Conclusion

In our modern world, we are constantly interacting with pixels, images, and visual content: the question of what we can believe when seeing an image raised my attention. Can we blindly fall for everything we see in a picture? Most of the time, we consume images the way they are given to us without questioning their authenticity or provenance. But what do photographs tell us about our current society? In his book Society of the Spectacle, Guy Debord raises awareness towards our society’s reaction to a world controlled by images and consequently by representation. The book starts with this quote by Feuerbach: “Undoubtedly our era prefers the image to the thing, the copy to the original, the representation to the reality, appearance to being… for in these days illusion only is sacred, truth profane” (Debord, 1967). This quote introduces the notion of ‘the spectacle’ as expressed by Debord. He underlines that the basis of the spectacle lies in the mass of the capitalist machine, building up a high contrast with the reality of life. When interrogating our relationship with photos, this led us to the conclusion that the viewpoint behind photography is double.

Being both a photographer and a consumerist spectator, I was curious to understand the links behind photographic images taken from reality. Is the need to consume and produce more content irresistible? My research and my obsession for change and alternative possibilities motivated my intention to understand the motives of writers like Susan Sontag and Guy Debord and some photographers like Martin Parr and Rosie Marks seeking authenticity without hiding the truths of reality. In a world where an infinite load of images already exist, I started questioning if my practice and my images too had their place and were legitimate enough to have their platform. Creating so many photographs made me start thinking about reusing images, the importance of choosing them carefully, and paying attention to detail. I wanted to understand more deeply all the information hidden behind pictures. More questions started to emerge: How powerful can a picture be? Can you reuse its form infinitely to change its original meaning?