MAS110 Sem 2 2012 - Lab 02

Trash and Treasure. 

By Patrick Eid and Matthew McAnally.

  

Theme: Trash
Sub-theme: Texture
Produced by Patrick Eid and Matthew McAnally 
Music: Well, funk's for nothing- By choir shark 
"Well, funk's for nothing" by choirshark is licensed under a Creative Commons License

The photo essay, entitled ‘Trash and Texture,’ is in direct response to the understanding of ‘Everyday Aesthetics’ reflected in the Susan Murray reading, ‘Digital Images, Photo Sharing, and Our Shifting Notions of Everyday Aesthetics.’ The theme, trash, was selected because it not only reflects a “rather fleeting display of one’s discovery of the small and mundane” (p. 151) but also challenges the assumed principles in everyday living. Hence, the nature of the title concurrently emphasises the timeless concept of trash and treasure together with the ironic contrast of the assumed, cliché metaphor by replacing the word ‘treasure’ with ‘texture.’ Together, the subversion draws a parallel with our subtheme, texture, which highlights “fascination (of the subjectivity of treasure) with the process of compilation and comparison” (p. 155). On this note, the choice of exploring texture by progressively coloring sepia photos through blurred transition symbolises how “Subjectivity shifts and (how) our relationship to the temporal can never be fixed” (p. 156) once we adopt another view in life. Lastly, Choirshark’s funk and jazz fusion track, ‘Well, Funk’s for Nothing,’ compliments the alternative view of trash being interesting by the use of increasingly upbeat tones to describe it as nothing short of spectacular.