By using amateur photographs as objects in his works, Boltanski allows the viewer to read cultural codes through ideograms and sociograms, revealing both the realism and fiction of the photographs. This allows the viewer to actively participate in the interpretation of the work and discover the multi-layered meanings of the photographs.
Modernist artists emphasized the purity and uniqueness of art, rejecting the borrowing of styles or images between different cultures. Conceptual artists, on the other hand, created works that were different from conventional artworks by using ready-made objects, even those perceived as commonplace, to convey their artistic messages. In particular, Boltanski used amateur photographs, which were taken by non-professionals to document private life and events, as objects in his works and transferred them to the exhibition space, giving them a new aesthetic function.
Boltanski’s use of amateur photography as an object is due to his attention to its characteristics: ideograms and sociograms. The ideogram refers to the typical style of photography shared by society, such as the frontal view, fixed gaze, and stereotypical poses in amateur photographs. And sociograms are social indicators that reveal the pattern of social and cultural relationships between individuals. Amateur photographs taken to document and commemorate weddings, festivals, etc. can reveal the relationships between family and social members, reaffirming their feelings of belonging to a community and creating a sense of community cohesion.
Boltanski uses amateur photographs with these characteristics as objects, allowing the viewer to actively participate in the interpretation of the work by reading cultural codes, such as long-standing social norms or community characteristics. For example, a viewer of a work that uses everyday family photographs as objects can read cultural codes through the ideograms represented by the amateur photographs, and can actively participate in the interpretation of the work by recalling their own past or contemporary family members through the sociograms evoked by the life of a particular family.
On the other hand, by exploiting people’s tendency to believe that photographs are real, he reveals the ambivalence of realism and fiction in photographs, and makes various attempts to question the truthfulness of photographs and encourage people to read photographs pluralistically. He repeatedly rephotographed amateur photographs to make them appear “real,” intentionally blurring the original image or rearranging them to suit his intentions. He would also overtly combine text, such as titles and descriptions, with the photographs in such a way that the viewer could easily recognize them, confusing the viewer as to whether the photograph was showing the truth or the text was telling the truth. Boltanski’s work encouraged viewers to question and critically think about the truthfulness of a photograph’s message, rather than simply accepting it.
Boltanski’s work did more than just bring amateur photography into the realm of art; he rethinks the essential nature of photography. He emphasized that photography is not just a record, but an important medium for exploring memory, history, and the relationship between the individual and society. This allows the viewer to discover the various meanings hidden in everyday images and to gain a new perception of themselves and society through photography.
By using everyday amateur photography as an object, Boltanski’s work allows us to understand universal and common cultural features and reveals the ambivalence of photography, where fact and fiction coexist. In doing so, he encourages the viewer to consciously read images amidst the flood of images produced by modern society. Boltanski’s work opened up new possibilities for contemporary art by exploring the multilayered meanings of photographs and encouraging viewers to actively participate in their interpretation.
