Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Human lives are informed by images, which allow us to understand a moment from the past while transforming the way we remember it. A photograph is a representation of what was physically in front of a camera. However, the image after its capture holds no singular identity and is malleable, similar to memory. I use photography and mixed-media collage in my artistic practice to explore how perception and identity is affected by the images we consume. My BFA project "This Doesn't Have To Be The End" examines the complex nature of identity through the transformation of personal photographs into pixel-like fragments, rearranging the abstracted forms in order to suggest a greater picture. The project considers the impacts of still and moving images in the formation of perceptions regarding the self, others, and the spaces we occupy. The surface of the work incorporates a mass of collected ephemera, pasted and layered on top of each other. The archive of personal objects, whether that be diary entries, photos, receipts, or drawings serve as an extension of self. By layering, concealing, and painting over such objects, my artwork indicates how the depth of one human life can not be understood by merely observing the surface, just as a photograph is only a partial representation and can not accurately define a moment.
DOI: 10.15760/honors.1933
Author: Gulden, Ember
Institution: Portland State University
Language: English
Subfield: History
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7165084484
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