Sergio Gomez

Abstract

This work is a nocturnal journey, using portraits and the urban landscape to speak to the individual's experience of his/her place in society. This is an experience driven by two vital yet opposing forces. First, an individual's desire to free himself by retreating into isolation, knowing that any human act is meaningless, as life is a brief and finite accident. Secondly, an individual's desire to belong and contribute to society, and to be recognized by it in return. This position offers refuge from the meaninglessness of existence through recognition, but also brings with it many challenges, such as filling everyday life with the trivial.

These opposing forces appear in my images as a struggle between light and shadow, presence and absence, hope and fatalism. Figures in the images are diffuse, manipulated traces of someone or something fading into darkness or emerging from it. There is no event depicted, no narrative to be read. Instead, the lack of information, the play of light, shadow and figure compels the viewer to move beyond observation, to share in an interpretive struggle for meaning. With my work, I hope for viewers to challenge their preconceived notions and ideas concerning existence itself by recognizing all of its inherent ambiguities and challenges.

Publication Date

5-30-2013

Document Type

Thesis

Student Type

Graduate

Degree Name

Imaging Arts (MFA)

Department, Program, or Center

School of Photographic Arts and Sciences (CIAS)

Advisor

Gregory Halpern

Advisor/Committee Member

Roberley Bell

Advisor/Committee Member

Clarence Sheffield

Campus

RIT – Main Campus

Plan Codes

IMGART-MFA

Download

Share

COinS