Have you ever thought about how many photographic images you have seen in a single day?  We are bombarded by visual stimulus and photographic images seemingly every minute of the day, from images on the internet, social media, newspapers, magazines, to posters and advertising billboards.  The photographic image is everywhere I look, so much so that I do not always pay attention or think about the context in which I have seen photographs as they always seem to be in the background, something seen in passing.

One thing I do know is that most of what I see in these images will be partly fictional, edited in some way, enhanced with a filter, retouched to remove imperfections and framed to show the perfect setting or perfect light or perfect pose….and so it goes on.  Social media is always guilty of creating ‘fictions’ as people portray the image they would like to express and they highlight their perfect lives and perfect moments.  Just like in advertising, this is not the reality for the everyday person but rather a fictitious, constructed and enhanced reality. 

Amalia Ulman is a photographer who used Instagram to create an entire narrative around a fictional identity.  In 2014, she used her social media profiles to stage a five-month scripted performance inspired by the extreme makeover culture.  This was a project she called ‘Excellences & Perfections’ which explored the rise in social media, personal branding and lifestyle culture in a semi-fictional blend of her real life and online persona.  The project can be viewed here: Excellences & Perfections.

This project emphasises how we cannot always discern between what is fact or fiction in the photographic image, or between which images are consciously made rather than taken.  Quite often the photographic image is a combination of both and as a photographer, it is important to be able to recognise artifice versus authenticity and to be able to balance these within our own photographic practice.

Cindy Sherman is another well know photographer who constructed her images in a form of staged photography set up in a contrived environment but deliberately constructed to create the appearance of spontaneity. Sherman has always performed as the subject and becomes the characters of her works. She has created many different bodies of work exploring iterations of this idea and has completed many series, working with historical themes of portraiture, circus characters and the grotesque, and using a number of different props and techniques to create these images.

Linda Hutcheon (2003: 117) states that contemporary photography exploits and challenges both the objective and the subjective, the technological and the creative. In my opinion, the contemporary photographic artist will combine both constructed and authentic elements within their work, using both fictional and authentic components within their practice. It is about finding the balance between both aspects and creating an authentic narrative.

As my work is predominantly rooted in the urban landscape and some documentary photography, it is predominantly through the use of framing, editing and conscious use of camera angles that I may use some form of ‘construction’ within my photographic practice and perhaps this is a concept I could explore further by using different photographic media to create my images.

References:

• Hutcheon, L. 2003. The Politics of Postmodernism. London: Routledge
• Newmuseum.org. 2020. Amalia Ulman: Excellences & Perfections. [online] Available at: https://www.newmuseum.org/exhibitions/view/amalia-ulman-excellences-perfections [Accessed 23 June 2020].
• The Museum of Modern Art. 2020. Cindy Sherman | Moma. [online] Available at: https://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/1154? [Accessed 23 June 2020].