Deconstruction & Reconstruction: Appropriating the Found Photograph

Rediscover the narrative in every snapshot with Tom Butler, exploring the craft of transforming found photographs into unique creations and revitalizing the art of visual storytelling.

In this week-long course, we will explore different ways artists and photographers have appropriated found photographs. We will take a different approach each day, starting with a short presentation to introduce the class to a particular theme and the artists who inform it, followed by creative time and ending with a brief discussion of individual progress.

Taught by Tom Butler, dubbed the ‘Photographer who Hates Photography’ by the Portland Press Herald, students will be encouraged to rip up, deface, puncture, and conceal to challenge their relationship to existing images with the ultimate goal of discovering new, unique and liberated expressions.

Course Schedule

Day 1. Introduction: A History of Destruction. Followed by How to Rip Up a Photograph. Gather materials.

Day 2. Rearrange! Rearrange! Rearrange! Alma Haser, Kensuke Koike and Tom Friedman.

Day 3. The Art of the Stitched Photograph: Julie Cockburn and Jessa Fairbrother.

Day 4. Adding and Subtracting: William Wegman’s painted postcards (Absurd Worlds:) to Johns Stezalker and Baldassari and Katrien De Blauwer (story-telling).

Day 5. A Photographer who Hates Photography. Finishing up and group crit.

The schedule may change with student or instructor needs.

In a world saturated with images, this course is for those interested in challenging the status of photography, who have an interest in the sculptural qualities and personal histories of photographic images, or who have ever wondered what the world might be like without photography at all. This is a Beginner to Intermediate course but it should be noted that some of the themes presented will require students to challenge their relationship to photography as a whole. Some working knowledge of photographic practice is helpful but not required.

The purpose of this course is to challenge students on how photographs may not just be a window into the world but as objects with their own narratives and histories. They will be encouraged to think about their own relationship to photography, the physical images we take and gather in our lives, as well as found photographs taken by anonymous others. 

Students will be encouraged to mine their personal archives and buy found photographs as raw material for inspiration and expect to leave with a varied physical collection of reworked photographic media. These artworks may or may not be finished, rather they will have multiple new starting points and avenues for exploration with some background knowledge to inform them on their way.

What to Bring

Students should prepare for class by arriving with some physical photographs that they want to work with. Bring as many as you’d like and have space for. 15 photographs is a great starting point. The instructor will be in touch prior to the class start to answer any additional materials questions.