My artistic practice is about change itself. I am inspired by the doubling and layering effects that came out of Surrealist Photography. Scale, fracture, and doubling are intentional components of my process. I combine those methods to create complex works of art, focusing on the untamable light that I hope to capture when making my images, which often are self portraits. Poetry is an integral element of this thesis text as well as my art making process. Through my poetic work I hope to offer my audience a glimpse into how I see and experience the world. This thesis text takes readers on a journey through several key elements of my practice: from the importance of chance in how I make photographs, to my use of scalar confusion, to the role of fracture and fragment, and finally, to my focus on doubling effects.
","abstract_html":"<p>My artistic practice is about change itself. I am inspired by the doubling and layering effects that came out of Surrealist Photography. Scale, fracture, and doubling are intentional components of my process. I combine those methods to create complex works of art, focusing on the untamable light that I hope to capture when making my images, which often are self portraits. Poetry is an integral element of this thesis text as well as my art making process. Through my poetic work I hope to offer my audience a glimpse into how I see and experience the world. This thesis text takes readers on a journey through several key elements of my practice: from the importance of chance in how I make photographs, to my use of scalar confusion, to the role of fracture and fragment, and finally, to my focus on doubling effects.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Berger, Sam"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Visual Art","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"Graduate School of Art","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Patricia Olynyk","Meghan Kirkwood"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2025,"date_issued":"2025-05-07T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2025-05-07T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T06:12:25Z","subjects":["Photography","Installation Art","Art and Design","Fine Arts","Interdisciplinary Arts and Media","Other Astrophysics and Astronomy","Poetry"],"languages":["English"],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/mfa_visual_art/28","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Patricia Olynyk","Meghan Kirkwood"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Berger, Sam"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2025-05-06T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Graduate School of Art"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Visual Art"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Photography","Installation Art","Art and Design","Fine Arts","Interdisciplinary Arts and Media","Other Astrophysics and Astronomy","Poetry"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["English"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/mfa_visual_art/28"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["My artistic practice is about change itself. I am inspired by the doubling and layering effects that came out of Surrealist Photography. Scale, fracture, and doubling are intentional components of my process. I combine those methods to create complex works of art, focusing on the untamable light that I hope to capture when making my images, which often are self portraits. Poetry is an integral element of this thesis text as well as my art making process. Through my poetic work I hope to offer my audience a glimpse into how I see and experience the world. This thesis text takes readers on a journey through several key elements of my practice: from the importance of chance in how I make photographs, to my use of scalar confusion, to the role of fracture and fragment, and finally, to my focus on doubling effects.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Transmutation"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Patricia Olynyk","Meghan Kirkwood"],"dc:creator":["Berger, Sam"],"dc:date.available":["2025-05-06T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["My artistic practice is about change itself. I am inspired by the doubling and layering effects that came out of Surrealist Photography. Scale, fracture, and doubling are intentional components of my process. I combine those methods to create complex works of art, focusing on the untamable light that I hope to capture when making my images, which often are self portraits. Poetry is an integral element of this thesis text as well as my art making process. Through my poetic work I hope to offer my audience a glimpse into how I see and experience the world. This thesis text takes readers on a journey through several key elements of my practice: from the importance of chance in how I make photographs, to my use of scalar confusion, to the role of fracture and fragment, and finally, to my focus on doubling effects.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/mfa_visual_art/28"],"dc:language":["English"],"dc:subject":["Photography","Installation Art","Art and Design","Fine Arts","Interdisciplinary Arts and Media","Other Astrophysics and Astronomy","Poetry"],"dc:title":["Transmutation"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Graduate School of Art"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Visual Art"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T06:12:25Z"}