By definition, the term "retro" refers to something that exists from an outdated era. This does not mean that we can pin down the retro aesthetic to any one particular style; as our ever-changing culture moves over time, what is considered retro is constantly updated and revisioned to include aesthetic values and movements no longer considered current.
Roland Barthes said, of the death row photograph of one Lewis Payne, that "he is dead, and he will die". To expand on the philosophy behind this first statement, Barthes believed that the photograph in its very existance became an instantly dated reminder of that which is lost in time. When we capture a moment on film, we are immediately consigning it to the annals of memory past; we are allowing the instant to die and become touched by nostalgia.
Nostalgia itself is a seductive liar - as quoted from Ashley Hicks, a fellow photography major at NSCAD. Humans have a tricky habit of viewing their memory in a warm and positive light. We yearn for the way things were, regardless of how we actually felt at the time. I believe this is reason for our finding of comfort and joy brought from collecting and possessing artifacts of times we have enjoyed and lost. We also see our vulnerability towards the appeal of nostalgic or retro artefacts exploited in advertising.
Thank you. I agree that in photography the issue of retro is rich and strange, especially in the development of the 'anonymous photograph' as both a collected museum artifact and an aesthetic. It is interesting to ponder if nostalgia or irony prevail, and whether we become sensitized to the past or desensitized to it (as Susan Sontag suggests in relation to the reproduction of war and atrocity images).
ReplyDeleteI also admire the way your evidence lingers in front of us as 'obvious' fact and terrible mystery at the same time.
Comment above, please reveal yourself!
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