Camera Lucida

Three years ago, when I was doing the Foundation, I started a project in which I presented framed old family photographs mixed with photos of skin marks (such as scars or daily skin marks caused by the pressure of objects). I didn't know exactly why I was doing that, but I knew that I wanted to represent evidence in a way; I wanted to show that those things happened and there was a proof of it. I was always interested in old photographs, especially when I didn't know who was in the photo, it is a mixture of curiosity and violation of one's privacy. Sometimes I go to Camden's antique market to buy these old family photographs (that are acquired in house clearances, which is very creepy), and somehow every time I look at them I feel like I have known these people, or have been to that place, these photographs have an aura that brings this kind of feeling on. After presenting the Foundation project, my tutor told me to read Camera Lucida, from Roland Barthes, so, I bought the book. I couldn't read it, i didn't understand it, so I gave up on reading it and put it in the shelf and there the book stayed until I started the Digital Moment project. I decided to give it another try, I knew that there was something there that would make me understand my curiosity for old family photographs. Barthes describes the difference between studium - the obvious symbolic meaning of a photograph - and punctum - an unexpected emotional response when seeing a photograph, each individual will have a different response.