender, and class. While her manner of dress, and paintings represented herself publicly her journal was for private reflection. Myth, fact, reason, and fantasy: with the history of Mexico, and her work she "shows us successive identities of a human being who is not yet but who is becoming" (Fuentes 1998:9).