Transformation of body perception in conceptual art in the context of photographic image

Photography, the most powerful instrument of visual expression in the 20th century, has not only introduced new artistic perspectives but also paved the way for the body's use as a medium of expression. Visualisation of social, cultural and political developments using the human body played a role in the construction of the body as a concept of representation while it led to the questioning of then current concepts of gender, identity and sexual-orientation. Having started with Marcel Duchamp's readymades, the challenging of the traditional forms of expression placed the body at the centre of the art in the 1960s. Now an instrument of artistic expression, the body with the cultural codes it incorporated has effectively assisted artists in speaking their minds and showing criticism. The radical transformation of the art object and the forms of artistic expression has gave prominence to thought while the body continued to maintain its central position in artistic representation. Conceptual Art, which emphasised the representation of thought through the use of material, refused the traditional forms of expression. The overthrowing of the traditional forms by the meaning and thought occurred through the advent of the body. Artistic concepts were blended with artistic movements such as performing arts, body art and Happenings, where the body is the principle medium and focus. This transformation that led to the liberation of the body also enabled artists to explore their own bodies. The influence of the social conventions over the construction of the body as a concept resulted in the body's re-analysis and emancipation from the traditional definitions in the world of the postmodern era. Already conceptualised, the body with the social conventions it incorporated has become a structure consciously used, shaped, destructed and reconstructed by the artist. The aim of this study is to shed light from an artistic perspective and with a special focus on photography on the transformation that the body has been undergoing since the 19th century, which marks the emergence of the photographic image. The photographic examples from the periods when this form of art was used as a means of social surveillance and classification by the authority, to its assumption of the role of a medium of artistic expression, as well as before and after its transition from a gendered discipline to a gender-neutral one, are analysed with the aid of the concepts that reflect the structure and mind-set of the society of the era. The relationships among the structures, which intertwine as a result of the photographic image's categorisation based on its retake with a focus on body as an artistic concept, are also examined in the study.