This thesis takes on an inter-disciplinary approach to examine the extent to which the state of Kenya used the genre of portrait photography to create a sense of nationhood after independence. I...Show moreThis thesis takes on an inter-disciplinary approach to examine the extent to which the state of Kenya used the genre of portrait photography to create a sense of nationhood after independence. I take on the theory of nation and nationalism as a framework to discuss and visually analyse the portraits of Kenya's four president and citizens portrait in the form of identity photography. By first establishing how modern-state Kenya came into being, the discussion set a premise to the motivation behind the study. The first chapter analyses the standardised official presidential state portraits, their materiality, physicality and their symbolism to communicate a change of leadership in Kenya. The second chapter investigates the 'self-fashioned' portraits of the presidents which take on different aesthetics and visual codes creating different meanings and therefore are interpreted using other references. The last chapter is a shift from 'honorific' portraiture of the presidents to the 'repressive' class of the sitters- the citizens. This chapter investigates citizen's portraits used in the colonial times to control movements of labourers and surveillance and how it is now used as a form of document of National Identification. This thesis argues that all the mentioned kinds of portraiture contributed to disseminating the idea of nationhood.Show less
A misleading label was the starting point for the preparation of the current work. The erroneous interpretation of the relief portrait with inventory number F 1953/3.1 preserved in the Egyptian...Show moreA misleading label was the starting point for the preparation of the current work. The erroneous interpretation of the relief portrait with inventory number F 1953/3.1 preserved in the Egyptian exhibition of the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden in Leiden stimulated the interest of this author. Though labeled as a portrait of Tutankhamen (ruled ca. 1332 B.C. – 1322 B.C.) (Freed 1999, 275), observations of recent years come to show that the under discussion relief is most probably a depiction of Amenophis III (ruled ca. 1390 B.C. – 1353 B.C.) (Freed 1999, 201). The goal of this thesis is binary: a) firstly, as the main research question, to trace those elements leading to the assertion that the portrait belongs possibly to the time of Amenophis III and b) secondly, to raise the foundations for further study as regards to the question of how it is possible for the museum to believe for over sixty years that the exhibited artifact is a representation of Tutankhamen. The study on this matter is implemented via a methodology organized around the portrait’s stylistic analysis. In parallel, an argumentation will be formulated based on stylistic comparisons among representative artworks of the two kings’ portraiture and thereby a conglomeration of similarities and differences will become the fundamental axis of this work. The aforementioned synthesis will reveal two typological formations of Amenophis III’s and Tutankhamen’s imaging, focused on the rendering of their facial characteristics. The kings’ typology will constitute the cornerstone of this study and will provide connecting factors and highlighting correlations to the question: what made the museum staff to do incorrect assessment on this particular artwork’s identification for over sixty years? Are there stylistic reasons that caused such misinterpretation? What conclusions could be carried out from the total research process?Show less
