Postmodernism

Postmodernism began in the 1960’s and is still present today. The key features of postmodernism are pastiche (combining different things together, also known as bricollage), Kitsch (bad taste art), Chaos, lack of an original (where the artist would simply re-do an original piece, eg. Banksy with the tin can piece), the breaking of rules and tradition, and a refusal of narrative. ’The Postmodern is not concerned with the aura of authenticity.’

An image which is typical of postmodern features is one by Yasuma Marimura, and is a copied photograph of the original by Cindy Sherman’s untitled photograph of a girl on the floor. This is typical of postmodernism as it lacks an original, it is simply someone else’s idea re-done in the same style, and it’s definitely kitsch because it is of a man on the floor instead of a woman, making it tacky. 

Original Image by Cindy Sherman

Copied Image by Yasumasa Morimura

The very image its-self is not exactly perfect in the fact that it doesn’t exactly resemble the original. The colouring is very different along with the position of the subject in the image. Liz Wells worded this well in her book Photography: A critical Introduction when she wrote ‘… we inhabit a world of dislocated signs, a world in which the appearance of things has been separated from authentic originals.’