Photography Film Video

Daniel Breen

Skeuomorphs

Skeuomorphism is a term most often used in graphical user interface design to describe interface objects that mimic their real-world counterparts in how they appear and/or how the user can interact with them. The modern world is dominated by cameras and screens. This marriage of technologies comes together to create a reproduction and translation of the physical world within the digital space. This reproduction of the physical world within the digital landscape is itself a skeuomorph and offers up new photographic potentialities. It also begs the question: What does it mean to be human in a digital space?

‘Skeumorphs’ is an exploration of the phenomena Google Street View, more specifically exploring the portraits of individuals found in Google Street View and the blurring of individuals faces and the subsequent creation of unease that comes with focusing on these anonymous portraits as somewhat abstract photographic images. By utilising digital software that mimics analogue image manipulation techniques, these appropriated digital portraits attempt to bridge the past and present of portraiture in photography. 

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