graphics essay

How have these artists explored and conveyed the theme of loneliness through the image manipulation?

There are many forms of images manipulation, the process of altering images for a specific purpose using various techniques and software tools. Constructive/ Positive image manipulation is doe through positive and constructive thinking without affecting a person’s public image or without creating any controversial image, this could mean either making change to improve its quality or spread a social message. The other form of manipulation is known as Destructive / negative image manipulation, where an image is created with an aim of hurting public sentiments, someone’s, image or spread fake information.

People debate whether if the use of photo manipulation is morally right or acceptable to do because it creates misconceptions and considered ‘horseplay’.

Over the past decade the history of image manipulation is a process changing and developing part of lifestyle and media that progresses alongside technology. Photo manipulation is a technique consisting of altering and transforming photographs using a range of different methods, this technique first took place very early on, starting in 1860’s where they tampered with celebrities and presidents’ photographs. Currently the skill of photomanipulation has said previously, is debated on, whether they are ethically correct to do, or they are just a way to deceive the public in different forms, changing our perception on beauty or the way people receive information. Personally, I think that it is dependent on the application intended, some photo manipulators are an “art form” as it involves the creation of unique, independent and personal images containing a variation of matters of the art forms. This could link to the artist themselves, a political agenda or an issue, the use of photo manipulation is now more widely used in a more abstract manner as it has become a way of life and perspectives. It is interesting to debate if this art form is considered to be immoral and should not be done as it requires people manipulating enough that it is no longer “real”.

The following constructive artists; Edward Honaker, Laurent Segretier and Andrew Lyman all use the technique of photo-manipulation, conveying many different themes including the theme of loneliness and isolation, all the artists explore the theme of loneliness differently however they all convey a similar message on the effects if loneliness. Using their forms of art and their own interpretations sharing their own experiences through pieces of digitally produced pieces of work. By comparing the artists circumstances, lifestyles and their backgrounds I intend to

interpret the different ways the artists have used the technique of photo manipulation to explore the different ways of conveying themes of isolation and loneliness. The main factor linking these artists together are the fact that they are all artists attempting to convey their very own emotions and anxieties through their work. Isolation is an emotion that is experienced through all ages and all types of social groups in our everyday society, it is defined by Cambridge as "the condition of being alone, especially when this makes you feel unhappy".

The theme of loneliness is an recurring theme through the artists chosen, the feeling of loneliness is something that has been part of human nature for as long as time can remember, however in the last few decades the emotion has become chronic, in the UK 60% of 18-34-year olds often feel lonely, in the US, 46% of the entire population feel lonely regularly. Being lonely and being alone are two very different types, loneliness is a purely subjective and individual experience. Loneliness is a bodily function like hunger, however loneliness makes you pay attention to your social needs. Research and large-scale studies shows that the stress that comes from chronic loneliness is one of the most unhealthy things we can experience as humans; it makes you age quicker, cancer deadlier and your immune system weaker, loneliness is twice as deadly as obesity and as deadly as smoking a pack of cigarettes a day.Once it becomes chronic it can become self-sustaining leading to immediate and defensive behaviour, your brain goes into self-preservation mode making you have a hostile perspective on the world.

“Loneliness- human nature and the need for social connection” by John T Cocioppo and William Patrick, a book that addresses how to deal with loneliness, a scientific explanation of loneliness from how it spreads through your body and society. The book mentioned that “loneliness is an issue of serious concern only when It settles in long enough to create a persistent – self reinforcing loop of negative thoughts, sensations and behaviour. Keep.”

The author suggested that this loop remains consistent till it becomes destructive as people find it easier to ignore them. The artists Edward Honaker has mentioned through interviews and blogs that his loneliness was a persistence behaviour that it lowered him into a depressional state. influencing his powerful self-portraits and the abstract element with image manipulations to help convey his feelings. The artist himself said that “everyone is or will be affected by them one way or another, and ignoring them doesn’t make things better.”

The artist Edward Honaker at the age of 19 was diagnosed with mood disorder which effects 14.8 million American Adults, this mental disorder is linked to the persistent feeling of sadness which is often associated with isolation and loneliness. Parts of Edward Honaker’s disorder began to develop into something chronic causing him harm, he felt as if he could not express his feelings as people are not comfortable with the topic of loneliness. This reoccurrence and “taboo” surrounding the subject often makes you develop defensive behaviour and thinking the worst in every scenario, expecting the worst in people, like what Honaker resorted to. A photograph where his face is scratched out in a family portrait could possibly symbolise how he felt dis-attached

because he felt he could not discuss it with his family or friends. People often keep thoughts to themselves as it is difficult to find people that understand.

This is conveyed in his work and use of manipulations, his dark self-portraits where the artist uses simple but abstract ways to present his fears and emotions to the extent for viewers to get an understanding of the factor or relate to it, using it as a coping mechanism. He uses image manipulation in this image to show the complexity of compelling his own behaviour; from the authors John T Cocioppo and William Patrick from their book; “Loneliness”, they also mentioned that as well as loneliness being a growing thing though society, it grows from the core of your body, destroying all healthy thoughts and even bodily functions. Through Honaker’s work I was able to interpret that through each of the images there is a component of his body shutting down and causing him mass destruction both internally and externally. “You are not yourself” when suffering and “it’s scary”, showing the element of fear when talking about his own personal experiences whilst suffering in secrecy. People who suffer in these forms of isolation and hurt would rather camouflage and avoid their loneliness to prevent any hurt and pain caused by their vulnerability. Each one of Edward Honakers photographs hold a metaphorical and symbolic reference to every thought, feeling and experience. Image manipulation helps Honaker to interpret these experiences in a more artistic form, manipulating them according them to his imagination far beyond a human aesthetic. His own personal way of exploring the theme of loneliness is through his own anxiety and depression enforcing him to feel isolated from reality, his work creates effects on societies views on the effects of mental illnesses and the pure severity of how dangerous and harmful it could be on an individual and the way they live their life. Like Edward Honaker, he struggles to live in social circumstances, using this method of photo manipulation is informative to the public and also a creative way to cope.

Andrew Lyman is a talented artist and photographer located in Savannah, Georgia. From articles, it is said that Lyman’s daily interactions with others and “social” phenomena is what influences his photography. The artists curiosity of social interactions and built up fear is what I think makes him to feel as if he is remote. I wanted to focus on his particular “Fleeted Happenings” series where he has a “ghost-like figure” evoking feelings of curiosity and fear of being isolated. During Andrew Lyman's series of work, the setting is in a sort of forest or remote areas containing nothing but negative space, this emphasises the element of loneliness and isolation through his work. Most of his work has a maximum of two people, the

focus through the artists pieces of work are the setting and negative space in the isolated area.

Initially the ideas formed as a viewer through the series of photographs are elements of transparency, there is a timeless factor of loss and death in the artists photographs. Some vocabulary that are thought of through looking at his pieces are; Emptiness, Transparency, Space, Timeless, Loss and Death. The idea of narrative that is conveyed through the image by Andrew Lynman could be a tale of neglect and abandonment, I think that the technique of the opacity being low in the piece of work supports my ideology of the image being based on people being a figure of disposition and forgotten.

The "Ghost-like silhouettes" represent the feelings of nostalgia and elements of the past possibly the idea that people feel alone after losing someone or something of value to them.

This makes people feel lonely as it is human biology to form close connections with each other, helping one another to survive, this was from the times of natural selection. However, being alone meant you were being excluded which lead to death. This is called social pain which make people feel distanced and alone, when losing people and feeling nostalgia, people turn vulnerable therefore instead they attempt to avoid it happening again; which force them to isolate themselves and become an element of hostility and having defences up.

The artist also the "vast endless empty spaces� not only to seem beautiful but for the simple aesthetic of “hues but to evoke the feeling of fear and the anxiety of the unknown". The artist aims to create the grand that is felt because of either factors of loss, loneliness, and emptiness formed but overwhelming feelings and thoughts. The people in his photographs are giving off a normal and soothed body language which could mean that them vanishing is them finally letting go, it also could be said that death or loneliness is vanishing, it is the final exhale to life, we are nothing but a memory an "existence in a certain place"- Andrew Lyman. Loss and loneliness is linked to this as the feeling of loneliness makes us feel like nothing but a memory, an "object" as we are fearful of being totally forgotten. he ongoing theme is the evoking feelings of being lost, at loss and alone "through time in relation to space." It was done to evoke feelings emphasising on anxiety, fear and mental health. The artist does have relevance relating to their work, the artist, suffering with accepting his sexuality had to fight his own battles of feeling isolated by his family and friends and relates to the sense of reality that he conveys. At the time of his photographs it was said that he was having a difficult time accepting who he was, now he is currently experimenting with his more abstract and trendy photographs.

Laurent Segretier is a French artist who focuses on digital distortions, influenced by his life between Hong Kong and Paris.

Segretier often juggled his pop culture childhood memories, his connection to modern art and life in Paris and Hong Kong. The artist blends these components to drive his ideas for materials, expression and themes to represent through his digitally formed images. Although this artist does not use the theme of isolation as a main sub-theme subject, there is still a minor indication of destruction linking to loneliness. Loneliness is often caused by

destruction or causes destructions. These two themes are strongly associated with one another.

Some of the words that Laurent Segretier used to describe his own work were; "Dark orgasm, destructive, beauty, hope, rebirth", from my perspective I believe that the most important is destruction. I can see a lot of the destruction through the glitched images, the distortion highlights the elements of destruction and the theme of brokenness and isolation that is felt. He focuses on sexual beauty through his work, this relates to my work because of his implication of exploring societal oppressions. Laurent Segretier work is a representation of different meanings, for instance, the photograph chosen here appears to be of a person face behind clouds and concealed by glitches, this could convey a sort of anxiety that is a "beautiful disturbing virtual" concept. This image is from a piece of pornography, this is done to create create conversation on bodily images, sexual desires and oppressions making us feel unaccepted and separated. The artist implies that his fears of isolation is cause by social disconnection and people not embracing their beauty, he worries that current development in technology is what separates us and make us feel alone. He uses a glitch effect using photoshop constructively to formulate an understanding of people feeling outlawed and segregated.

The technique of photo-manipulation over time has changed, developed and flourished since the time of the presidents encounter of photo-manipulation, it is something that is used more widely on extreme levels and more largely done in some parts of society.

Artists like Laurent Segretier exploring modernism and new ways to create abstract pieces of work to formulate his thought processes and perspectives.

Since the presidential times of Abraham Lincoln and his use of photo-manipulation to appear more ‘attractive’ and ‘appealing’, the technique is more accessible, it was first mainly used for publisher and advertisers which brought advantages of doing things digitally across the marketing district. Now we are able to use these softwares at our touch such as softwares like photoshop. Since its 2017 download just two years ago, the software has gotten over 210 million home downloads. This could be seen as something that has affected society cynically, this also could be because people start to have unrealistic expectations of how people should look in reality and question what is actually ‘real’.

This is because with the growth of age, time and development of technology, the use of social media and the internet is available to a much larger audience and I believe that this quality of manipulation will only get worse over time.

The technique is used for far more than advertising and marketing purposes, this is the era of constant growth where people are able to adapt and challenge reality and sometimes for the worse. I think that this leads to greater ordeals such as insecurities and feeling disconnected to society, leading to loneliness as you feel as if you don’t fit the ideology and obstructive ‘body

image’ or filtered persona that is spread across the internet and social media. From researching into several artists and debates on the use of photo-manipulation in the current industry it is still truly debatable whether this will ever be morally acceptable because of the different everlasting development of context that it is used today. It is truly a way of escapism and fabrication but debated whether it be positive or negatively, through art, it is a way to escape metaphorically, to find your inner thoughts and make creative bolting, a way to cope and reach out. Through art forms it is a constructive and positive purpose of the technique, other forms such as deceiving society of ‘smoother skin’ or a ‘tighter waist’ is the destructive forms of manipulation, it makes people feel disconnected, alone and isolated for not fitting social ideals.

Through researching and discovering in more depth about constructive artists like Honaker, Segretier and Lyman, the research and knowledge of the artists circumstances, beliefs and fears made my outcomes of narratives more personal. I thought closely of my loneliness and how it causes a lot of anxiety and how it made me feel on a daily biases. The artist that assisted me and helped me to reflect on my own personal elements of loneliness was the artist Edward Honaker. Honaker visually made me think more passionately about the sub-topic, the use of his photo-manipulation embedded my personal skills at the start of the topic. Constructive artists have inspired me to be more positive with the use of my manipulation, embrace themes of flaws and not be trapped on a collectively biased industry on destructive image manipulation that emphasises on the inability to depict the importance of seeing and loving the beauty of a naked eye. The artist Laurent Segretier helped me to render and create the perfect technique to symbolise my own version of loneliness, the glitching effect reflected on our own current widely technology-based lifestyle that makes us as a collective society feel at fault and liability to what we feel, do, say or want. We have drastically changed since the time of manipulation on Abraham Lincoln, we are forced to crop out our feelings and cut out our captivating ideas, this really does reinforce humanity to want that easy escape, the easy way out and exploit the vicious cycle. To successfully conclude, loneliness is a horrifying and undeniably harmful emotion, using image manipulation in constructive, informative and encouraging formation are what we as a creative industry should focus on. As creative thinkers, the future of visual industries and brilliant thinkers inspired from artists should possess positive traits and find love from what is under the naked eye. Socialism and focusing on industry based image manipulation causes disconnection and leads to seeking escapism, increasing self confliction and the element on loneliness.