Death (in the Eye) of the Beholder : An Encounter with Victorian Post-mortem Photography
(2012) In Synaesthesia: Communication across Cultures 1(3). p.84-90- Abstract
- This article deals with the earliest version of post-mortem photography concentrating on the effects of such pictures on the present-day viewer. The encounter with these artefacts begins from a phenomenological point of view as I try to describe my personal experience of coming face to face with the image. I claim that the relation between the perceiver and the photograph does not just simply change but remains constantly vacillating between the modes of life and death. The shock of this constant oscillation is explained in terms of the opening of the Lacanian Real, of the subject turning into an abject/object which enacts the perceiver’s own ... (More)
- This article deals with the earliest version of post-mortem photography concentrating on the effects of such pictures on the present-day viewer. The encounter with these artefacts begins from a phenomenological point of view as I try to describe my personal experience of coming face to face with the image. I claim that the relation between the perceiver and the photograph does not just simply change but remains constantly vacillating between the modes of life and death. The shock of this constant oscillation is explained in terms of the opening of the Lacanian Real, of the subject turning into an abject/object which enacts the perceiver’s own constant (wish and) fear as well as marks the re-emergence of the aspect of our psyche from which the cultural and the symbolic protect us. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/4092814
- author
- Mendelyté, Aténé LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2012
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Victorian post, mortem photography, spectrality, photophobia, Lacanian Real, pictorial desire, phenomenology
- in
- Synaesthesia: Communication across Cultures
- volume
- 1
- issue
- 3
- pages
- 84 - 90
- ISSN
- 1883-5953
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- f3f0bc93-15cf-4684-8c4f-ac5d67314e74 (old id 4092814)
- alternative location
- http://www.synaesthesiajournal.com/uploads/7/3/4/7/73473431/mendelyte_v1_n3.pdf
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 14:56:17
- date last changed
- 2018-11-21 20:31:48
@article{f3f0bc93-15cf-4684-8c4f-ac5d67314e74, abstract = {{This article deals with the earliest version of post-mortem photography concentrating on the effects of such pictures on the present-day viewer. The encounter with these artefacts begins from a phenomenological point of view as I try to describe my personal experience of coming face to face with the image. I claim that the relation between the perceiver and the photograph does not just simply change but remains constantly vacillating between the modes of life and death. The shock of this constant oscillation is explained in terms of the opening of the Lacanian Real, of the subject turning into an abject/object which enacts the perceiver’s own constant (wish and) fear as well as marks the re-emergence of the aspect of our psyche from which the cultural and the symbolic protect us.}}, author = {{Mendelyté, Aténé}}, issn = {{1883-5953}}, keywords = {{Victorian post; mortem photography; spectrality; photophobia; Lacanian Real; pictorial desire; phenomenology}}, language = {{eng}}, number = {{3}}, pages = {{84--90}}, series = {{Synaesthesia: Communication across Cultures}}, title = {{Death (in the Eye) of the Beholder : An Encounter with Victorian Post-mortem Photography}}, url = {{http://www.synaesthesiajournal.com/uploads/7/3/4/7/73473431/mendelyte_v1_n3.pdf}}, volume = {{1}}, year = {{2012}}, }