final images and artist statement.

This series of images is about the vagueness of the unconscious. Each images is to represent dreams, which are entirely irrational. My body of work illustrates themes by Sigmund Freud. One of the themes I focused on was identity. From Freud I learned that the mind does what it wants and that we have no control over it. One of the artists I emulated was Claude Cahun. Her images were all about identity and trying to figure out who you are. Since these images are representational of dreams, there isn’t a clear narrative because dreams never have a clear narrative. When we wake up, we usually don’t clearly remember anything and we try to piece together a story, and that is what my photo essay is representing.

To get a dreamlike quality I took pictures on my digital camera. After editing, I inverted my images in photoshop, and then printed them on acetate paper, therefore creating my own negatives. I took these negatives in the darkroom and printed them as I normally would with 35mm film. This process gave it a very blurred, dreamy feeling. The images have a lot of contrast and grainy due to the process I used.