Figuring the photographic portrait studio as a psychic apparatus. J onathan B aggaley

286 Pages·2015·7.39 MB·English

by  Jonathan Baggaley

Figuring the
photographic portrait studio
as a psychic apparatus.

J o n a t h a n B a g g a l e y

A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the
requirements of the University of Brighton
for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy
September 2015
Abstract:

'Figuring the photographic portrait studio as a psychic apparatus.'

This research project makes use of photographic art practice as an investigative tool,
through which a variety of strategies have been employed in order to picture the
traditional photographic portrait studio. The thesis provides both a context within which
to understand this art practice and expands upon and develops the themes proposed by
it.The history of the photographic studio is presented in traditional narrative form and as
a discursive formation; being analysed at two specific junctures within this narrative. This
historical and cultural contextualisation allows the studio to be viewed in terms of a space
and apparatus that embody particular characteristics. It is suggested that whilst these
characteristics are explicitly located within discourses relating to class and aesthetics they
also incorporate an implicit psychical dimension.

The studio as an apparatus is analysed as constituting particular subject positions. These
are discussed in relation to ideas drawn from film theory that utilise Lacanian
psychoanalytic concepts. The studio is considered as a space in which the presence of the
Lacanian Gaze becomes suggested with particular prominence. As an architecture that
embodies the presence of the gaze, the studio is discussed in relation to a number of
theories around the nature of space and modernity. The possibility of transference as an
element of the studio encounter is also posited.

Four artists (Helmut Newton, Jemima Stehli, Broomberg and Chanarin and Christopher
Williams) are identified as producing work that critically engages the space of the studio.
Analysis of this work serves to develop the arguments made so far and provides an
extended consideration of the particular subject object relationships that become played
out in the studio. This becomes developed further in relation to commercial portrait
practices and is demonstrated through analysis of portraits by Mike Disfarmer and
Suresh Punjabi both of whom have been the subject of significant theoretical discussion.

The thesis concludes with a reflection on how the practice produced for this research has
both been conceived and executed in relation to theory but also on how it can be
thought of as providing, in itself, a unique and valuable contribution to knowledge. It is
argued that the practice not only makes visible a coercive discourse and psychic economy
implicit within the studio but that it also promotes a particularly compelling and pertinent
consideration of how the two might be related.

Keywords: studio, apparatus, Lacan, Gaze, portrait, backdrop, l’objet petit a, commercial
photography, subject, transference.
I: P H O T O G R A P H S

II: T H E S I S
PART I

PHOTOGRAPHS