Photographer as Participant Observer

This dissertation examines the tactics employed by four art photographers---Larry Clark, Nan Goldin, Richard Billingham, and Nobuyoshi Araki---whose approach is analogous to that of the so-called Gonzo journalists who notoriously blurred the line between author and subject. Operating from deeply insider positions, they brought topics of excess to the fore, often shocking viewers with the apparent lack of moral judgment or rationality on offer in their highly personal, autobiographical works.