A string of data_ : disrupting, altering and generating the photographic image : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Fine Arts at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand

Abstract

Through a body of photographic work, this thesis examines how an engagement with photographic technology presents the opportunity to destabilise the established conceptions of the performance of the medium. Historically photographic technology is presented as a series of seamless mechanised transactions that is potentially free of human interaction and situated as a mute participant in the technical production of the photographic image. Acknowledging the role technology manifests in the production of photography, I examine through my work and critical reflection, how my creative practice can harness these technical processes to alter the aesthetic and theoretical positioning of a photographic practice. Three key bodies of work: Uninhabited Space, The Reflective Field and Machine Time_Nature Time explore a successive development of a studio practice through a series of Contextual developments to uncover and interrogate the procedures at play. The Contextual developments employed a range of fundamental materials, techniques and processes native to photographic practice. The first key work, Uninhabited Space explores the role film processes play in the authoring of a photographic image. The work specifically investigates the limitations of film technology as a means to demonstrate how a ‘void of information’ might be reinterpreted as visual information within a photographic image. The subsequent key work, The Reflective Field conceptually challenges the connection between the photographic image and its presentation to resituate the photographic image as a transformable surface. The final key work, Machine Time_Nature Time is presented through extended Contextual developments that examine the role of contemporary technology in the creation of the photographic image. Digital, electronic and computational processes are deployed to augment the capture of the photographic image. Reflection on the outcome of this final body of work led to the positioning that technological disruption was used as a creative strategy. This conceptual revision initiates a theoretical evaluation of photographic practice that allows the opportunity to resituate the subliminal role of technology in the production of the photographic image. The research concludes with a final body of work, Machine Time_Nature Time in which I argue the disruption of technology contributes to an alternative understanding of photographic practice and questions how might deviation of these subliminal processes alter or augment a body of creative photographic based work. By presenting a series of photographic works in exhibition format, the research incites a recursive questioning of what constitutes the photographic image, what is selectively included, and what is silently occluded. Key Words: Photography, Technology, Disruption, Generative, Archive, Digital