In dissecting the first volume of Michel Foucault's The History of Sexuality, one encounters three salient theories that Foucault develops over the course of the text. The first theory that Foucault forwards is that the repressive hypothesis - the assertion that since the 19th century western societies have sought to repress human sexuality and sexual urges - is false. In it's place, Foucault offers that "... Rather than massive censorship... what was involved was a regulated and polymorphous incitement to discourse." (Foucault, 34).
The second theory presented by Foucault - the concept of biopower - supports his view on the true nature of the repressive hypothesis. Foucault explains biopower as, "... An explosion of numerous and diverse techniques for achieving the subjugations of bodies and the control of populations..." (Foucault, 140).
The explanation of how biopower - as an apparatus of power - subverts the repressive hypothesis can be found within the subtext of Foucault's third assertion: The Will o Knowlege. The will to knowledge, as Foucault forwards, is the form that the will to power has taken within modernity. Foucault postulates that power and the exercise of power has undergone a radicle transformation due to the emergence of global, capitalist economies. With the reification of groups of people into "populations" Foucault demonstrates how biopower works to instigate, then control discourse. Power and the institutions of power, "... Sociology, applied psychology, cybernetics, and semiology [ect.]..." (Debord, 42) incite members of a population to subject the intimate details of their lives to the quantifying machinations of said institutions.
Foucault's specific concern on the subject of sexuality being processed and commodified through the discourse of power stems from Sigmund Freud's equation of the sexual self to the essential self. Foucault challenges this belief - that ones true identity is the summation of their sexuality - by exposing the role that the institutions of power have played in the construction of "mainstream", or sanctioned sexual practices.
Foucault believes that "normative" sexuality and sexual practices are constructed cultural commodities that have been dictated to populations by the cultural institutions of power. The question that Foucault alludes to with this assertion can be specifically stated as, "How can ones sexuality represent ones essence when sexuality itself is a commodity of the discourse of power?"
The combination of these three theories raises the concern of an individual's place and function within a reified population. How does one enact agency in a world constructed by power?
There are many possible answers to this question.
I would like to forward one example that examines the nature of agency by comparing two styles of documentary photography. To do this I will examine the methodology behind Robert Mapplethorpe's 1978 X Portfolio in comparison with Peter Beste's ongoing documentary effort, True Norwegian Black Metal.
In X Portfolio Mapplethorpe presents images of the homosexual leather, bondage, and domination subculture as it existed in San Francisco in the 1970's. The prime photograph from this body of work is a self-portrait of Mapplethorpe that depicts the artist clad in black leather chaps and vest, anally penetrating himself with a bullwhip. The inclusion of this self portrait within X Portfolio contextualizes Mapplethorpe as a participating member of the gay leather community documenting himself and his peers from within. He is an insider, and as an insider he is giving "us" - the viewers of the photograph - an insiders perspective. However, as Mapplethorpe allows the outside viewer this voyeuristic glimpse into his exclusive clique, he retains an agency over what we see as well as how we see it. Mapplethorpe's X Portfolio offers a unique breed of objectivity which allows his subjects to enact agency in the making of his photographs by virtue of Mapplethorpe being a part of the "subject" he is documenting.
Peter Beste presents a method of documentation that differs from Mapplethorpe specifically in this regard. Originally from Houston, Texas, Beste has documented the music, lifestyle, and progression of the Black-Metal subculture in Norway since 2001. "...Leather, spikes, face paint, and brandished weapons are not only de-rigueur, but congenial with a clearly stated stanza of outsider-dom. Everyday Norwegians have responded with shock and loathing..." (Beste, 14).
Peter Beste is not a member of the Black-Metal subculture. He is an outsider who has gained access to this exclusive group by forming relationships and building trust between himself and key members of the genre. Beste's approach to representing his subjects is akin to the "New" or "Literary" journalism of Tom Wolfe, Truman Capote, and Norman Mailer. The formative conventions in many of the photographs included in Beste's 2008 book True Norwegian Black Metal give the imagery the feel of an album cover or poster. However, these formative conventions function the same way literary stylization within texts like The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby (Wolfe) or In Cold Blood (Capote) did in the first wave of literary journalism. The performance-esqué quality of Best's photographs and subjects function primarily as a reminder to the viewer that the images are fact. What one sees actually took place.
I am interested in the space that exists between the methodology of these two styles of documentation. Where is the line that separates one from the other? How does a documentarian cross that line, and - once crossed - can one return? To fully and accurately represent the spectrum of documentary photography I suppose I should find a straight-journalism/hard-news photographer and add them to the far end of the spectrum from Mapplethorpe.
1.Beste, Peter (2008) "True Norwegian Black Metal" Vice Books: Brooklyn, NY, 2008.
2. Debord, Guy (1967) "The Society of the Spectacle." Rebel Press: London, 2004.
3. Foucault, Michel (1984) "The History of Sexuality Vol.1: The Will to Knowledge." Penguin Books: London, 1998.
No comments:
Post a Comment