In praise of multiplicity: Pluralism and contemporary photographic art practices

ABSTRACT

This article examines the practice and theory of complex, multi-layered photographic images in contemporary art. Methods of working in which photographers use the medium to explore variously memory, identity and time in images are examined, and a philosophical case is made for the mandate of plurality as a starting point for art practice, as well as the teaching of art and design. Images that beckon with implicit references are examined and compared, with implications for ‘reading’ multi-layered images. Given the attention to the Other in contemporary thought and culture, the multifaceted adoption of difference and attunement to multiculturalism suggests that perhaps multiplicity as an imaging technique — rather. than single perspectives — is. appropriate as an artistic device for our times.

KEYWORDS:

• multiplicity
• plurality
• perception
• layered photography
• alterity
• polyvalent
• art practice
• theory