How have the artists explored loneliness through photo manipulation within the 21st century? Artists that I have chosen: Vincent Bourilhon, Dawid Planeta, Leonid Tishkov, and Dan McCarthy, all explore the issue of loneliness within their work that is expressed through photo manipulation. All of these artists have dealt with loneliness; some due to depression and some might even find it inspiring - being in their natural environment with just their thoughts to gather ideas and stay composed. In this essay, I will be comparing all of the artists listed and how each one of them explores the theme of loneliness. Exploring their techniques as they differ across the chosen artists – people are not always the focus, objects that show a narrative are often seen too. I will be analysing the different image manipulation techniques these artists use, such as change of scale for objects and people, changing the environment from daylight to something more eerie and foggy; going in depth to showcase and try to understand why exactly these artists have portrayed loneliness in the way they do. Some of these artists have not exactly specified loneliness; for example Planeta, he still has come across dealing with depression which is a major relation to loneliness. He “became depressed” and “turned to art” to produce surreal images which portrayed his depressing thoughts - artwork like: ‘dark worlds inhabited by lonely human wanderers and colossal animals that emerge out of the mist like silent gods’ show exactly the way he is alone and overwhelmed by his bigger worries and fears. Since Planeta has expressed his depression and loneliness through art; it has definitely helped his mental health. In comparison, Dan McCarthy uses illustrations of objects rather than focusing on people. For example, the artwork where a house is displayed with no one around, ‘Another Day’; only one window in the house is lit up emphasising loneliness. The light gives a sense of isolation within the house that fuels loneliness as when you feel lonely, you are often disconnected from the social interaction with other people and the world as a whole. The main factor that links all these artists together for the chosen theme would be their way of showing a narrative through objects and animals rather than people - this avoids the cliche lonely person sitting in the corner of the room. Bourilhon has used the clothing of a person, Planeta uses animals wandering through the jungle, McCarthy illustrates houses with lonely houses, and Tishkov uses the illuminated, lonely moon. Photo manipulation started from the 1860s as the famous picture of US president Abraham Lincoln is a mixture of Lincoln’s head and the Southern politician John Calhoun’s body. As early photo manipulation did not consist of photoshop, artists had to use magnifying glass and have a very steady hand with the paint brush. Discoveries like the wet collodion process in the early stages of photo manipulation, which let photographers to combine multiple images on one
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