L'imagi-mère (The Maternal Image)

A psychoanalytical essay on the 'maternal image'. To quote the
Magazine's Summary: At the birth of our seeing is our mother's
face and then our mourning as we experience the relentless
obliteration of this image. If the child discovers his unity of
self in the mirror it is from his mother's face, another type of
reflecting screen, that he acquires his identity. This original
link in our way of seeing, this primal image, remains and will
remain at the centre of all images, of all representations; in
the very eye of the labyrinth. When the inevitable tragedy
occurs and the link is undone then the individual will search
ceaselessly through the fragments of the world in the hope of
rediscovering this original image. This particular image pursued
by photography, overwhelming and disquieting when stalking the
mother's face, providing perhaps a better understanding of the
photographic process, is the family photograph.


Citaten:
Barthes, R.: La chambre claire (1980)
Winnicot, D.W.: Jeux et Réalité (tr. 1975)
Gerz, J.: Le Grand Amour
Guibert, H.: Le Seul Visage (1984)
Ajuriaguerra, : Séminaire sur le regard (1978)
Gilot, F.: Le Regard et son masque (1975)