Also known as unheimlich
(internet definition) - The uncanny is the psychological experience of something as strangely familiar, rather than simply mysterious. It may describe incidents where a familiar thing or event is encountered in an unsettling, eerie, or taboo context.
Freud's theory of the uncanny - the uncanny locates the strangeness in the ordinary
Artists I found inspiring and interesting from the presentation and thoughts in general about the subject:
Gregory Crewdson - Is an American photographer who photographs tableaux of American homes and neighborhoods. I'm really drawn to how cinematic and epic his images are, each one completely emerging you in the world of the image. I also really enjoy how he subverts the way the viewer looks at the home, very symbolically representing the way we all have different relationships with the idea of home by placing unusual objects and scenes in such a familiar looking setting.
Tereza Zelenkova - is a Czech artist working predominantly with traditional black and white photography, creating series based on ephemeral and poetic relationships between photographs. In her work, she’s often interested in mythologies surrounding particular places or people, blending facts and fiction, and scrutinizing the limits of photographic representation. (https://www.lensculture.com/tzelenkova)
Alexander Binder - Is a self-taught German photographer who uses vintage lenses and optical toys. The results are abstract and diffuse images with burning sunlight, psychedelic colors and strong contrasts. His fascination with all things spiritual and occult has made him travel to many mystic places around the globe – from the Aeolian Islands, to Bohuslän, Karelia, Iceland and the Judean Desert. (https://phroommagazine.com/alexander-binder/)
I'm particularly drawn to how macabre his work is and how he really subverts reality through his image, something I would like to try by having a go at using vintage lenses and optical toys myself.
Hans Bellmer - was a German artist and photographer best known for his violently erotic drawing and photographs. He developed the surrealist theme of mannequins and dolls as metaphors of sexuality with a singularly obsessive focus. (https://www.icp.org/browse/archive/constituents/hans-bellmer?all/all/all/all/0)
Cindy Sherman - untitled
Sherman is an American artist whose work consists primarily of photographic self-portraits, depicting herself in many different contexts and as various imagined characters
Like Bellmer, Cindy Sherman also explored mannequins and dolls in the late 90's. The way the two artists used dolls, objects often associated with youth, childhood and nostalgia to explore sensuality and eroticism is pretty shocking and makes you view the objects in a very different and uncomfortable way! The work of Bellmer and Shermans in this context made me think about how I could subvert the ordinary and use the theory of the uncanny in my own work to really play with the audience perception of things.
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