Double Exposure

Me and the other ME more questions on identity 

This blog entry showcases another ADP [Applied Digital Photography] assignment given to the 2nd years sometime in September. The images and blurbs are viewable on a Picasa Web Album_ click on 'buka lapha' to take you there...

buka lapha

screenshot off my hard drive

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Outline

The theme of this assignment was about revealing another side of ones ‘identity’ that is normally not ‘exposed’ to others. The students were asked to juxtapose (make a comparison, put side by side) what they show outwardly (external, exterior appearance, what people see, clothed self) as opposed to that which is hidden or private (internalized, and in a sense ‘unclothed’).

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Double Exposure

Double Exposure [DE] in Photography is a technique in which a piece of film is exposed twice, to two different images. The resulting photographic image shows the second image superimposed over the first. This technique can be used to create an artistic visual effect by creating ghostly images or by adding people/objects to a scene that were not previously there. 

For this assignment, the term, DE, literally means_ to expose oneself twice or expose two personalities by:

• juxtaposing onesself clothed (concealed) contrasted by ‘unclothed’ (naked/revealed) in one environment.
•  examining tensions and dialogues (see the suggestions listed below) between what one reveals (public) and what one conceals (private). 
•  showing how ones outward appearance can be ambivalent (see glossary for definition).

Body Art as Text

Additionally the students were asked to adorn or scar your ‘unclothed’ self with ‘body art’ of your choice with the intention to tell a story about oneself. The characteristics, mode and placement of the body art becomes a 'text' and further adds a conceptual element to the image. These 'texts' must be sourced from the student's own photographs (eg photographs of textures, designs, patterns, shapes etc) and converted into tattoos, scars or body modifications utilizing Photoshop’s blending modes, filters and masking capabilities.  For example: lines on a body, created by photographing tiles on a floor may imitate stretch marks which indicate a pregnancy etc.

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 being clothed vs being unclothed 

• Being physically clothed defines many things, such as:

·       The way you dress and style your outward appearance reveals part of your culture and identity

·       Keeps you warm, secure and protected

·       Hides your ‘unclothed’ body: body defects, skin or marks

·       Act of concealing

·       Act of secretness

·       Artificial

·       Formal

·       Adorned

·       Social constraints

·       Public

·       Be someone else

·       Oppressed

·       safe

• Being unclothed defines many things, such as:

·       Makes you powerful or vulnerable or both

·       Exposes nakedness: without covering/protection, easily harmed

·       Is revealing

·       Shows your skin: natural covering

·       Informal

·       Insecurities / Emotions

·       Private

·       Freedom

·       Unsafe

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osmosisBLOG posts on ARTISTs and interrogation of “identity"

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1. http://osmosisliza.blogspot.com/2011/04/first-uk-exhibition-of-contemporary-sa.html
2. http://osmosisliza.blogspot.com/2011/07/lolo-veleko.html
3. http://osmosisliza.blogspot.com/2011/07/ernest-cole-unalterable-blackness.html
4. http://osmosisliza.blogspot.com/2010/12/asxinterview-gil-blank-with-thomas-ruff.html
5. http://www.americansuburbx.com/2009/03/interview-interview-with-artist-cindy.html
6. http://osmosisliza.blogspot.com/2010/10/adp2-self-portraitexposing-another.html
7. http://osmosisliza.blogspot.com/2010/08/self-portraitsfrida-khalo.html
8. http://osmosisliza.blogspot.com/2010/10/photo-wisdom-part-3.html

 

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Glossary:

SYMBOLISM: a shape or sign used to represent something à meaningful, significant or representative

MONTAGE: the process or technique of selecting, editing, and piecing together separate sections of film to form a continuous whole.

JUXTAPOSE:  place or deal with close together for contrasting effect

AMBIVALENT: to have mixed feelings or contradictory ideas about something or someone.

BODY ART: the most common forms of body art are tattoos, body piercings, scarification, branding, sculpting (corsets etc), body painting.

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