Visual Arts

This thesis examines the field of photography as a practice of contemporary art through its various aspects (e.g. content, form, meaning), and approaches the subject in the context of constructed place. The thesis takes man altered landscapes as its focal point and simultaneously argues the idea that landscape is a place constructed through human gaze. The concepts that form the foundation of this thesis are place, space, nature, culture, landscape, transitional landscapes and non-places. In order to define the concept of landscape, this thesis first approaches the process in which a space develops into a place through the lens of human experience. It then examines the relationship between this process, and nature and culture. These definitions create the foundation for an examination of the concept of landscape in the context of constructed place as a practice of contemporary art. The thesis examines artists, groups and exhibitions that are considered milestones in landscape photography throughout history; from the picturesque period to the present day. The post-industrial era effected the commodification of landscape as a visual object and the emergence of concepts such as transitional landscape and non-place. This forms the primary subject of this thesis. The practices the basis of which the research herein forms approach landscape in the context of constructed place as a practice of contemporary art through the field of photography, in terms of its means of expression, experience and creation of meaning.