Methodology
Diving into this theme, I started this project by understanding all the different processes behind photography on a larger scale and contrasting it with my way of practicing it. During this time, a lot had to do with practice-based research and reflecting on some old work. Soon, some recurring themes and insignificant things emerged: accidents from everyday life, a funny pole, a big pile of garbage that looks ridiculous, etc. I then re-examined a lot of theories relating to ordinary life with writers such as Guy Debord, Susan Sontag, Henri Lefebvre, and Ben Highmore and tried to understand them. Then, after studying those texts, I concluded that photography for me had become a tool to decontextualize certain things from everyday life and give them new importance. In a way, it helped to appreciate their existence and celebrate their presence, which can be overlooked sometimes. But after this first realization, another set of questions arose from the awareness of the immensity of images already existing. I was trying to understand my legitimacy to create more work in this world. Am I actively contributing to this abundance of information and visual representation of the world? This reflection grew bigger from trying to understand my obsession for recording what appeared to be meaningless moments or things. By learning more about the process of photography and what it truly entails, I saw in some photographers’ work some similarities in their way of practicing that made me want to push my understanding even further. In this mass media era, we can question the importance of photography and its singularity. However, I believe that a picture can be special even if there are so many that exist already. In this sense, it can be argued that this ‘special status’ we give it is relative in comparison to all the other images that already exist. And if there are more and more images that exist, the value of one image compared to the others perhaps decreases. All of these things observed deserved some explanation and understanding; this is why I decided to write this dissertation.
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