STUDIO DUBOIS–DIDCOCK

~ From the Latin word Degusto — Gusto (to taste) and prefix – De (marks completion, fullness, intensity) ~

\de.ɡys.te\ is an ongoing photographic project that utilizes abstraction as a vehicle to challenge our apprehension of taste, similar to the ways Maurice Merlau-Ponty presents an alternative view on perception in his book The Phenomenology of Perception. Each image is a visual translation of a personal experience I have undergone through wine tasting, and the emotional response I felt.

The use of abstraction was deliberately chosen to break away from the confines of objectively defining taste, a sense I believe is predominantly understood through subjective experience. Subsequently, our ability to “understand” abstract art utilizes the same introspective methods that I believe could allow us to better understand our sense of taste – a place where our emotional responses bring insight into ourselves and our surroundings.

Through these first renditions of the \de.ɡys.te\ project, I selected two wines: a red wine from the Côte du Rhône region and a white maceration wine from Alsace. While the wines remain unchanged throughout this body of work, the experiences I had undergone were (and still are) in constant transformation; influencing my emotions, perceptions, sensation, and ultimately my taste. This resulted in a series of images as unique as the experience itself.