Photographing the Unconscious 

                                         By Stephanie Nguyen, Poetry Interpretation Team

(1) Abstract: The American artist Jim Dine discusses the medium he practices in his art. He discusses the influence of psychoanalysis on his artwork. The formulation of the artist inner world is explained as being made up of elements of a dream. Dine explains his idea of an "imagistic vocabulary," which he believes the artist speaks through alone. He posits that if the unconscious perhaps had its very own language it would consists of the association of words through images and symbols.

(2) Description: "Photographing the Unconscious" explores artist Jim Dine's body of photographic work. In seven years Dine produced five hundered photos that are divided into three series: heliogravures, digital prints and chromogenic prints. Dine's affinity towards photography is said to have been the result of personal hardships, such as divorce. Photography, as an art form, allowed Dine an angle of experiencing deep meaning that was not available to him in "Pop Art." Heliogravures and the use of sepia revealed to him the difference between images being 'taken' and images being 'made.' The 'mark of human making' attracted him towards the medium, and away from the cold medium he previously used in Pop Art. Dine superimposes different tools of representation to create digital collages. In true Dine fashion, his digital collages are composed of his drawings, sculptures, and past proofs. Photography allows Dine to bring together these different elements on the smooth surface of a photograph. As evidenced by his initial photographs, Dine produced images of his famous monkey/cat couple through photographic engravings, known as heliogravure. The image of creatures, that sometimes come in pairs to Dine, are snapshots of what is going on inside the walls of the mind. Dreams are important in Dine's photographic medium, especially in terms of psychoanalysis. Reconstructing a Dream Called North (2000) explores one of his personal dream experiences. The nightmare takes place in the coldness of Berlin. Dine is being forced out of residence by a servant, where he than encounters an owl and a crow named Jimmy. The product of this nightmare was a variety of disturbing photographs of stuffed birds. What Dine experiences in his dreams is interpreted as an experience of his subconscious. Manifesting these images is made more efficient and effective with the use of photography. The quickness and speed in which the images are captured is an immediacy that mimicks that of the unconscious. Richard Leydier describes Dine's use of photography by stating, "it is an attempt to short-circuit consciousness, to outpace it in order, in a way, to photograph the unconscious." (p.27) Photography allows him to capture these images projected by the subconscious to his conscious quickly, before the conscious mind distorts or allows them to escape. Subconscious images, and how they formalize the inner world of the artist, are described as being very similar to the workings of dreams. Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis explains: "The first ideas of dream that come out in analysis are striking for their unusual presentation: they do not seem to be given in the plain linguistic forms that our thoughts prefer to use; on the contrary, they are figured in a symbolic way by comparisons and metaphors, in a sense in a poetic, imagistic language." The imagistic language elaborated by Freud here, and embraced by Dine is his art, is described as belonging to the artist alone. Jaques Lacan posits that if the unconscious perhaps had its very own language it would consists of the association of words. Because of his dyslexia, Dine always felt he was a prisoner of his words, he combated this through visual art. Ironically his visual art was plagued by his words; the integration of the two directed him towards the deep journey into "Photographing the Unconscious." He argues that "poetry, by its immoderate use of metaphor, is ultimately closer to the image than to text, even if its basic material is the word." (p.29) Many of Dine's revolutionary and radical photographic art remains mysteriously enigmatic. A forth coming book of poetry hopefully will enable a deeper understanding of the meaning and associations present in Dine's Art.

(3) Commentary: New ways of poetic interpretation are presented through the lense of the artist and psychoanalysis. The artist utilizes the digital medium of collages to represent the subconscious projections he receives into his conscious. Dine composes these collages with a variety of personal images and words, ultimately creating an imagistic language that only he can speak through. It is this idea of the imagisitic vocabulary that is unique to individuals that drives our project "Poetry Interpretation." The images that appear to us, in the walls of our mind, influence our interpretation of the poem. If these images are presented to others, embarking on an interpretation of the same poem, their interpretation could be influenced by our images. One obvious limitation is that our images are associated with words, personal experiences, and enigmas unique to our individual selves. However, interpretations will not be necessarily normalized but rather interpretations will be generated in a way that is not present in the traditional interpreation of poetry, close readings. The digital medium will allow for the sparking of creativity with in the users mind as well as the generation of new interpretations of the poem. Poem's evoke streams of images in their readers, streams whose sources are varied. In this case Dine presents the source as the subconscious. The subconscious, and Freudian psychoanalysis, offers an interesting approach.

(4) Resources for Further study

Leydier, R., et. al., Jim Dine: Photographier l'inconscient / Photographing the Unconcious. Art Press no. 292 (July 2003) p. 24-9

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