Constructing the visual-essay in theory and practice : a home-dweller's life through the essayistic
Author(s)
Advisor
Ocak, ErsanDate
2014Publisher
Bilkent University
Language
English
Type
ThesisItem Usage Stats
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Abstract
Montaigne’s establishment of the essay as a literary genre brought about a
revolution of the mind in that it made possible an infinity of new manner’s of
expressing thought and human emotion possible. The essayistic spirit thus born
by Montaigne’s midwifery infiltrated in the last century the artistic genres of film
and photography. The essay found a visualized mode of practice, commonly
observable in contemporary art today. This more recent embodiment of the
essayistic expression, however, appeal to qualities and operates through principles
that expand on what the literary genre entails. In light of what these are, this
thesis explores the evolution of the essayistic from its literary expression
discussed by Adorno and Lukacs, to its examples in film and photography and
these examples’ scholarly consideration in the available literature. Generic utility
of the term essay is then problematized and “visual-essay” is proposed as a more
proper and comprehensive term.
The point of origin of these discussions are found in a visual-essay project,
entitled “A(WAITING) HOME / EV (DE) BEKLER”, which I have produced.
Accordingly, the evaluation of the essayistic mode of expression in contemporary
art is conducted in perspective of the thematic of home, home-dweller and the
seemingly essayistic relationship of the two. This is done in terms of both a
theoretical deliberation of home-dwelling, and a reflection upon how this thematic
had been explored by my project, thus purposed to be reflective on home as much
as on the very generic form in which it found expression, that is the visuallyessayistic.
Keywords
EssayLiterary-essay
Essay-film
Photo-essay
Essayistic
Adorno
Lukacs
Home-dweller
Subjectivity
Video
Photography
Material objects
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http://hdl.handle.net/11693/15977Collections
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