Chapter 2

Throughout this dissertation, I will first try to understand and analyze different theories and sum up the different ways that everyday life can be described. Beforehand, we can define everyday life as all activities and habits that constitute a person’s existence: sleeping, waking up in the morning, drinking coffee, going to the supermarket, etc. However, it can also be defined as mundane, which means lacking interest or excitement, or in other words, dull. In modern times, everyday life is a concept that has always existed but is simultaneously in constant change. It is massively impacted by questions of politics, social issues, economics, and most importantly, technology. And I will explore looking at ordinary life through photography and how you can revisit everyday life using that tool.

Secondly, the theme of image culture will be explored by looking into various theories: particularly those of Guy Debord and Susan Sontag, and their questioning around visual content and a post-war modernist world controlled by capitalism. Through the use of some case studies of several photographers such as Hannah La Follette Ryan, Martin Parr, and Rosie Marks, alongside personal examples, I would like to understand when they are contextualized and what they indicate and reflect about our current society.

Lastly, we will see how this overload of information and visual images can impact our way of seeing things as part of our everyday lives. It will also aim to look for new ways of looking and finding alternative ways of utilizing images through vernacular photography.