The Proposal

During my final semester at Old Dominion University I would like to propose a photography project that revolves around the art of collage. The project will begin with simple self-portraits printed from low grade printers in black and white. These black and white prints will then be cut up and combined with others to create different versions of my self-portrait. Those new versions will then be photographed again and reprinted larger. This process will repeat until the desired look is achieved. Ideally, the finished image will fool the viewer into assuming the work was created mainly in Photoshop. In accomplishing this, I hope the work will begin to comment on the possible interaction between analog processes and digital processes in photography. When photographing myself, I plan to use my digital camera, my 35mm film camera, and my pinhole camera to further push this interaction between old and new. 

All of the different self-portraits will then be combined into one large scene and photographed again. Once the different scenes are  almost at a finished state, I want to print them even larger, close to life size. Those prints will then be carefully cut into pieces one last time. This time they will be sewn back together with some kind of thread, maybe varying in color. The lines of string will act as layers of drawings and scribblings in some areas of the images. Lastly, I would like to attach the large prints onto a piece of plywood. I hope the combination of mix media will completely transform the work from just an image into an object. 

Although the images will be mostly pictures of myself, I plan to incorporate bare trees and possibly other organic subjects. This project stems from a long semester of self-portraits and the quest for my self identity. It is potentially the true manifestation of Bristen Krown. I hope the final collage of images will speak on not only my own quest for identity, but begin to ask the viewer the same questions of themselves.