BREANNE SCHENK
SELF PORTRAIT
CONSTRUCTED REALITIES, 2016
GESTURES
© BREANNE SCHENK
Identity can be created by material things as well as how we act, but what about the things that are permanently a part of us? This work looks at scars as a self portrait. The black cloth surrounding the scar obscures where exactly it is while not hiding that it is a body and it is a scar.
Large format black and white negatives have been cut up and taped together into new image objects. These
constructed images are then scanned.
BEYOND THE 9-5
Beyond the 9-5 (2016) uses concrete photography to explore a neoliberal work environment day to day as well as looking at the capitalism surrounding the materials found in almost every piece of clothing. By connecting my own clothing and body to the film, these large scale photograms act as self-portraits as well as reveal the generic material that makes up the clothing we use as individual identities. Some negatives were worn for hours, minutes or even seconds. This range of time helped to establish the irregular work hours that occur within society today.
Gestures (2016) uses darkroom photographic processes to mirror the gestures recorded on our digital devices. Fixer is used to imitate these gestures on the photo paper before being exposed to light.