Date of Award

2013

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Humanities

First Advisor

Carrasco, Malena

Keywords

Francesca Woodman, Photography, Contemporary Art Theory

Area of Concentration

Art History

Abstract

Scholarly representations of the artist Francesca Woodman often rely on framing her work within one fixed academic or artistic boundary. I argue that this in an ineffective way to approach Woodman's work, as it forces a rigid and clear set of divisions that I feel are intentionally askew in her photographs. This thesis aims to emphasize the intersections of artistic traditions and techniques used by Woodman, particularly in relation to photographic theory, as a means to expand and enrich the models conventionally used for understanding her body of work. The strength of Woodman's work is actualized through a multi-perspectival approach to her representation of spaces, body, and time. In this thesis I explore Woodman's unique combinations of techniques from Feminist, Surrealist, Modernist, and other schools and how that manifests itself as a transfixing image of intersection. Woodman's commentary on photography as a medium, on memory, stillness, time, and identity is intensified through her peculiar use of the body within architectural space. It is my suggestion that her photographs be viewed in the same manner as they were made; juxtapositions of extremes, coming together, existing in unison and pushing at the frame of the body, the frame of the photograph, and the frame of categorization.

Rights

The author has granted New College of Florida the nonexclusive right to archive, make accessible, and distribute for educational purposes this work in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. The copyright of this work remains with the author.

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