Open House
The existential question of self-identity is bound up with the fragile nature of the biography which the individual ‘supplies’ about herself. A person’s identity is not to be found in behaviour, nor-important though this is-in the reactions of others, but in the capacity to keep a particular narrative going.
I have been interested in the suburban vernacular for many years and the North American “McWorld” ethos has become a recurring leitmotif in my art practice.
My latest work examines a cultural climate that has become increasingly inundated with products and messages that sell individualism through home decor choices. Prime time television shows feature glamorous personalities, touting new products and design ideas to improve and excite bland homes and lives. Newsstands are laden with dozens of glossy magazines that further emphasize the need to acquire star quality through seemingly simple modifications. Building supply stores have been reborn as acre-sized slick home design and decorating utopias, offering a continuous stream of products, furnishings, and how-to demonstrations on every aspect of creating a perfect home. North American consumers have thus become accustomed to equating social identity and notions of individuality with spaces that are often propped with marketed, mass-produced consumer goods.
For the home owner then, veracity takes a backseat to the process of assimilation, gathering, and transforming individual elements into experience. This experience, or personal narrative, is in constant flux, as new products and home fashions continually encourage home owners to try on a fresh new persona. In extreme examples, such as on the popular décor show Trading Spaces, home owners trade homes with their neighbours and redecorate, thus imposing their personal narrative on others. The rooms take on the appearance of constructed sets, and not unlike sets for cinema and theatre, offer a setting for escapism, retreat and fantasy. In making this work, I was curious as to whether it is possible for individuals to acquire and display consumer goods in order to establish an identity that is significantly unique. I was particularly interested in ornamentation and decoration, and thus I approached each interior as if on an archaeological dig, working on the assumption that every detail is rich material evidence. The interiors offer a voyeuristic look at a culture that is defined by its concomitant culture of consumerism, where individuality is expressed through choices made in shopping malls, and where purchases can represent value systems, the dissolution of tradition, and a collapse between elite art and popular culture. On the one hand, the photographs attest to a basic desire for self expression. On the other hand, they reveal an irony: How is it possible for a person’s sense of autonomy and place to be described through pastiche, paint, or ornaments that are themselves mass-produced, heavily marketed substitutes for true artisan practices?
[104] Anthony Giddens, Modernity and Self-Identity, Stanford University Press, California, 1991, p. 54.
Resume
Susan Dobson was born in 1965 in Moncton, Canada. She holds a Bachelor of Applied Arts in Still Photography from Ryerson University, and a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Guelph. She is assistant professor in the School of Fine Art and Music at the University of Guelph.
Susan Dobson’s photographic work has been exhibited across Canada and internationally. In 2005, her work appeared in solo exhibitions at the Art Gallery of Calgary and Toronto Free Gallery in Canada, as well as at Blue Sky Gallery in Portland, Oregon, and at the Museo Universitario del Chopo in Mexico City. Recent invited lectures include the University of Barcelona, Centro Nacional de las Artes in Mexico City, the Ontario College of Art & Design in Toronto, and The Art Gallery of Calgary.
Dobson’s work has been published and reviewed extensively in periodicals such as Toronto Life, Saturday Night, The Globe and Mail, The National Post, The Toronto Star and others. Her work was recently featured in Carte Blanche, an anthology of Canadian photography. She has received two National Magazine Gold awards for her images of urban and natural landscapes as well as numerous awards from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council. Dobson’s work is represented by Tatar Gallery in Toronto, Canada.
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