UCLA

This essay examines the self-portraits of photographer Mark Morrisroe (1959-1989). Centering its analysis on images made with a specific form of the negative layering process called "sandwich printing," the essay demonstrates that Morrisroe deployed darkroom manipulation and post-production marking to construct works that emphasize the materiality of the photograph and the contingencies of print making. Turning the camera on his naked body, the artist foregrounds his physical experiences, from frank sexuality to lifelong injury and illness. The essay argues that Morrisroe developed a corporeal model of photography out of these conditions that structured his approach to the sandwich prints and, to a lesser extent, his Polaroid and photogram self-portraits. The essay concludes that Morrisroe's photographs not only insist on signifying as objects, resisting their status as indexical trace, but also, through erotic repetition, assert their ability to become desiring subjects.