In her photographic project Traces, Weronika Gęsicka appropriates American stock photographs from the ’50s and ’60s, modifying their features and transforming the effects from wholesome to uncanny,...Show moreIn her photographic project Traces, Weronika Gęsicka appropriates American stock photographs from the ’50s and ’60s, modifying their features and transforming the effects from wholesome to uncanny, with the aim of cracking false memories of the past that reinforce oppressive ideals and stereotypes to this day. In Traces, one is confronted with weird and unsettling individuals, a result of digital modification and the incorporation of different strategies that could be considered iconoclastic. This thesis will examine the artwork with respect to the topic of iconoclasm and the condemnation of memory, identifying nuanced, contemporary forms of iconoclastic tactics that reach beyond the traditional. Specifically, this research illustrates how Gęsicka utilizes uncanniness to evoke psychoanalytical processes in the viewer and how she employs the concept of cutting as a destabilizing tool.Show less
