Introduction
These images were produced during the second semester of the Master's program. My focus had shifted from presenting artefacts as they were—serving merely as plain, descriptive, and transparent representations of the natural world—towards transitioning into the realm of imagery and visual narrative.
Context
I became particularly interested in the role of linguistics and how newly coined terminology has contributed to reshaping the world for the better. Postmodern theorists introduced terms such as gender, queering, transgender, anarchy, species, heteronormativity, and others. In my view, postmodernism diverges from modernism through its foundational beliefs: while modernism privileges the discovery of knowledge through empiricism—knowledge derived from sensory experience—postmodernism positions knowledge within the subject rather than in an external world of “forms” or absolute truths. Thus, in the postmodernist view, knowledge is constructed, contingent, and subjective.
Approach
To illustrate this ideological shift, I decided to reframe the presentation of my work through the lens of an archaeological excavation. Rather than showing an entire archaeological site, I chose to depict a section—a fragment—representing the space in which artefacts would have been found. Of course, this excavation site is entirely imaginary. One of my most vivid references was the Napoleonic military expedition to Egypt and Nubia, which produced some of the most well-known archaeological documentation of the time. I was also influenced by orientalist painters such as David Roberts, who captured iconic ancient Egyptian sites like Abu Simbel, the Sphinx, and the Karnak Temple.
Process
Through the assembly and staging of the artefacts, they ultimately took on new meanings. Some images evoked tenderness; others conveyed a sense of claustrophobia, loneliness, or sexuality. Lighting played a crucial role in this transformation. I aimed to replicate the kind of lighting typically found in museum galleries, where illumination is used to enhance the visual and aesthetic qualities of displayed artefacts.
Summary
The second semester focused on displaying the digital models within a fictive virtual space—an imagined archaeological context that allowed for both aesthetic experimentation and conceptual reflection.
Let me know if you’d like help formatting this as part of a dissertation or research portfolio.
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