Abstract
Portraiture in the bathroom is a photographic based research project undertaken in the Darwin area, in northern Australia. The bathroom environment is utilized as a decoder of its Owners character. By agreeing to being portrayed in what could be considered the most intimate room of the household, people will lift part of the veil protecting their personality and open one of the many doors leading into their soul.Through centuries, artists from different backgrounds and cultures have focused part of their work on the bathroom, or the rituals of washing and taking care of one’s own body. The reasons, motives, interpretation and perceptions of this subject have evolved dramatically over time. I will focus on the subject of the bathroom and representations of the nude in contemporary western art.
This exegesis begins by discussing the gaze upon the nude during the past century and its evolution. It then focuses on the democratization of the portrait. It will then concentrate on the environmental portrait and the development of my personal research.
This research is undertaken in an attempt to understand and answer the issues raised by the topic of portraiture in the bathroom, which will then be applied to the author’s own artistic practice of environmental portraiture. This has been the author’s main point of focus for the past four years, and this research set out to resolve some of the problematic regarding environmental portraiture.
| Date of Award | Mar 2007 |
|---|---|
| Original language | English |
| Supervisor | Chris White (Supervisor) |