Kate Denend

A Magnificent Mourning

My video explores the ghosts present in both photography and video with a focus on how these ghosts haunt an individual. The idea for this project comes from my desire to interpret my insights surrounding spectrality in media that I gained from my theoretical course through a video format. Both photography and film emanate spectrality since they are indexically linked to moments in space and time. Their root in mechanical reproduction led to different theories surrounding photography’s connection to ghosts. Some theorists argued that photography fulfilled a human need to preserve oneself forever. Others believed that photography actually forced people to confront their mortality and exist in a state between object and subject. The relationship between image and death is further complicated in film since movement is restored, repressing ghostliness. I explore both the uncanniness and the violence of film and photography by using my own image and inviting the spectator into this world. Another major theme of the video is struggling with identity and existence after rejecting the concept of a unified self. I consider the horror of simply being and how this gives rise to the death drive. My project draws inspiration from the photography of Duane Michaels and Francesca Woodman; and the work of Chris Marker, Maya Deren, Shirley Clarke, and David Lynch.