Andrew Rankin

Roland Barthes’ idea of the real unreality of the photograph speaks to the way we see and value a photograph and index the subject ‘as having been there’. To support this notion Andre Bazin talks of photography’s ability to embalm time, relating it to man’s psychological need for the “preservation of life by a representation of life”[1]

In this work the relationship between frame and image is explored through sculptural form and the reproducible medium of photography. Manipulated within the structure, the printed two-dimensional image replicates the basic semblance of the three dimensional object it represents, facilitating a reciprocity between image-form and whereby the photograph ‘traces’ the object and the frame correspondingly ‘traces’ the photograph. Hence this project investigates the indexical relationship be- tween image, object and photograph, activating questions about the significance of the chosen iconography[2] and the connections between images and their referents.

[1] Bazin, André, and Hugh Gray. “The ontology of the photographic image.” Film Quarterly 13.4 (1960): 4-9.

[2] The Mackelvie Cabinet(escritoire) created by Anton Seuffert in 1871, offers an entry into a deeper discussion through its iconography, form, and history. The cabinet is currently located at The Auckland War Memorial Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira. Thank you to the Mackelvie Trust Board and The Auckland War Memorial Museum for allowing access to this artifact.