Date of Award

1997

Document Type

Thesis

Publisher

Edith Cowan University

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts Honours

Faculty

Faculty of Arts

First Supervisor

Norm Leslie

Abstract

This study interprets, evaluates, and contributes to current theories and debates surrounding Bill Henson's photographs. Henson's photographs have been largely circulated as autonomous, fine-art "objects" and interpretations of this work have generally concentrated on representation/s of the body, emphasising the ephemeral and ambiguous. This study critically analyses such discourse so as to examine the assumptions that cluster around the body and bodily representation. The aim is not to judge the photographs, but to interrogate potentially different readings and interpretations. Recognising my own circumscription within this research, I remain self-critical toward my own conclusions. The methodology employed is interdisciplinary, bringing together textual analysis, dominant photography theory and postmodemism. Photographic discourse is called into question as a locus of discursive conflict as this study fuses these intellectual trajectories so as to examine the need for a (currently lacking) photographic paradigm to be expanded.

Included in

Photography Commons

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