This-Has-Them (unique C-type print)

This-Has-Them (2008) is a project that is focused on the photograph itself as an art object, its time-based properties, and its effect upon the subject. Most importantly, This-Has-Them visualises the embalming nature of photography. I believe that this creates a shift in power for the discussion of representations of the self within the photographic portrait as an art object over that of an object of social exchange. The title, which is a play on words of Roland Barthes' This-has-been (1980), refers to the three elements with which I am concerned. This- the photograph as an art object, Has- the embalming properties and the effect this has upon Them- the subject matter.
I have created one-off and unique hand made c-type prints. These prints have been produced through spending extended periods of time in the dark room, during which I used traditional and experimental printing processes to produce these individual singular objects. I believe that this mode of production establishes the print as an art object, and gives this object full control of the subject within.The role of time in this project puts emphasis on the photograph and the subject being preserved within it 'as' an object