Concentration: Photography

Title of Project: Layers: The controlled conscious

 Inspiration Behind the Project:

Image is a universal language that spans a multitude of media platforms and has the unique capability to address the spectator as an individual and as part of a whole. Through a series of both conscious and unconscious associations, an individual emotionally connects to images at a level that is sometimes incomprehensible. This Integrated Thesis Project explores the relationship between images and the development of the self, and between images and human desire. The deeply intertwined relationships among images, self, and desire are analyzed by investigating the power of the image within a test case of images that are associated with the diamond.

The production component of the project is a representation of the forced projected images onto the mind of the individual spectator. Drawing upon Lacan’s concept of the “mirror stage” of human development, the production illustrates how the spectator collects layers and layers of images that persuade their perceptions of reality and ultimately influence their desires and expectations.