Neurological Expressionism

Recently I have found myself intrigued by the work of Hippolyte Bayard and his image Self Portrait as a drowned man. In which Bayard reflects upon his circumstances in 1840, and acts out the emotion, after he was pipped at the post by Daguerre as the inventor of photography. Daguerre was gaining all of the attention as the inventor of photography. The image above was probably the first self portrait in the history of photography and yet it was an act.

I have also been exploring a number of ideas around Neurological Expressionism. Expressionisms’ logical development if you like a form in which the function of the brain is considered as part of the aesthetic development in a series of photographic images.

To achieve this I have constructed a small studio at home. I project patterns of light and photograph myself moving through the field that is created by those lights. Because I am sensitive to light when I move during the exposure a heightened sense of brain activity is actually occurring during the exposure. Each composition is used to create a theoretical expressionist model that is broken down by subsequent patterns of light.  I use simple behavioural models., such as the Heirachy of needs or models from contemporary psychology such as the Aspergers’ Spectrum behaviours.

I like Bayard’s self – portrait because it plays with the photographic mediums ability to trick us and to fool us. I thought the man was dead at first. And my point of view is that this kind of deception is an important part of identity.