tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca-fr/topics/photography-428/articles
Photography – La Conversation
2024-03-26T17:25:44Z
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/225241
2024-03-26T17:25:44Z
2024-03-26T17:25:44Z
Photographing the eclipse? You’ll join a long history of people seeking proof of experience
<p>If you are <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/eclipse-day-planning-1.7147091">one of the millions planning to view</a> the total solar eclipse on April 8, there is a good chance that you will take pictures of your experience. </p>
<p>And, like many before you, afterwards you may find that those pictures don’t measure up to your expectations, experiences and memories of viewing the eclipse.</p>
<p>We offer some technical tips for eclipse photography, but we also consider why so many of us are drawn to photograph these kinds of collective moments of awe and wonder — as we think about the larger context of visual culture around solar eclipses throughout history.</p>
<h2>Technical, safety challenges</h2>
<p>Photographing a solar eclipse presents some <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dClhdu0oyWM">technical and safety challenges</a>. There are some preparations you can undertake, including ensuring your camera (<a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/total-solar-eclipse-phone-photos-2024-1.7149062">even smartphone cameras!</a>) has a solar filter. It is also important to be familiar with your camera, to practice using it in different light conditions before the eclipse. </p>
<p>The changes in light qualities will be quick and drastic, so familiarity with aperture and shutter speed will be important on the big day. A tripod will help reduce blurring when a longer exposure is required. If there are clouds, it’s still important to be cautious and wear protective glasses and the ability to capture an image will depend on the extent of cloud cover. The viewing experience will be different, but sky will still darken, creating changes in the colour and the way light passes through the clouds. </p>
<p>There are also some more creative ways to think about capturing the experience, including <a href="https://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/youth-educators/activities/fun-experiments/eclipse-projector.asp">making a pinhole projector</a>. </p>
<p>This simple device can be made from a cardboard box and allows for both safe viewing and some interesting images.</p>
<h2>First photographs of eclipses</h2>
<p>But if your photographs don’t conform to your expectations, you are in good company. In 1842 Italian physicist <a href="https://hyperallergic.com/392269/the-first-photographs-of-a-solar-eclipse/">Gian Alessandro Majocchi attempted to photograph</a> the total solar eclipse that took place that July. Surviving records indicate he only had partial success: His resulting daguerreotype images — an early <a href="https://www.loc.gov/collections/daguerreotypes/articles-and-essays/the-daguerreotype-medium/#">photography technique invented by Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre in 1839, involving treating a silver-coated copper plate with light sensitive chemicals</a> — are lost.</p>
<p>Majocchi was able to capture a few photographs <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.fl1241&view=1up&seq=265">before and after</a> the <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/total-solar-eclipse-where-how-1.7129716">moments of totality</a>.</p>
<h2>Reminder of wonder, togetherness</h2>
<p>Apart from technical aspects, a successful photograph of the eclipse serves as a lasting reminder of the sense of wonder and the feeling of being part of something larger than ourselves. </p>
<p>This is the kind of event that brings people together, and the shared experience continues long after the eclipse ends through photographs that serve as memory markers and tangible proof that you were there to witness the eclipse. And even though many of us might end up with similar photographs, there is something significant about so many people taking pictures of the same event.</p>
<p>For example, <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2016-27715-001">taking photographs of events can increase a person’s enjoyment of the experience</a>, as the research of marketing professor Kristin Diehl and colleagues has examined. </p>
<p>Photography allows us to preserve memories, share them with others and relive those moments in the future. What makes an image stand out among the millions shared daily on social media often comes down to a combination of factors: its visual impact, the story it tells and the emotional resonance it can hold for others viewing it. In other words, much of what we share is about the broader experience.</p>
<h2>Proof of experience, connection across time</h2>
<p>Photographs also have long fulfilled a deep-seated need for proof of experience. We were there. Whether a blurry cell phone image of the <em>Mona Lisa</em> or a snapshot of the eclipse, these images serve as tangible reminders of our experiences. They validate our memories, anchor the stories we tell and allow us to share these moments with others. </p>
<p>Looking at images of people taking in <a href="https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/century-eclipse-watching-photos">an eclipse during other eras can also offer a shared sense of connection across time</a>. This is a phenomenon that is bigger than us and these images connect us to the experiences of previous generations. </p>
<p>Scientific photographs of an eclipse, like the ones <a href="https://siarchives.si.edu/collections/siris_arc_308088">Thomas Smillie</a> made for the Smithsonian in 1900, may have been heralded as <a href="https://siarchives.si.edu/blog/smillie-and-1900-eclipse">technological breakthroughs</a>. Yet <a href="https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/century-eclipse-watching-photos">there is something especially compelling about photographs of people gathered together, stopping for a moment and looking skyward</a>.</p>
<h2>Photographs yield partial insights</h2>
<p>A <a href="https://hyperallergic.com/392269/the-first-photographs-of-a-solar-eclipse/">daguerreotype of a solar eclipse taken on July 28, 1851 is the first known successful photograph of the solar corona</a>. This image was made at the Royal Prussian Observatory in Königsberg (contemporary Kaliningrad, Russia) by Johann Julius Friedrich Berkowski with the aid of a telescope. <a href="https://www.space.com/37656-first-total-solar-eclipse-photo-ever.html">The 84-second exposure allowed Berkowski to capture the moment in incredible detail</a>.</p>
<p>In 1890, the <em>American Journal of Photography</em> proclaimed <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.fl1241&view=1up&seq=265">“probably in no department of science, certainly in no branch of astronomical science, has photography been of such use as in the study of solar eclipses</a>.” As the editors note, photography certainly can shape our understanding of the world, help to create new knowledge and provide valuable insights into the nature of the universe. </p>
<p>But there is also a limit to what photography can do. The experience of a solar eclipse goes beyond the visible: <a href="https://eclipse2017.nasa.gov/temperature-change-during-totality">temperatures drop</a>, <a href="https://www.audubon.org/news/total-solar-eclipse-coming-how-will-birds-and-other-wildlife-react">the behaviour of nonhuman animals can suddenly shift</a> and many report <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1.7149511">unanticipated emotional or spiritual responses</a>.</p>
<h2>Many visual, artistic responses</h2>
<p>Further, there is a long history of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/508314a">eclipses being recorded in a range of different visual media</a>. For example, the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S1743921314004621">Shang Dynasty in China provides a visual record of solar eclipses</a> via ancient script carved <a href="https://asia-archive.si.edu/learn/chinas-calligraphic-arts/oracle-bone-script">into oracle bones</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://smarthistory.org/peter-paul-rubens-elevation-of-the-cross/">A 1610 painting by Peter Paul Rubens, called <em>The Elevation of the Cross</em></a>, illustrates the long and complex history of connections between phenomenon like eclipses and religious beliefs. In the early 20th century, American painter Howard Russell Butler produced a series of paintings in which he focused on <a href="https://hyperallergic.com/393623/howard-russell-butler-eclipse-paintings/">aspects of the eclipse that were difficult to capture with black and white photography — the changing quality of light and colours of the sky</a>. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://artmuseum.princeton.edu/transient-effects/eclipses-art/blackstar">video accompanying David Bowie’s <em>Black Star</em></a> (2016) opens with a total solar eclipse.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/kszLwBaC4Sw?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Video for David Bowie’s ‘Black Star.’</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This is evocative visual imagery that complements the song’s themes of mortality — and offers a nod to long-held understandings of an eclipse as a symbol of impending doom. This symbolism was especially poignant as this was the title track of Bowie’s last studio album.</p>
<p>These types of artistic responses to celestial events foreground personal interpretation and emotional responses. They also foreground and reflect social, cultural, and spiritual meanings associated with a solar eclipse. </p>
<p>Could the act of sharing our eclipse photographs provide a point of fusion between providing evidence and these less tangible — but equally valid — moments of engagement?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/225241/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Keri Cronin has previously received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amy Friend does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Apart from technical aspects, a successful photograph of the eclipse serves as a lasting reminder of the sense of wonder and the feeling of being part of something larger than ourselves.
Amy Friend, Associate professor, Visual Arts Department, Brock University
Keri Cronin, Professor, History of Art & Visual Culture, Brock University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/225182
2024-03-14T23:18:30Z
2024-03-14T23:18:30Z
Guerrilla festival no-photo2024 is highlighting the unseen work of Palestinian photographers in Gaza
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581178/original/file-20240312-26-zgt90x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1597%2C1197&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">no-photo2024</span></span></figcaption></figure><blockquote>
<p>No photos of the war. No photos of its victims. No mention of the hundreds of photographers who have died taking them. We are a group of activists and artists who believe the future will be shaped by those who can see it. We stand together against the forces that refuse to let us. The future is being shaped by art festivals that choose what we see. Hiding behind the pretty face of diversity, while refusing to see the genocide.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This arresting public statement accompanies a series of large-scale street posters called <a href="https://www.instagram.com/no_photo2024/">no-photo2024</a>. The anonymous artists and activists behind no-photo2024 are highlighting the exclusion of Palestinian photographers from the <a href="https://photo.org.au">PHOTO 2024</a> festival, now showing in Melbourne. </p>
<p>The no-photo2024 posters are strategically placed near PHOTO 2024 venues. Their aim is to highlight the contradiction of excluding the atrocities captured by Palestinian photographers in Gaza. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-medias-instagram-posts-on-gaza-war-have-an-anti-palestine-bias-that-has-real-world-consequences-221609">Australian media's Instagram posts on Gaza war have an anti-Palestine bias. That has real-world consequences</a>
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</p>
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<h2>PHOTO 2024</h2>
<p>Although the organisation behind PHOTO 2024, <a href="https://photo.org.au/about/">Photo Australia</a>, calls itself “apolitical”, the festival <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/culture/art-and-design/selfies-flood-fed-square-in-a-festival-for-the-instagram-age-20210211-p571j6.html">has built its reputation</a> by promoting and commissioning politically charged works by First Nations, African, Middle Eastern and LGBTQI+ photographers. Big names from previous festivals include Hoda Afshar, Christian Thompson, Paul Mpagi Sepuya, Hayley Millar Baker, Broomberg and Chanarin, Mohamed Bourouissa and Aziz Hazara.</p>
<p>The festival commissions new work for outdoor projects and through an open call process invites submissions from artists and photographers worldwide. Applications are assessed by an international jury of leading photography and visual art curators. The festival also stages public programs and incorporates satellite events and exhibitions in collaboration with cultural, education, industry and regional partners. </p>
<p>The festival is well known for setting themes that <a href="https://photo.org.au/channel/photo-live-human-rights">promote photography’s role in challenging power</a>. PHOTO 2021 explored the theme of “the truth” at the height of Donald Trump’s presidency, attracting projects focused on the reliability of photography in social media, fake news and AI. The program that year boasted supporting “<a href="https://photo.org.au/events/photo-live-brook-andrew-and-kate-golding">First Nations truth-telling</a>” and “the experience of <a href="https://photo.org.au/channel/making-of-agonistes">whistleblowers</a> who have spoken out for those whose voices were never meant to be heard”. </p>
<p>This year, the festival continues to promote socio-political issues with the theme “the future is shaped by those who can see it”. Events include an ideas summit exploring <a href="https://photo.org.au/events/ideas-summit">photography as activism</a>, among other timely discussions. The hero image by Morroccan-Belgian photographer Mous Lamrabat presents two African models adorned in fashionable garments <a href="https://www.artdoc.photo/articles/mous-lamrabat-blessings-from-mousganistan">which read</a> “stop terrorising our world”.</p>
<p>But there <a href="https://photo.org.au/artists/">are no photographs</a> from Palestinian photographers.</p>
<p>The Conversation approached PHOTO 2024 for comment. They said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Over 150 artists are exhibiting at PHOTO 2024 International Festival of Photography, selected in response to a curatorial theme set in 2022. PHOTO Australia did not exclude any artists due to race, religion, nationality, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or any other personal characteristics. PHOTO Australia stands by its values to create an inclusive platform that doesn’t discriminate, censor nor diminish the plethora of expressions artists bring to the world. Artists exhibited by PHOTO Australia were invited directly, or applied to our open call in February 2023 and were selected in consultation with local and international curators. <br>
<br>
The majority of the program is presented by 40 cultural institutions and independent galleries who curated their own exhibitions in response to the theme, and selected artists according to their own curatorial policies.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>The contract of photography</h2>
<p>The no-photo2024 posters present a black square or rectangle symbolising a redacted photograph. Adjacent descriptive text reveals the hidden narrative of the censored image. Every poster is printed with a caption attributing the text description and the redacted image to a Palestinian photographer.</p>
<p>The juxtaposition of the redacted image and the textual description not only commemorates the efforts of Palestinian photographers but also prompts a broader reflection on the societal and ethical implications of selectively withholding images of atrocity from the public eye. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A poster with a black square and one with text." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581477/original/file-20240313-26-3pk095.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581477/original/file-20240313-26-3pk095.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581477/original/file-20240313-26-3pk095.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581477/original/file-20240313-26-3pk095.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581477/original/file-20240313-26-3pk095.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581477/original/file-20240313-26-3pk095.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581477/original/file-20240313-26-3pk095.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The posters have been placed on the streets of Melbourne.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">no-photo2024</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The posters expertly draw on the influential work of Israeli writer Ariella Azoulay and the outspoken Jewish-American theorist Judith Butler. </p>
<p>Azoulay’s <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9781890951894/the-civil-contract-of-photography">The Civil Contract of Photography</a> (2008) explores photography’s political and ethical conditions, proposing it as a social practice linked to citizenship, human rights and sovereignty – not just an art form. </p>
<p>She introduces the idea of a “civil contract” where photography acts as an agreement of mutuality and responsibility between the photographer, subject and the viewer. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581487/original/file-20240313-18-2nfxl2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Posters in an ally." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581487/original/file-20240313-18-2nfxl2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581487/original/file-20240313-18-2nfxl2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581487/original/file-20240313-18-2nfxl2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581487/original/file-20240313-18-2nfxl2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581487/original/file-20240313-18-2nfxl2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581487/original/file-20240313-18-2nfxl2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581487/original/file-20240313-18-2nfxl2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ariella Azoulay suggests photography can build solidarity.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">no-photo2024</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Azoulay suggests photography can build solidarity. She argues photographs are a form of testimony, bearing witness to injustices and human rights violations. Significantly, she uses Palestine as a critical example of how photography can document the realities of occupation, conflict and resistance.</p>
<p>Azoulay challenges the age-old idea that photographs are simply past moments. She instead views them as active engagements that invite ethical and political participation. In no-photo2024 we have a precise example of putting Azoulay’s theory into practice. </p>
<p>The posters also draw on Judith Butler’s <a href="https://www.versobooks.com/en-gb/products/1900-precarious-life">Precarious Life</a> (2004) and <a href="https://www.versobooks.com/en-gb/products/2081-frames-of-war">Frames of War: When Is Life Grievable?</a> (2009).</p>
<p>Butler asserts the media’s portrayal of individuals through photography, crafts a narrative that privileges some lives over others. They argue the media dictates who we mourn and who we overlook. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581481/original/file-20240313-16-kpsh76.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Posters on a brick wall." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581481/original/file-20240313-16-kpsh76.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581481/original/file-20240313-16-kpsh76.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581481/original/file-20240313-16-kpsh76.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581481/original/file-20240313-16-kpsh76.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581481/original/file-20240313-16-kpsh76.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581481/original/file-20240313-16-kpsh76.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581481/original/file-20240313-16-kpsh76.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Judith Butler writes the media dictates who we mourn and who we overlook.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">no-photo2024</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This disparity results from deliberate choices in how images are framed based on politics and race. Hence, they write, our connection (or indifference) to the suffering of others through images is often manipulated, leading to “desensitisation” to the plight of those deemed “other” or less human, an argument first formulated in Susan Sontag’s equally influential <a href="https://www.penguin.com.au/books/regarding-the-pain-of-others-9780141914954">Regarding the Pain of Others</a> (2003). </p>
<p>Butler dissects how the media’s selective framing of the “other” (Palestinians, in the case of no-photo2024) not only obscures the true impact of violence and war but actively shapes our perception of who deserves to be mourned. Butler views photography’s dual role in perpetuating indifference and promoting a radical shift in our ethical orientation toward action.</p>
<h2>Our shared, precarious world</h2>
<p>no-photo2024 is a powerful call to action. It prompts collective reflection on how images hold the potential to bear witness to atrocities, mobilise public opinion, and contribute to the struggle for human rights and social justice. </p>
<p>One poster reads, “Rubble. Rubble hand. Rubble sleeve. Blooded finger. A fresh tea bag crushed between the rubble. Metal. Rubble. The shadow of a body”. The <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/C4G_K3kBJsL/?img_index=3">Instagram post</a> documenting the paired poster states it is “installed near a commercial art gallery that demands silence on Palestine from its artists, fearing a loss of support from their patrons.”</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581484/original/file-20240313-16-f1l5tl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two posters" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581484/original/file-20240313-16-f1l5tl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581484/original/file-20240313-16-f1l5tl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581484/original/file-20240313-16-f1l5tl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581484/original/file-20240313-16-f1l5tl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581484/original/file-20240313-16-f1l5tl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581484/original/file-20240313-16-f1l5tl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581484/original/file-20240313-16-f1l5tl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Images hold the potential to bear witness to atrocities.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">no-photo2024</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In this post-photographic AI-driven age, no-photo2024 promotes a much needed conversation about the ethical responsibilities of creating, curating and consuming photographs. It challenges the photographic community to move beyond aesthetic appreciation and engage with images as participants in a shared, precarious world. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-writers-festivals-are-engulfed-in-controversy-over-the-war-in-gaza-how-can-they-uphold-their-duty-to-public-debate-224520">Australian writers festivals are engulfed in controversy over the war in Gaza. How can they uphold their duty to public debate?</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/225182/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cherine Fahd is co-chair of Powerhouse Photography.</span></em></p>
The anonymous artists and activists behind no-photo2024 are highlighting the exclusion of Palestinian photographers from PHOTO2024.
Cherine Fahd, Associate Professor Visual Communication, University of Technology Sydney
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/225647
2024-03-14T19:11:39Z
2024-03-14T19:11:39Z
The Kate Middleton photo scandal: When does editing become manipulation?
<p>On March 10, in celebration of Mother’s Day in the United Kingdom, Kensington Palace <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/C4U_IqTNaqU/?hl=en">shared a photo</a> of Kate Middleton, the Princess of Wales, with her three children. It was the first photograph shared of Kate since December and was <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/10/uk/kate-princess-wales-photo-released-intl/index.html">widely reported on by news outlets</a>.</p>
<p>Public interest and discussion about Kate’s well-being have reached a tipping point in recent months. She had not been seen at a public event since Christmas Day, and in mid-January, it was announced that she had undergone a <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/C2NDoYrN-9r/?hl=en">planned surgery</a>. </p>
<p>There is <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/prince-philip-queen-elizabeth-husband-released-from-hospital-london-heart-surgery/">considerable visual precedent</a> of photographs and video taken of royal family members after <a href="https://www.hellomagazine.com/healthandbeauty/health-and-fitness/20210925122524/kate-middleton-duchess-of-cambridge-children-pregnancy-birth-post-baby-body/">medical procedures or events</a>. However, the distinct lack of photos in this case has left the media and public to fill in the information gaps with their own <a href="https://graziadaily.co.uk/celebrity/news/tiktok-sleuthers-royal-scandal/">commentary and conspiracy theories</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-pr-silence-around-princess-kates-well-being-fuels-frenzy-about-photo-mishap-225642">The PR silence around Princess Kate's well-being fuels frenzy about photo mishap</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The timing of the photograph suggested that it was taken to quell all the discussion about Kate. Very quickly, however, social media users began to perform <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/digital-image-forensics/">digital forensics</a> on the photograph, questioning everything from the <a href="https://x.com/oldenoughtosay/status/1766911094281359553?s=46&t=9A3pHGNi5TAYuffaoqvktQ">foliage pictured</a>, to the <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@allynaston/video/7344921409816251678">clothing</a>, to the <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/24098724/kate-middleton-editing-photo-explained">obvious and amateur photo-editing</a>. The controversy was only fueled further by Kensington Palace’s <a href="https://pagesix.com/2024/03/11/royal-family/kensington-palace-refuses-to-release-original-kate-middleton-photo-after-botched-editing-job/">refusal to release the unedited version of the photo</a>.</p>
<p>The careful, detailed and obsessively close reading of the photo was, in part, due to the context into which it was published: the internet was looking for the “proof of life” this photo was intended to provide. The internet was not convinced.</p>
<p>Mere hours later, the Associated Press released a <a href="https://twitter.com/chrisshipitv/status/1766944328847364201?s=20">“kill order,”</a> stating “it appears that the source has manipulated the image. No replacement photo will be sent.” Many other news organizations and photo agencies quickly followed, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/princess-wales-kate-surgery-photo-manipulated-3863e9ac78aec420a91e4f315297c348">retracting and removing the image</a>.</p>
<p>In response to the incident, <a href="https://twitter.com/KensingtonRoyal/status/1767135566645092616">a statement attributed to Kate</a> was issued the following day where she admitted “I do occasionally experiment with editing” and apologized for any confusion the photography may have caused.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1767135566645092616"}"></div></p>
<h2>What we expect of photographs</h2>
<p>Photographs have always held an uneasy position between evidence and art, or truth and fiction. <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/press/exhibitions/2012/faking-it">Since the technology was invented</a>, photographs have been <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXe9WCeccOw">staged or “faked,”</a> edited and manipulated. While the advent of digital photography has brought with it tools and techniques that makes altering photographs much quicker and easier, the malleability of the photographic form is part of the story of photography.</p>
<p>The ability to record what is in front of the camera lens is central to how and why photography has developed as something society considered a source of truth or evidence. In journalism, science and public administration, photographs are used as proof in a variety of contexts where identification is a central, significant and necessary outcome. </p>
<p>However, because photographs can be altered, the institutions and individuals that produce them are often used to verify the extent to which they were edited, or <a href="https://twitter.com/misanharriman/status/1767883350184796447?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet">vouch for their veracity</a>. Institutions have <a href="https://www.worldpressphoto.org/contest/2024/verification-process/what-counts-as-manipulation">imposed standards, practices and policies</a> to make photography legible as a credible format that can be used as actionable information. </p>
<p>For people to believe and trust photographs, then, there needs to be a level of trust in institutions that produce them. This is far from the first instance of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/sep/06/donald-trump-inauguration-crowd-size-photos-edited">a political institution losing public trust by editing photographs</a>. As the controversy continues, the public becomes less likely to believe the images Kensington Palace releases. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1767197442838073680"}"></div></p>
<p>This is evidenced by the negative public reaction to the photograph published the next day of <a href="https://www.eonline.com/ca/news/1397155/agency-behind-kate-middleton-and-prince-william-car-photo-addresses-photoshop-claims">Prince William, allegedly with Kate</a>, carpooling on their way to their respective appointments. </p>
<p>Institutional response has been similarly critical, as <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/11/uk/kate-royal-photograph-edited-intl-gbr/index.html">CNN announced</a> they were “now reviewing all handout photos previously provided by Kensington Palace,” and <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2024/03/14/kensington-palace-compared-to-north-korea-by-news-boss/">Agence France-Presse (AFP) stating</a> Kensington Palace is “no longer a trusted source.”</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1768304152407351591"}"></div></p>
<h2>Editing: A fine line</h2>
<p>How much editing is too much? The <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/tv-shows/truth-or-fake/20240311-kate-gate-how-might-have-the-princess-of-wales-photo-been-edited">#KateGate controversy</a> has pushed this conversation front and centre. When does a photograph tip from edited or enhanced to manipulated and deceptive? </p>
<p>When it comes to contemporary celebrity culture, there is an expectation that most, if not all, photographs circulated are retouched. Some smartphones even have a “<a href="https://www.samsung.com/za/support/mobile-devices/galaxy-camera-how-do-i-use-the-beauty-face-mode/">Beauty Face</a>” filter that can “automatically adjust the photo to create a more visually pleasing photo.” Celebrities, <a href="https://www.allure.com/story/zendaya-posts-unretouched-photo">like Zendaya</a>, who take a stand against retouching, are touted as inspiring for doing so. </p>
<p>In photojournalism, the colour balance and exposure of photographs are <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/11/uk/kate-royal-photograph-edited-intl-gbr/index.html">regularly adjusted</a>. This is seen as justifiable if the changes mean the photograph is a more accurate representation of the scene but does not change the composition or contents of the photograph. </p>
<p>However, other editing practices, like creating a composite image from many photographs of the same event, are seen as taking it too far. During the Great Depression, Arthur Rothstein’s photograph of a bleached steer skull caused significant controversy because he had moved the skull to a section of cracked dirt in direct sunlight which made the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00028533.2001.11951665">photograph more dramatic</a>.</p>
<p>Rothstein was criticized for manipulating the scene, and thus, interfered with the integrity required for a documentary photograph. His response was that by moving the skull he had created a photograph that was a more accurate reflection of the crisis.</p>
<p>Despite photography’s shaky claim to an authentic truth or evidence as an impartial record of reality, it is expected to function as such. Institutions confer <a href="https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/the-burden-of-representation">credibility to photographs</a>, and photographs are put to use by institutions as “truthful evidence” as a result. </p>
<p>A central issue is that the photograph at the centre of this controversy was implied to provide evidence of Kate’s well-being. As the photograph was likely taken months before, heavily edited, and where the original unedited files were not produced for reference, the palace’s response was not sufficient to provide justification for the level of editing — whatever the reason for it might have been.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/225647/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bethany Berard does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
What can we learn when a picture inspires ten thousand Tweets and TikToks.
Bethany Berard, PhD Candidate & Instructor, Communication and Media, Carleton University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/225529
2024-03-14T13:28:36Z
2024-03-14T13:28:36Z
How news organisations decide whether a photo is ‘too edited’
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581726/original/file-20240313-24-56o3zs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=43%2C153%2C4844%2C2601&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/soft-focus-women-photographer-hold-camera-1043596813">MheePanda/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the era of artificial intelligence and accessible photo editing, you can’t believe everything you see online. One exception, of course, is (usually) if it’s published by a reputable news source. </p>
<p>The foundation of photojournalism lies in its ability to present reality in an
authentic and unaltered manner. Digital manipulation poses a significant threat to this core principle, undermining the credibility and trustworthiness of the images distributed by photo agencies. The controversy around a retouched family photograph of the Princess of Wales and her children was a rare glimpse into how publishers deal with this issue.</p>
<p>Agencies such as Getty Images and PA Images play a crucial role in delivering accurate and reliable photographs to the public. These organisations adhere to strict <a href="https://www.ap.org/about/news-values-and-principles/telling-the-story/visuals">codes of conduct</a> designed to ensure the integrity of the images they distribute. If an image is accepted but later found to violate these guidelines, it is given a “kill order”. It sounds dramatic, but this instantly stops the distribution.</p>
<p>The main reason why photo agencies cannot accept digitally manipulated imagery is the potential distortion of truth. Manipulated photos can present a skewed version of reality, misinforming the public and compromising the public’s trust in them. Many a <a href="https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2003/l-a-times-photographer-fired-over-altered-image/">photographer</a> has been <a href="https://www.ap.org/ap-in-the-news/2014/ap-severs-ties-with-photographer-who-altered-work">fired</a> for <a href="https://archive.nytimes.com/thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/10/in-an-iranian-image-a-missile-too-many/">violating</a> this <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/mar/05/world-press-photo-award-withdrawn-over-violation-of-rules">trust</a>. </p>
<p>Photojournalism is a powerful tool for documenting and bearing witness to events around the world. Authenticity is paramount. Even family portraits of public figures become historical documents. </p>
<p>There is a grey area around portraits in the ethical discussion. They can be staged or directed – the photographer will guide and position people. But there is still a requirement in the press to avoid any retouching. That said, in areas such as fashion and celebrity outlets where airbrushing is common, those guidelines are looser.</p>
<p>Photo agencies have their own standards about what level of editing is acceptable. <a href="https://www.afp.com/communication/chartes/12_april_2016_afp_ethic_final.pdf">AFP</a> says that photos and videos “must not be staged, manipulated or edited to give a misleading or false picture of events”. <a href="https://contributors.gettyimages.com/img/articles/downloads/NHLI%20MANIPULATION.pdf">Getty allows</a> for some minor changes such as colour adjustment or removal of red eye or of dust from a dirty lens, but prohibits “extreme” colour or light adjustments.</p>
<p>Several agencies decided to <a href="https://apnews.com/article/kate-princess-photo-surgery-ca91acf667c87c6c70a7838347d6d4fb">retract the photo</a> of the royals because it did not meet their standards. This does not mean the photo was AI-generated or fake, only that it does not meet the strict level of acceptable editing.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/princess-of-wales-photo-controversy-shows-weve-been-thinking-about-edited-images-the-wrong-way-225521">Princess of Wales photo controversy shows we've been thinking about edited images the wrong way</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Changing tech, changing guidelines</h2>
<p>As new technology such as generative AI (which can create photos or videos from a prompt) makes photo editing and creating fake images easier, press agencies are starting to discuss <a href="https://blog.ap.org/standards-around-generative-ai">how to handle it</a>. The Associated Press states:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We will refrain from transmitting any AI-generated images that are suspected or proven to be false depictions of reality. However, if an AI-generated illustration or work of art is the subject of a news story, it may be used as long as it is clearly labelled as such in the caption.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>News organisations are also experimenting with AI-generated text, and <a href="https://www.niemanlab.org/2023/07/writing-guidelines-for-the-role-of-ai-in-your-newsroom-here-are-some-er-guidelines-for-that/">developing guidelines</a> for this. They tend to focus on transparency, making clear to readers when artificially generated content is being used.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man sits at a desktop computer and edits a photo of a model on an editing programme like Photoshop" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581733/original/file-20240313-24-o4ujmq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581733/original/file-20240313-24-o4ujmq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581733/original/file-20240313-24-o4ujmq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581733/original/file-20240313-24-o4ujmq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581733/original/file-20240313-24-o4ujmq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581733/original/file-20240313-24-o4ujmq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581733/original/file-20240313-24-o4ujmq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Some retouching is accepted in photojournalism and fashion photography.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/professional-photographer-sitting-his-desk-uses-1599273019">Gorodenkoff/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>World Press Photo (WPP), an organisation known for its annual photojournalism contest, provides explicit guidelines for submission, <a href="https://www.worldpressphoto.org/contest/2024/verification-process#:%7E:text=Entry%20rule%2017%20states%20photographs,to%20the%20content%20of%20a">updated annually</a>. Photo agencies often align themselves with these principles, recognising the importance of a universal standard for truthfulness in visual reporting.</p>
<p>Due to pressure from photographers and artists who work in more conceptual photography, WPP has added an “open format” category. This welcomes “innovative techniques, non-traditional modes of presentation, and new approaches to storytelling”. The contest organisers considered allowing AI-generated images in 2023, but <a href="https://www.worldpressphoto.org/news/2023/could-an-ai-image-win-our-contest">backtracked</a> after outrage from many photojournalists. </p>
<p>The rise of advanced editing tools and software has made it harder to distinguish between authentic and manipulated images. Fully embracing manipulated imagery in a photojournalism contest would be a risk to the industry’s credibility, at a time when trust in journalism is already at risk.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/225529/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Pearsall does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Publishers are starting to develop guidelines around the use of generative AI in photos.
Andrew Pearsall, Senior Lecturer in Photojournalism, University of South Wales
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/225553
2024-03-12T03:25:40Z
2024-03-12T03:25:40Z
Yes, Kate Middleton’s photo was doctored. But so are a lot of images we see today
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581154/original/file-20240312-26-tb4sa3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=425%2C221%2C2598%2C1694&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">The Conversation/Instagram/X</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Rumours and conspiracies have been <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/28/style/princess-kate-middleton-health.html">swirling</a> following the abdominal surgery and long recovery period of Catherine, Princess of Wales, earlier this year. They intensified on Monday when Kensington Palace released a photo of the princess with her three children.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/C4U_IqTNaqU","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>The photo had clear signs of tampering, and international wire services <a href="https://apnews.com/article/kate-princess-photo-surgery-ca91acf667c87c6c70a7838347d6d4fb">withdrew the image</a> amid concerns around manipulation. The princess later <a href="https://twitter.com/KensingtonRoyal/status/1767135566645092616">apologised for any confusion</a> and said she had “experimented with editing” as many amateur photographers do.</p>
<p>Image editing is extremely common these days, and not all of it is for nefarious purposes. However, in an age of rampant misinformation, how can we stay vigilant around suspicious images?</p>
<h2>What happened with the royal photo?</h2>
<p>A close look reveals at least eight inconsistencies with the image. </p>
<p>Two of these relate to unnatural blur. Catherine’s right hand is unnaturally blurred, even though her left hand is sharp and at the same distance from the camera. The left side of Catherine’s hair is also unnaturally blurred, while the right side of her hair is sharp.</p>
<p>These types of edits are usually made with a blur tool that softens pixels. It is often used to make the background of an image less distracting or to smooth rough patches of texture.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581145/original/file-20240312-26-rhmkk1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581145/original/file-20240312-26-rhmkk1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581145/original/file-20240312-26-rhmkk1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=358&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581145/original/file-20240312-26-rhmkk1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=358&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581145/original/file-20240312-26-rhmkk1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=358&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581145/original/file-20240312-26-rhmkk1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581145/original/file-20240312-26-rhmkk1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/581145/original/file-20240312-26-rhmkk1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">At least eight logical inconsistencies exist in the doctored image the Prince and Princess of Wales posted on social media.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/C4U_IqTNaqU/">Photo by the Prince of Wales/Chart by T.J. Thomson</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Five of the edits appear to use the “clone stamp” tool. This is a Photoshop tool that takes part of the same or a different image and “stamps” it onto another part.</p>
<p>You can see this with the repeated pattern on Louis’s (on the left) sweater and the tile on the ground. You can also see it with the step behind Louis’s legs and on Charlotte’s hair and sleeve. The zipper on Catherine’s jacket also doesn’t line up.</p>
<p>The most charitable interpretation is that the princess was trying to remove distracting or unflattering elements. But the artefacts could also point to multiple images being blended together. This could either be to try to show the best version of each person (for example, with a smiling face and open eyes), or for another purpose.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1767135566645092616"}"></div></p>
<h2>How common are image edits?</h2>
<p>Image editing is increasingly common as both photography and editing are increasingly becoming more automated.</p>
<p>This sometimes happens without you even knowing.</p>
<p>Take HDR (high dynamic range) images, for example. Point your iPhone or equivalent at a beautiful sunset and watch it capture the scene from the brightest highlights to the darkest shadows. What happens here is your camera makes multiple images and automatically stitches them together to make an image <a href="https://www.adobe.com/creativecloud/photography/hub/guides/what-is-hdr-photography.html">with a wider range of contrast</a>.</p>
<p>While face-smoothing or teeth-whitening filters are nothing new, some smartphone camera apps apply them without being prompted. Newer technology like Google’s “Best Take” <a href="https://blog.google/products/photos/how-google-photos-best-take-works/">feature</a> can even combine the best attributes of multiple images to ensure everyone’s eyes are open and faces are smiling in group shots.</p>
<p>On social media, it seems everyone tries to show themselves in their best light, which is partially why so few of the photos on our <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15551393.2020.1862663">camera rolls</a> make it onto our social media feeds. It is also why we often edit our photos to show our best sides.</p>
<p>But in other contexts, such as press photography, the <a href="https://www.ap.org/about/news-values-and-principles/telling-the-story/visuals">rules are much stricter</a>. The Associated Press, for example, bans all edits beyond simple crops, colour adjustments, and “minor adjustments” that “restore the authentic nature of the photograph”.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/three-images-that-show-wartime-photographs-can-have-greater-impact-than-the-written-word-216508">Three images that show wartime photographs can have greater impact than the written word</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Professional photojournalists haven’t always gotten it right, though. While the majority of lens-based news workers adhere to ethical guidelines like those published by the <a href="https://nppa.org/resources/code-ethics">National Press Photographers Association</a>, others have let deadline pressures, competition and the desire for exceptional imagery cloud their judgement.</p>
<p>One such example was in 2017, when British photojournalist Souvid Datta admitted to <a href="https://time.com/4766312/souvid-datta/">visually plagiarising</a> another photographer’s work within his own composition. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"859824132258537472"}"></div></p>
<p>Concerns around false or misleading visual information are at an all-time high, given advances in <a href="https://theconversation.com/nine-was-slammed-for-ai-editing-a-victorian-mps-dress-how-can-news-media-use-ai-responsibly-222382">generative artificial intelligence (AI)</a>. In fact, this year the World Economic Forum named the risk of misinformation and disinformation as the world’s greatest <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2024/01/ai-disinformation-global-risks/">short-term threat</a>. It placed this above armed conflict and natural disasters.</p>
<h2>What to do if you’re unsure about an image you’ve found online</h2>
<p>It can be hard to keep up with the more than <a href="https://theconversation.com/3-2-billion-images-and-720-000-hours-of-video-are-shared-online-daily-can-you-sort-real-from-fake-148630">3 billion photos</a> that are shared each day.</p>
<p>But, for the ones that matter, we owe it to ourselves to slow down, zoom in and ask ourselves a few simple <a href="https://www.aap.com.au/factcheck-resources/how-we-check-the-facts/">questions</a>:</p>
<p>1. Who made or shared the image? This can give clues about reliability and the purpose of making or sharing the image.</p>
<p>2. What’s the evidence? Can you find another version of the image, for example, using a <a href="https://tineye.com/">reverse-image search engine</a>?</p>
<p>3. What do trusted sources say? Consult resources like <a href="https://www.aap.com.au/factcheck/">AAP FactCheck</a> or <a href="https://factcheck.afp.com/">AFP Fact Check</a> to see if authoritative sources have already weighed in.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/deepfakes-how-to-empower-youth-to-fight-the-threat-of-misinformation-and-disinformation-221171">Deepfakes: How to empower youth to fight the threat of misinformation and disinformation</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/225553/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>T.J. Thomson receives funding from the Australian Research Council. He is an affiliate with the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision Making & Society. Thomson collaborated with the Australian Associated Press in 2021 to produce fact-checking resources for its "Check the Facts" campaign.</span></em></p>
The Princess of Wales is caught in a social media storm after the release of a clearly edited photo. But image editing is increasingly common, and your phone can even do it without you knowing.
T.J. Thomson, Senior Lecturer in Visual Communication & Digital Media, RMIT University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/225007
2024-03-06T17:15:04Z
2024-03-06T17:15:04Z
Annie Ernaux’s Exteriors: the sharpness of her writing shines against photos of life in cities
<p>When sharp, abrasive arts of differing forms come together, what happens? The rub might make them ring out, possibly grate, or sharpen even more. All of this is happening in the dense, fascinating show that the writer Lou Stoppard has put together with the <a href="https://theconversation.com/nobel-prize-in-literature-annie-ernaux-and-writing-from-experience-192050">Nobel-prize winning author Annie Ernaux</a> at Paris’s <a href="https://www.mep-fr.org/event/exterieurs-annie-ernaux-et-la-photographie/">Maison Européenne de la Photographie</a> (MEP).</p>
<p>Stoppard was writer in residence at the MEP in 2022 and the exhibition Exteriors: Annie Ernaux & Photography is the culmination of that time. The show takes pages from Ernaux’s slim book <a href="https://archive.org/details/journaldudehors0000erna">Journal Du Dehors</a> (1993) and sets them alongside photographs from the MEP’s collection, suggesting possible threads, resonances and affinities. </p>
<p>Ernaux’s Journal Du Dehors was translated by Tanya Leslie as <a href="https://fitzcarraldoeditions.com/books/exteriors">Exteriors</a> and published by Fitzcarraldo in 2021. The text takes the form of random journal entries spanning seven years from the 1980s and early 1990s. It concentrates on fleeting encounters made while Ernaux was travelling regularly into the city from her home on the outskirts of Paris. </p>
<p>The addition of the images and the separation of the pages in the exhibition intensifies Ernaux’s writing, creating plenty for visitors to pore over. But the images also add space in how Ernaux’s writing can be interpreted. The routine of the daily commute, the unchanging underground corridors with their familiar beggars, the same parking lot outside the same supermarket – these are the patterns of the way we live to work, which give Ernaux’s Journal its particular corrosiveness. </p>
<p>Ernaux’s work gains an added brilliance and stillness when it is read from panels on the wall. The paradoxical qualities of her writing in Exteriors, the sense of the timeless tragedy and also the ephemeral nature of the scenes captured become more vivid against the pictures. That moment, that dress, those words, those socks exist in that time and place, but because they have been captured they also exist forever. </p>
<h2>Cutting imagery</h2>
<p>Ernaux has long wanted her writing to <a href="https://theconversation.com/annie-ernaux-french-feminist-who-uses-language-as-a-knife-wins-nobel-prize-for-literature-192084">work like a knife</a>. Her style is short, sparse, unlyrical. She cuts to the heart of the things she is writing about, every word necessary. And the poised, thoughtful curation of this show is an extension of her skill in making the cut. It shows us that everything is in the detail if it is seized sharply enough to reveal its significance. Many of the photographs displayed alongside her words are dazzling in this respect.</p>
<p>They are almost overwhelmingly characterised by what the French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson called “<em><a href="https://www.henricartierbresson.org/en/expositions/henri-cartier-bresson-images-a-la-sauvette/">images à la sauvette</a></em>” – scenes glimpsed and grasped from the street, capturing people without their knowledge, seizing their singular presence in that moment. One particularly successful pairing demonstrates how this approach can generate wonderfully different images. </p>
<p>On one side of the narrow, corridor-like gallery are a succession of small, distinct images by American photographer <a href="https://www.icp.org/browse/archive/constituents/harry-callahan?all/all/all/all/0">Harry Callahan</a>, taken from his French Archives series of the 1950s. These almost black prints are shot through with strips of sunlight or just minimally dappled. Figures appear enigmatically etched against the spare light, crossing in and out of visibility. </p>
<p>On the other wall there is a fabulous montage by Japanese-American photographer <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/18/style/hiro-dead.html">Hiro</a>. These images are life-size, holding the cramped commuters of a 1960s Tokyo train in unwanted exposure through the carriage windows, their gazes and fingers pressed against the glass, reaching out to us. On one side of the gallery, then, there a deep sense of solitude. On the other, the press of people in on us. </p>
<p>Together these photographers illuminate the strange quality of this phase of Ernaux’s work, which was unremittingly close to ordinary life and yet detached. She is always a detached onlooker, even when she imagines that these things are so ordinary that she might as well be looking at herself. </p>
<h2>A detached onlooker</h2>
<p>The inclusion of several series of works by Japanese photographers is striking because it creates a sense of estrangement in contrast to the way Ernaux has systematically embraced the familiarity of ordinary French life. The same effect is produced by the photographs from more recent Parisian times, particularly in the room with two large works by Mohamed Bourouissa and one by Marguerite Bornhauser, the only piece in the show that doesn’t depict people.</p>
<p>The two prints by Bourouissa show scenes of black life in France. One depicts a group of four youths standing around a burnt out car in a dirty alleyway. One of them stands on the roof, his upper torso and head cut off by the framing.</p>
<p>The other photo shows a man being arrested. He is handcuffed, almost naked, staring blankly up at a woman, who might be his girlfriend. She is barelegged, wearing just a long t-shirt. The policeman and the woman are also decapitated by Bourouissa’s framing. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, Bornhauser’s piece shows the impact of a bullet on glass somewhere near the <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-34818994">Paris attacks in 2015</a> after the terrorist attacks. </p>
<p>These are scenes of modern violence and social decline. They show that even the minimal social and physical mobility of Ernaux’s generation has run aground. They also bring into focus the violence in Ernaux’s work, particularly in the pages alongside Bourouissa’s images. These pages are less documentations of what she saw but extrapolations of what could be. They speak of fear, of empty spaces where violence (even rape) could go unheard, and of the cruelties of parental ambition that creates unhappy adolescence.</p>
<p>All in all, the viewer comes away with a sense of the extraordinary power of these images of everyday life. And for those who already harbour an admiration for Ernaux, Exteriors is an opportunity to see more clearly how she sharpened her eye and her ear against the routine of her daily commute.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
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<p><em>Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/something-good-156">Sign up here</a>.</em></p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/225007/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anna-Louise Milne does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Ernaux’s sparse writing about everyday encounters gains a new quality against photos from the MEP’s collection
Anna-Louise Milne, Director of Graduate Studies and Research, University of London Institute in Paris
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/220834
2024-02-14T13:20:41Z
2024-02-14T13:20:41Z
Wildlife selfies harm animals − even when scientists share images with warnings in the captions
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575067/original/file-20240212-26-k6xljg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C13%2C3039%2C2253&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The right way to photograph wildlife: from a distance, in the animal's natural habitat.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://flic.kr/p/D9s93c">Jim Peaco, Yellowstone National Park/Flickr</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>One of the biggest privileges of <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Jd5jwiwAAAAJ&hl=en">being a primatologist</a> is spending time in remote locations with monkeys and apes, living near these animals in their habitats and experiencing their daily lives. As a 21st-century human, I have an immediate impulse to take pictures of these encounters and share them on social media. </p>
<p>Social media can help scientists raise awareness of the species we study, promote their conservation and obtain jobs and research funding. However, sharing images of wild animals online can also contribute to illegal animal trafficking and <a href="https://theconversation.com/dont-hike-so-close-to-me-how-the-presence-of-humans-can-disturb-wildlife-up-to-half-a-mile-away-162223">harmful human-wildlife interactions</a>. For endangered or threatened species, this attention can <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0069215">put them at further risk</a>. </p>
<p>My research seeks to find ways for scientists and conservationists to harness the power of social media while avoiding its pitfalls. My colleague, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=VIynAt0AAAAJ&hl=en">ecologist and science communicator Cathryn Freund</a>, and I think we have some answers. In our view, wildlife professionals should never include themselves in pictures with animals. We also believe that featuring infant animals and animals interacting with humans leads viewers to think about these creatures in ways that are counterproductive to conservation. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pN-FkkUXYOU?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">A wildlife biologist explains how and why to photograph wild animals at a safe distance.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Show and tell?</h2>
<p>Many conservation biologists are thinking hard about what role social media can and should play in their work. For example, the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Section on Human-Primate Interactions has issued guidelines for <a href="https://human-primate-interactions.org/best-practice-guidelines-responsible-images-of-non-human-primates/">how to use images of wild primates</a> and <a href="https://human-primate-interactions.org/responsible-primate-watching-for-tourists/">how to conduct primate watching tours</a>. </p>
<p>These guidelines recommend that when scientists show photos of themselves with a wild primate, the caption should state that the person in the image is a trained researcher or conservationist. However, there isn’t much data assessing whether this approach is effective. </p>
<p>We wanted to test whether people actually read these captions and whether informative captions helped curb viewers’ desires to have similar experiences or to own the animal as a pet. </p>
<p>In a study published in 2023, my colleagues and I created two mock Instagram posts – one showing a human near a wild gorilla, the other focusing on a gloved human hand holding a <a href="https://www.wwfindia.org/about_wwf/priority_species/lesser_known_species/slender_loris/">slender loris</a> – a small lemurlike primate native to Southeast Asia. Half of these photos carried basic captions like “Me with a mountain gorilla” or “Me with my research subject”; the other half included more detailed captions that also stated, “All animals are observed” (gorilla) or “captured and handled (loris) safely and humanely for research with the proper permits and training.” </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570968/original/file-20240123-29-9n8222.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A photo shows a gloved hand holding a small primate, with a caption stating that the animal was captured and handled humanely for research with proper permits and training." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570968/original/file-20240123-29-9n8222.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570968/original/file-20240123-29-9n8222.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=916&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570968/original/file-20240123-29-9n8222.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=916&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570968/original/file-20240123-29-9n8222.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=916&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570968/original/file-20240123-29-9n8222.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1151&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570968/original/file-20240123-29-9n8222.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1151&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570968/original/file-20240123-29-9n8222.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1151&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A mock Instagram post with a caption stating that the person shown is a trained researcher working with the loris under official rules. Many viewers in a study said the post nonetheless made them want to handle a loris themselves.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Smitha Gnanaolivu/Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Bangalore</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We showed over 3,000 adults one of these mock Instagram posts and asked them to complete a survey. The results shocked us.</p>
<p>Viewers who saw the Instagram posts with the more detailed caption recognized that the picture depicted research. But regardless of the caption, more than half of the viewers agreed or strongly agreed that they would want to seek out a similar experience with the loris or gorilla. </p>
<p>Over half of the viewers agreed or strongly agreed that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.14199">they would want these animals as pets</a> and that the animals would make good pets. Presumably, participants did not know anything about the animals’ life habits, behavior or survival needs, or that neither of these species is at all suited to be a pet.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/CP7MAi6gJM9/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link\u0026igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<h2>Why media impact matters</h2>
<p>While these responses may sound merely sentimental or naive, research shows that media – particularly social media – contribute to harmful human encounters with wildlife and to the exotic pet trade. </p>
<p>For example, the Harry Potter films and books, which featured owls as magical creatures used by wizards, led to a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2017.04.004">sharp increase in the illegal owl trade in Indonesia</a>. Owls once were collectively known in Indonesia as “Burung Hantu,” or “ghost bird,” but now in the country’s bird markets they are commonly called “Burung Harry Potter.” </p>
<p>Studies show that images of people holding lorises drive illegal captures and sales of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0030605317000680">lorises and other primates</a>. Owners then post further videos showing them handling the animals improperly – for example, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpV7L--cQ8s">tickling the loris</a>, which makes it raise its arms. Viewers see this behavior as cute, but in fact the animals do this to activate <a href="https://nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/pygmy-slow-loris">toxic glands in their upper arms</a> and move venom to their mouths <a href="https://brill.com/view/journals/ijfp/86/6/article-p534_5.xml">in preparation to defend themselves</a>. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LJxUP_hME2g?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Social media channels do a poor job of detecting and policing posts that feature exotic or endangered animals, and they allow dealers to market directly to the public.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In earlier research, we found that when orangutan rescue and rehabilitation centers feature baby orangutans and humans interacting with orangutans in YouTube videos, these posts <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.10268">received more views</a> than videos of adult orangutans or orangutans not interacting with people. However, people who watched videos showing infant orangutans, or humans interacting with the animals, posted comments that were less supportive of orangutan conservation. They also stated more frequently that they wanted to own orangutans as pets or interact with them.</p>
<p>Many people who seek out wildlife encounters are not aware of the harm that these experiences cause. Animals <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-spillover-bird-flu-outbreak-underscores-need-for-early-detection-to-prevent-the-next-big-pandemic-200494">can transmit diseases to humans</a>, but it also works the other way: Humans can <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-85877-3_59-1">transmit potentially deadly diseases to wild animals</a>, including measles, herpes viruses and flu viruses. </p>
<p>When humans move through an animal’s habitat – or worse, handle or chase the animal – they cause stress reactions and <a href="https://theconversation.com/dont-hike-so-close-to-me-how-the-presence-of-humans-can-disturb-wildlife-up-to-half-a-mile-away-162223">alter the animal’s behavior</a>. Animals may avoid feeding sites or spend time and energy fleeing instead of foraging. </p>
<p>Owning wild animals as pets is even more problematic. I have worked with several rescue and rehabilitation centers that shelter orangutans formerly kept as pets or tourist attractions. These animals typically are in very poor health and have to be taught how to socialize, move through trees and find their own food, since they have been deprived of these natural behaviors. </p>
<p>The last thing that any responsible conservation biologist studying endangered species wants to do is encourage this kind of human-wildlife contact.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575068/original/file-20240212-31-tgo7jv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A brown primate reaches from a cage to grasp a gloved human hand." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575068/original/file-20240212-31-tgo7jv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575068/original/file-20240212-31-tgo7jv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575068/original/file-20240212-31-tgo7jv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575068/original/file-20240212-31-tgo7jv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575068/original/file-20240212-31-tgo7jv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575068/original/file-20240212-31-tgo7jv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575068/original/file-20240212-31-tgo7jv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A vet at the Aceh natural resources conservation agency in Indonesia inspects a rescued gibbon that was formerly kept as an exotic pet.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/vet-inspects-an-owa-or-white-handed-gibbon-at-the-aceh-news-photo/1216848394">Chaideer Mahyuddin/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Comment instead of sharing</h2>
<p>Many well-meaning <a href="https://theconversation.com/even-scientists-take-selfies-with-wild-animals-heres-why-they-shouldnt-61252">researchers and conservationists</a>, along with <a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/90906039/yellowstone-national-park-animal-selfies-danger-influencers-warning">members of the public</a>, have posted images of themselves near wild animals on social media. I did it too, before I understood the consequences. </p>
<p>Our findings indicate that caption information is not enough to keep people from seeking out animal encounters. As we see it, the answer is for researchers to stop taking and sharing these pictures with the general public. </p>
<p>When scientists create posts, we recommend selecting images that show only wildlife, in as natural a context as possible, or only people in the field – not both together. Researchers, conservationists and the public can go back through their social media history and delete or crop images that show human-wildlife interaction. </p>
<p>Scientists can also reach out to people who post images of humans interacting with wild animals, explain why the images can be harmful and suggest taking them down. Leading by example and sharing this information are simple actions that can save animals’ lives.</p>
<p><em><a href="https://www.cathrynfreund.com/">Cathryn Freund</a>, director of science communication at the Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science in Miami, contributed to this article.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220834/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrea l. DiGiorgio has received funding from The National Science Foundation and Princeton University. She is a participating member of the IUCN's SSC Primate Specialist Group Section on Human-Primate Interactions. </span></em></p>
The caption may say that only scientists and trained professionals should handle wild animals, but viewers remember the image, not the words.
Andrea L. DiGiorgio, Lecturer and Post Doctoral Researcher in Biological Anthropology, Princeton University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/214681
2023-12-27T09:11:10Z
2023-12-27T09:11:10Z
Selfies and social media: how tourists indulge their influencer fantasies
<p>A town in the US state of Vermont <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/vermont-town-banning-influencers-tourists-visiting-fall-foliage-rcna117413">closed its roads to tourists</a> in September 2023 after a social media tag sparked a swarm of visitors that overwhelmed the rural destination.</p>
<p>Videos on TikTok were seen by thousands and the hashtag #sleepyhollowfarm went viral, prompting a tourist rush to the pretty New England town of Pomfret, where visitors tried to take photos of themselves against the countryside backdrop. The town, famous for its fall foliage, criticised this as problematic and “influencer tourism”, part of <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160738320300426">a travel trend</a> where a social media phenomenon can spark an overwhelming and unexpected rise in visitor numbers.</p>
<p><a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0002764292036002005?casa_token=gQo4-8jeYdIAAAAA:Oq3Nf5gTtAFK7N00D1NgPO7_zl9ONlOEnzFZnojX6fX1nKXQWJZ4ERn52MlV3abn4fDN4_C4hJjq">Traditionally</a>, we think of tourists as travelling to gain new experiences. They look at sites, take photographs and collect souvenirs. However, this relationship between the tourist and touring is changing.</p>
<p>Driven by <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/how-instagram-changed-the-tourism-industry/a-65348690">24-hour access to social media</a>, some tourists now travel primarily to have an experience that <a href="https://www.americanexpress.com/en-us/travel/discover/get-inspired/Global-Travel-Trends">looks good online</a>. Around 75% of people in a recent American Express survey said they had been inspired to visit somewhere by social media. Some tourists may be prompted to choose a destination by seeing a <a href="https://www.elle.com/culture/travel-food/a27561982/best-instagram-spots/">backdrop that is popular on social media or on television</a>, in order to create a high-status photo.</p>
<p>The expansion of social media and ubiquity of smartphone cameras has had a <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/13/7312">major impact on tourists’ behaviour</a>. This has also led to what’s been called a <a href="https://www.traveldailynews.com/column/articles/who-are-the-selfie-gaze-tourists/">selfie “tourist gaze”</a>, creating photos where the traveller is at the forefront of images rather than the destination.</p>
<p>Indeed, according to my research, increasingly, some tourists go somewhere <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160738320300426">to be spotted</a> – to be observed by others both online and in person at these destinations. </p>
<h2>Looking for drama</h2>
<p>Studies have highlighted how tourists <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0261517715300388?casa_token=W51WkDKJSK8AAAAA:DG99dEWkyYKWIe6hNcLXR4KRApXV24QksHIzrRNcjVY3FngukDgIv9HLHG4o3NV4rqNJtdet">head for</a> particularly dramatic or luxurious destinations because of their social media links. Dubai, for example, with its bling culture and high-end shopping, has become a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/apr/17/in-this-world-social-media-is-everything-how-dubai-became-the-planets-influencer-capital">playground for influencers</a> looking for a luxury backdrop to add to their celebrity-style image. </p>
<p>Some tourists aim to photograph themselves in prestigious locations, rather than taking shots of their <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/13567667221113079?casa_token=xbdUjWECQvMAAAAA:mc4rqleOqgjazW9DAYduW7LaPTu4KEw1DIfbPbWF0vl0efwNPC_GQ0U-HjltguwsIsCoO4ycXgyW7Q">travel surroundings</a>. Others choose to <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160738320300426">act like mini-celebrities</a> and perform for the camera, expecting and wanting to be looked at by those they encounter – or even narrating their participation in extreme events.</p>
<p>One of these is the <a href="https://www.theadventurists.com/rickshaw-run/">Rickshaw Run</a>, a 2,000km race across India. This adventure tourism event encourages participants to dress up, act eccentrically and get noticed. Driving tuk-tuks around India, from Kerala to Darjeeling, vehicles are personalised with eye-catching designs. Many participants film themselves and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2p3wd0ii2oQ">upload the results</a> to social media, and the events tend to create a significant following. For instance, this YouTube video series created by Rickshaw Run participants drew 3.6m subscribers:</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2p3wd0ii2oQ?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Taking part in the Rickshaw Run.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>However, some of these tourist “performances” can cause controversy. For instance, <a href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/travel/mexico-tourist-beaten-with-stick-for-climbing-chichen-itza-pyramid/EL5KGLB4CNC5ZONNZCKAMX3LLE/">climbing over</a> fragile archaeological sites in search of social media content might damage them. <a href="https://www.unilad.com/news/russian-tourist-deported-nude-photo-bali-064402-20230330">Posing for laughs</a> in areas considered sacred can offend. The reducing of cultures to <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/selfie-tourists-get-up-easter-islanders-noses-sgfxdtkj7">backdrops for social media content</a> can suggest a lack of interest in or respect for hosts by tourists. </p>
<p>My research points to a growth in <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/09669582.2016.1263309">narcissism in society</a>, and connects this with what tourists desire from travel and how they act when travelling. This may be reflected in increased sense of entitlement and exhibitionism by tourists who aim to take photos in more difficult to reach locations or off-limit areas, for instance.</p>
<p>Selfie culture arguably promotes <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/09528822.2015.1082339?casa_token=tbsXw1drBAEAAAAA:qfSfJBbHWi3x8MSVeoyHBIceP7W_8C55rVctylf-2zRBzx-aG_EeFwvTmHHsOdjQpMd8LVaUrjSo">self-involvement rather than social responsibility</a>. It is well established that tourists <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/1368350050408668198?casa_token=K4p5aZCN8t4AAAAA:96p7f3qNu2WndpE-C-D0rs5mJaOlnJ5F6P4iXQlWQopseMGWuJ_5TiaFmRggxFsEjrMCoAr14Kn4">can be selfish</a>, putting their own comfort and entertainment ahead of concerns about local issues. This is especially true of the super-rich. Private jet users <a href="https://www.transportenvironment.org/discover/private-jets-can-the-super-rich-supercharge-zero-emission-aviation/">are responsible for</a> half of global aviation emissions.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/sustainable-tourism-needs-to-be-built-with-the-help-of-locals-211296">Sustainable tourism needs to be built with the help of locals</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>However, the desire to promote the individual and their values could be <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/09669582.2016.1263309">harnessed to promote</a> more sustainable tourism. Those volunteering abroad might be motivated by the image enhancement opportunities of doing good, but they often offer something back to the social and natural environments of <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/09669580903395030?casa_token=NvJorz8d1F4AAAAA:AXXTdW7ePimqFkWNg1W5w8umGCBwXIjus0WICRIoNZH_gsdr1hHomvMAQV21PYA2HkLwBGsO_Qus8g">their host destinations</a> in the process.</p>
<p>There are signs that there’s another tourism trend, with travellers looking for deep and meaningful experiences, and ecotourism could help provide those. The act of travelling in a <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09669582.2020.1825458">more environmentally friendly way</a> could also be seen as a way to show off, and still provide selfie material. </p>
<p>The environmental pros and cons of tourist self-obsession might be <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/09669582.2016.1263309">debatable</a>. However, self-fixation is arguably not good for tourists themselves. For example, the desire to “perform” on camera could affect people’s mental health, according to one <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/10253866.2018.1467318?casa_token=wI7sETKEKJAAAAAA:ebds6fykbyHAGSXIk9iv6-tyziFSIvganp32S65hiX8KeWlaQDwhPxF_2tWEgkNqssqd-SCE-w_3Eg">study</a>.</p>
<p>Research has shown that <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14616688.2012.762691?casa_token=Jb9SzAGXBD0AAAAA:L5Q-HhPs9jWtfm0Zq4nB0uFHrZ3W8N7o1Liq0KAIRqC4ivEhKyEexEZN-ACoz1qzm7CMqD96zXOm">unexpected encounters help tourists to gain self-insight</a>. In addition, getting out of your comfort zone can lead to <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213078020300074?casa_token=MkMbkdyr_cMAAAAA:LLu44kUbbsP5e-iW-kDdI7iSEo3WkLgH5IvKqb2txZA504q74J4OAhTuXIx8m90oDMSvuiq4Mg">rewarding personal growth</a>.</p>
<h2>A disconnect between self and place</h2>
<p>Taking yet more selfies could cut people off from their surroundings. In doing so, they could be <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016073831730097X?casa_token=tOaqrhfVQ-wAAAAA:uxb7djQMWjifvjjgPMZzbq2IQqlgoaGHzWoJkkGbQYQqkbZoeuOqLD91zqwBuWs1SfY7dcK4">less present in the travel experience itself</a>. Indeed, the <a href="https://english.elpais.com/usa/2021-10-29/rise-of-selfie-deaths-leads-experts-to-talk-about-a-public-health-problem.html">growing number</a> of <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2019/11/15/asia/french-man-selfie-death-intl-scli/index.html">selfie-related tourist deaths</a> might attest to a disconnect between self and place. A <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6131996/#:%7E:text=selfie-related%20deaths.-,From%20October%202011%20to%20November%202017%2C%20there%20have%20been%20259,respectively%2C%20in%202016%20and%202017">2018 report</a> estimated 259 deaths to have occurred while taking selfies between 2011-2017. </p>
<p>Other research suggests that individuals who are motivated by the desire to present a particular online image may be <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211973620301458?casa_token=-HkTUB7WC7cAAAAA:455BE0L2jP-CL1nD18__Ey3fj5GsLmYfKL_EB_P7IWa7lDddpJYIW3UIo5fUjg68e7Nvm7PUlTA#s0050">more likely to take risks</a> with their travel selfies, with potentially fatal consequences. </p>
<p>Tourists have always been somewhat self-obsessed. The 18th-century <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0160738385900027">Grand Tour</a>, a leisurely trip around Europe, allowed the wealthy to <a href="https://www.historyhit.com/what-was-the-grand-tour/">indulge themselves</a> in <a href="https://www.salon.com/2002/05/31/sultry/">ways</a> that might not have been socially acceptable back home. And at the beginning of the 21st century, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160738301000305?casa_token=C5eb2NJQvGsAAAAA:YrdY-xjJwBrUE9RjwyOJ3kRBS4-o7e5Jni5sluTCuZOrgnCULybO8EgJtQqsuSL7B5nZJwiH3Q#BIB37">academics worried about</a> self-involved backpacker communities in southeast Asia having little interest in mixing with local people. </p>
<p>What is different about smartphones and social media is that these allow some tourists to present such self-indulgent, and sometimes insensitive, tourism traits immediately. Wifi and mobile data mean that these tourists can travel with one eye on finding the perfect selfie backdrop – filtering and sharing their travel as it happens, responding to likes and comments.</p>
<p>For better or worse, living this influencer fantasy may have become an integral part of tourism for some time.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214681/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brendan Canavan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
The expansion of social media and ubiquity of smartphone cameras has had a major impact on tourists’ behaviour.
Brendan Canavan, Senior Lecturer in Marketing, University of Nottingham
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/212534
2023-12-19T19:01:42Z
2023-12-19T19:01:42Z
I’m a photographer who wanted to be more present in my life – so I put down the camera
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549477/original/file-20230921-27-uuwnze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=45%2C45%2C6001%2C8023&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/IHLhtCvwT-4"> Annie Spratt/Unsplash</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>At a recent electronic music performance, the English duo Rob Brown and Sean Booth, who perform as <a href="https://autechre.warp.net">Autechre</a>, plunged Sydney’s <a href="https://www.cityrecitalhall.com/whats-on/archive/switched-on-autechre/">City Recital Hall</a> into darkness.</p>
<p>Prior to the performance, I was made aware through the ticket information that the set would be played in the dark. This information made me eager to shut my eyes and completely immerse myself in a pure auditory experience. </p>
<p>However, I wasn’t prepared for the absence of the usual photographic opportunities that come with such events.</p>
<p>Capturing cultural events through smartphone snapshots has become almost instinctive. It’s a common sight to witness thousands of people with raised arms, recording performances for sharing on social media. </p>
<p>The phrase “pics or it didn’t happen” reflects the need to validate an experience by photographing it to share. Yet, in the context of the Autechre concert, this rule couldn’t be applied.</p>
<p>Like everyone else, I refrained from raising my phone to capture the performance, the stage or the light show simply because there were none. Not even the musicians were visible! Only the faint green glow of the emergency exit signs illuminated the recital hall. </p>
<p>Autechre offered not only an auditory feast but also respite from having yet another experience mediated through my phone. My need to photograph everything was thwarted for an hour of sonic bliss. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/10-months-and-hundreds-of-subjects-how-i-took-portrait-photography-to-the-streets-of-parramatta-189448">10 months and hundreds of subjects: how I took portrait photography to the streets of Parramatta</a>
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<hr>
<h2>Photography detox</h2>
<p>This departure from a vision-centric sensory experience was compelling. We are often absorbed in our screens and, if we aren’t, we are witnessing others engrossed in theirs. </p>
<p>This concert created a different communal presence. As I focused on my own auditory journey, I also attuned to the people around me. In the absence of smartphone distraction I wondered whether they felt a deep relief to have nothing to photograph.</p>
<p>The Autechre experience wasn’t like going to the movies, where phones are silenced and we swap the small screen of our smartphones with the big screen of cinema. There was no screen, no image – only sound. </p>
<p>I’m reminded of a period earlier this year when I decided to detox from photographing. The detox lasted two months. My aim was to get off my phone and be more present in my life. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549478/original/file-20230921-19-quaat1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Exit sign" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549478/original/file-20230921-19-quaat1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549478/original/file-20230921-19-quaat1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549478/original/file-20230921-19-quaat1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549478/original/file-20230921-19-quaat1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549478/original/file-20230921-19-quaat1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549478/original/file-20230921-19-quaat1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549478/original/file-20230921-19-quaat1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Only the faint green glow of the emergency exit signs illuminated the recital hall.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/-qCZyWrv7_s">Kent Banes/Unsplash</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A so-called photographer by profession, it was a challenging endeavour. But then again, we are all photographers today. I imagine it would be challenging for anyone, given how photographing as an act is deeply embedded in daily life and communication with others.</p>
<p>During the detox I observed how the absence of photographing affected me. It led me to quickly explore other forms of creative expression, such as writing lists and jotting down experiences in words. It was a valuable experience, replacing one artistic outlet with another.</p>
<p>The photography detox also shed light on the social aspects of photographing. As someone who actively shares photos on Instagram and sends daily pictures to my friends, I understood that not having new photos to share affected my sociability. I became quiet and withdrawn. </p>
<p>With my gregarious family humming with photo exchanges on WhatsApp, I found myself responding with emojis rather than photographic images. The detox revealed how I use photography to speak to others; how vital photographing is to expressing my personality.</p>
<p>It wasn’t just about photographing to remember; it was an impulse – a reflex triggered by excitement, anxiety, boredom or a need to connect. </p>
<p>I felt the same twitch to reach for my phone throughout the Autechre concert. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-are-photo-dumps-so-popular-a-digital-communications-expert-explains-210486">Why are 'photo dumps' so popular? A digital communications expert explains</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Completely unphotographable</h2>
<p>The late French philosopher Jean-Luc Nancy explored how listening turns us inward, while sight directs us outward. In his 2007 essay <a href="https://www.fordhampress.com/9780823227730/listening/">Listening</a> Nancy asks: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Why, in the case of the ear, is there withdrawal and turning inward, a making <em>resonant</em>, but, in the case of the eye, there is manifestation and display, making <em>evident</em>? </p>
</blockquote>
<p>This question resonates deeply with the concert experience. Autechre provided a forced blackout and an hour to listen without the burden of having to “evidence” myself listening. </p>
<p>The lack of photo ops reminds me of Daniel Libeskind’s architectural provocation <a href="https://www.jmberlin.de/en/audio-voided-void">Voided Void</a>, or Holocaust Tower, in Berlin’s Jewish Museum. Visitors enter the tower in small groups, and the irregularly shaped claustrophobic space is closed off by a heavy door. Once inside, we were left in complete darkness, with only a sliver of light filtering in from the ceiling. </p>
<p>In this concrete chamber, every sound was magnified, my heart beat louder and faster, the sound of my shoes on the floor echoed I was alive. My camera was useless. </p>
<p>The Autechre concert encapsulated what the controlled absence of photography and visual stimulus affords. I found myself immersed in complex sounds and literally feeling the physical vibrations of the bass. </p>
<p>With nothing to see with my eyes, I had nothing to photograph. The experience was akin to deep meditation. This made me realise that, despite the lack of sociability experienced during my photo detox, taking photos rarely takes me inward. </p>
<p>I also admit that I was among those who frantically photographed the previous act and the stage manager who stood under a photogenic light when instructing us to go to the bathroom before Autechre’s piece. </p>
<p>I also saw people photographing the concert poster near the box office. How else were they to evidence where they’d been and what they’d seen? In the arts, creating visual content that is photogenic and Instagrammable is the norm. </p>
<p>Autechre were radical in creating an artwork that was totally ephemeral and completely unphotographable.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212534/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cherine Fahd does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
A photographer by profession, this year I decided to detox from photographing. The detox lasted two months. My aim was to get off my phone and be more present in my life.
Cherine Fahd, Associate Professor Visual Communication, University of Technology Sydney
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/219210
2023-12-06T16:27:39Z
2023-12-06T16:27:39Z
Elliott Erwitt: Jewish photographer who fled fascism and spread a little joy in a post-WWII world
<p>“Photography has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them,” Elliott Erwitt once said.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.magnumphotos.com/photographer/elliott-erwitt/">Erwitt</a>, who was one of the most celebrated photographers of the 20th century, died on November 30 at the age of 95. In a career spanning more than 70 years, his witty, gentle and beautifully observed images beguiled generations of admirers and propelled him to become one of the best known – and <a href="https://www.blind-magazine.com/en/news/elliott-erwitt-master-photographer-from-magnum-photos-dies-at-95/">well paid</a> – photographers of the 20th century. </p>
<p>Born Elio Romano Erwitz in Paris in 1925 to Jewish-Russian parents, he migrated with his family to the US in 1939 to escape the fascism spreading across Europe as war broke out.</p>
<p>He taught himself photography at school and by 1950 – now as Elliott Erwitt – he was commissioned by the US government to <a href="https://www.worldphoto.org/blogs/08-08-17/finding-lost-negatives-young-elliott-erwitt">produce a photo essay</a> that <a href="https://www.magnumphotos.com/newsroom/society/elliott-erwitt-pittsburgh/">documented mid-century Pittsburgh</a>. </p>
<p>In 1953, legendary <a href="https://www.magnumphotos.com/photographer/robert-capa/">war photographer Robert Capa</a> invited Erwitt to join <a href="https://www.magnumphotos.com/">Magnum</a>. It was the world’s first photo agency, founded in 1947 by four European photographers including Capa, <a href="https://www.magnumphotos.com/photographer/henri-cartier-bresson/">Henri Cartier-Bresson</a>, <a href="https://www.magnumphotos.com/photographer/george-rodger/">George Rodger</a> and <a href="https://www.magnumphotos.com/photographer/david-seymour/">David “Chim” Seymour</a>.</p>
<p>The agency popularised the term “photojournalism” and produced work to satisfy the insatiable demand for images produced on small, handheld cameras like the <a href="https://www.kenrockwell.com/leica/screw-mount/iiif.htm">35mm Leica</a>. As a Magnum photographer Erwitt went on to take pictures for LIFE magazine and many other publications during that golden era of illustrated journals.</p>
<h2>Working with the greats</h2>
<p>Capa and Cartier-Bresson had a profound influence on the young Erwitt. Capa <a href="https://www.life.com/photographer/robert-capa/">redefined war photography</a> by following his own <a href="https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2021/07/29/if-your-pictures-arent-good-enough-youre-not-close-enough-vintage-prints-by-war-photographer-robert-capa-to-headline-photo-london">guiding principle</a> that “if your pictures aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough”. </p>
<p>Cartier-Bresson influenced Erwitt through his pursuit of geometric compositional methods and exploration of “the decisive moment”: the concept of the critical moment to press the shutter. This is seen in one of his most famous photographs, <a href="https://www.moma.org/collection/works/98333">Behind the Gare St Lazare</a> (1932), capturing a stocky man leaping over a large puddle, exquisitely mirrored by his reflection.</p>
<p>Erwitt’s work straddled commercial photography, photojournalism and personal work that he made on his way to and from the studio. He said that distinctions between commercial and personal work were less important than the similarities. He employed techniques such as bold graphic composition, humorous and ironic juxtapositions and storytelling through use of the “decisive moment”. </p>
<h2>Lucky breaks and a good eye</h2>
<p>It was in 1959, while working for Westinghouse Refrigerators at a trade fair in Moscow, that Erwitt had the opportunity to take his world-famous photograph of then US vice-president <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Richard-Nixon">Richard Nixon</a> <a href="https://www.artsy.net/artwork/elliott-erwitt-moscow-nikita-khrushchev-and-richard-nixon-1">jabbing a finger into the chest</a> of Soviet leader <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Nikita-Sergeyevich-Khrushchev">Nikita Khrushchev</a>.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VvKVU6iuvxk?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
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<p>In a single moment, Erwitt created an image that symbolised the tensions between Russia and the US – and it was published all over the world. To an American audience it represented the US standing up to Soviet aggression. For audiences in the Soviet Union it was a symbol of American intimidation.</p>
<p>Like French humanist photographer <a href="https://www.robert-doisneau.com/en/robert-doisneau/">Robert Doisneau</a>, Erwitt was not beyond employing an element of staging in his personal pictures. This becomes evident when comparing Doisneau’s picture <a href="https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20170213-the-iconic-photo-that-symbolises-love">The Kiss by the Hôtel de Ville</a> (1950) and Erwitt’s <a href="https://www.magnumphotos.com/shop/collections/elliott-erwitt/16-california-1956-california-kiss/">California Kiss</a> (1956).</p>
<p>Both images have become an indelible part of the visual language of 20th century photography and arguably, the wider culture, through print sales, postcards and publication.</p>
<p>It is this element of organised visual storytelling, combined with his undoubted skill with the camera that resulted in Erwitt creating such well known and celebrated images. He must also have been keenly aware of the commercial possibilities when choosing his subjects.</p>
<p>He <a href="https://www.magnumphotos.com/shop/collections/fine-prints/18-new-york-city-1974-dog-legs/">photographed dogs and their owners frequently</a>, making five very popular books on the subject, <a href="https://www.holdenluntz.com/magazine/photo-spotlight/elliott-erwitt-dogs/">saying</a>: “I take a lot of pictures of dogs because I like dogs, because they don’t object to being photographed, and because they don’t ask for prints.”</p>
<p>His photographs have become much more widely known and valued than some of his contemporaries. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2023/nov/28/larry-fink-dead-photographer">Larry Fink</a>, another American photographer who died five days before Erwitt, for example, received far fewer column inches in praise of his grittier, social documentary pictures. </p>
<h2>Telling stories</h2>
<p>Erwitt was both a gifted visual storyteller and hugely successful commercially. He reached audiences beyond the illustrated magazines, the art world and the photojournalism of newspapers. His work – if not necessarily his name – became known to the general public in the US and beyond, a feat not achieved by his contemporaries <a href="https://www.icp.org/browse/archive/constituents/william-klein?all/all/all/all/0">William Klein</a>, <a href="https://www.icp.org/browse/archive/constituents/robert-frank?all/all/all/all/0">Robert Frank</a> or even the recently discovered <a href="https://www.vivianmaier.com/about-vivian-maier/">Vivian Maier</a>.</p>
<p>The breadth and financial success of Erwitt’s work across several genres remains an inspiration to the generation of photographers who have followed. British photographer <a href="https://www.magnumphotos.com/photographer/martin-parr/">Martin Parr</a>, for example, like Erwitt uses humour, juxtaposition and a very identifiable style to great effect. He is also a member and, like Erwitt, a former president of Magnum.</p>
<p>Other British photographers who might be said to owe a debt of gratitude to him would be <a href="https://www.mattstuart.com/">Matt Stuart</a>, who has published several books of his own street photography and <a href="https://www.dougiewallace.com/well-healed">Dougie Wallace</a>, who has made two successful books with dogs as the subject. </p>
<p>In many ways, it would be impossible to repeat the success of Elliott Erwitt. His career could only have flourished in post-war New York. He helped to define what the city’s creative culture was and would be in the aftermath of the second world war.</p>
<p>The idea of “humanist photography” was readily consumed by a war-weary generation. The addition of humour and uncontroversial subject matter found a ready audience who were captivated by his superlative and often humourous <a href="https://www.magnumphotos.com/arts-culture/art/elliott-erwitt-the-art-of-looking-at-art/">photographic storytelling techniques</a>.</p>
<p>Elliott Erwitt’s deeply human images have endured over decades and still find favour with photographers and the public alike today – because we all recognise and enjoy a virtuoso performance when we see one.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
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<p><em>Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/something-good-156">Sign up here</a>.</em></p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/219210/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Graeme Oxby does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
His witty, gentle and beautifully observed images propelled Erwitt to become one of the best-loved photographers of the 20th century.
Graeme Oxby, Senior Lecturer/Programme Leader BA & MA Photography, University of Lincoln
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/217926
2023-11-26T19:20:31Z
2023-11-26T19:20:31Z
Casual, distant, aesthetically limited: 5 ways smartphone photography is changing how we see the world
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560139/original/file-20231117-28-ysib4m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=428%2C169%2C3017%2C1961&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">T.J. Thomson</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Smartphones are a staple of modern life and are changing how we see the world and show it to others. Almost <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/321477/smartphone-user-penetration-in-australia/">90% of Aussies own one</a>, and we spend an average of <a href="https://www.reviews.org/au/mobile/2022-mobile-phone-usage-statistics/#:%7E:text=How%20much%20do%20you%20spend,day%20compared%20to%20last%20year">5.6 hours</a> using them each day. Smartphones are also responsible for more than <a href="https://photutorial.com/photos-statistics/">90% of all the photographs</a> made this year. </p>
<p>But compare the camera roll of a 60-year-old with that of a 13-year-old, as we recently did, and you’ll find some surprising differences. In <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1051144X.2023.2281163?src=">research published in the Journal of Visual Literacy</a>, we looked at how different generations use smartphones for photography as well as broader trends that reveal how these devices change the way we see the world. </p>
<p>Here are five patterns we observed.</p>
<h2>1. We make images more casually and with a wider subject matter</h2>
<p>Before the first smartphone camera was released in 2007, cameras were used more selectively and for a narrower range of purposes. You might only see them at events like weddings and graduations, or at tourist hotspots on holidays. </p>
<p>Now, they’re ubiquitous in everyday life. We use smartphones to document our meals, our daily gym progress, and our classwork as well as the more “special” moments in our lives.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A triptych of everyday photos showing a meal, a book, and a bottle of medicine." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560069/original/file-20231116-17-j2pkgt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560069/original/file-20231116-17-j2pkgt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=264&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560069/original/file-20231116-17-j2pkgt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=264&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560069/original/file-20231116-17-j2pkgt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=264&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560069/original/file-20231116-17-j2pkgt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=332&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560069/original/file-20231116-17-j2pkgt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=332&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560069/original/file-20231116-17-j2pkgt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=332&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In the old days cameras only came out for special occasions, but we now tend to use our smartphones to document a wider range of subject matter, including our most recent meal, something we see and want to add to our shopping wish list, or an item at the shops that we want to confirm with a family member.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">T.J. Thomson</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Many middle-aged people use smartphones most for work-related purposes. One of our participants put it this way:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I often take photos of info I want to save, or of clients’ work when I want to then email it to myself to put on the computer. I feel like I’ve gotten a little slack on socially taking photos of friends … but in the day-to-day, I feel like I use it very practically now for basically work, grabbing a photo to upload it online somewhere.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>2. We aren’t as selfie-obsessed as some would think</h2>
<p>Our participants only used their phone’s front “selfie” camera 14% of the time. They acknowledged the stigma around selfies and didn’t want to be perceived as narcissistic.</p>
<h2>3. We’re seeing more vertical compositions</h2>
<p>In years past, whether you had a bulky DSLR camera or a lightweight disposable, the “default” grip was to hold it with two hands in a horizontal way. This leads to photos in landscape orientation. </p>
<p>But the vertical design of smartphones and accompanying apps, such as Instagram and Snapchat, are resulting in more photos in portrait orientation. Participants said holding their smartphone cameras this way was more convenient and faster. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560072/original/file-20231116-26-acgst3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Screenshots from Instagram, X, and Snapchat, showing photos with a vertical orientation or portrait aspect ratio." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560072/original/file-20231116-26-acgst3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560072/original/file-20231116-26-acgst3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560072/original/file-20231116-26-acgst3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560072/original/file-20231116-26-acgst3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560072/original/file-20231116-26-acgst3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560072/original/file-20231116-26-acgst3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560072/original/file-20231116-26-acgst3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The vertical design of smartphones and associated popular social media apps, such as Snapchat, Instagram, and X, influences how people use their smartphone cameras.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Instagram / X / Snapchat</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>4. We like to keep our distance</h2>
<p>Participants made more images of people from farther away compared to getting close. Intimate “head and face” framing was only present in fewer than 10% of the images. </p>
<p>In one participant’s words:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I feel like my friends and I get frustrated with parents, when they’re zooming in a photo or they walk in really close. My mom would always get one like right in my face, like <em>this is too close!</em> I don’t want to see this. The zoom in, oh, it’s frustrating!</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>5. We get inspired by what we see online</h2>
<p>Teenagers in particular mentioned social media, especially Instagram, as influencing their visual sensibilities. Older adults were more likely to attribute their sense of aesthetics to physical media, such as photography books, magazines and posters. </p>
<p>This aesthetic inspiration impacts what we take photos of, and also how we do it. For example, young people mentioned a centred compositional approach most often. In contrast, older generations invoked the “rule of thirds” approach more often.</p>
<p>One participant contrasted generational differences like this:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>There seems to be a real lack of interest [by younger people] in say, composition, or the use of light or that sort of aesthetic side of getting an image. When my partner and I were kids […] our access to different aesthetics and images was actually very limited. You had the four channels on TV, you had magazines, you had the occasional film, you had record covers, and that was it, you know. Whereas, kids these days, they’re saturated with images but the aesthetic aspect doesn’t seem to be that important to them.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Why the way we make images matters</h2>
<p>While technology is changing the way people see the world and make photographs, it’s important to reflect on why we do what we do, and with what effects. </p>
<p>For example, the camera angle we use might either give or take away symbolic power from the subject. Photographing an athlete or politician from below makes them look more strong and heroic, while photographing a refugee from above can make them look less powerful. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two photos: one taken from a low angle looking up at a posing skateboarder, the other taken from a standing height looking down at three people sitting on the ground at the base of a wall." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560081/original/file-20231116-29-i6ltod.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560081/original/file-20231116-29-i6ltod.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560081/original/file-20231116-29-i6ltod.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560081/original/file-20231116-29-i6ltod.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560081/original/file-20231116-29-i6ltod.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=558&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560081/original/file-20231116-29-i6ltod.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=558&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560081/original/file-20231116-29-i6ltod.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=558&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The vertical camera angle can sometimes be used pragmatically but sometimes connotes symbolic power differences. The low angle of the athlete at left provides more symbolic power than the high angle of the three figures at right.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Vladislav Todorov via Unsplash (left) / Aleksandr Kadykov via Unsplash (right)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Sometimes the camera angles we use are harmless or driven by practicality – think photographing a receipt to get reimbursed later – but other times, the angles we use matter and can reinforce existing inequalities.</p>
<p>As the number of images made each year increases and <a href="https://theconversation.com/ageism-sexism-classism-and-more-7-examples-of-bias-in-ai-generated-images-208748">new ways to make images</a> emerge, being thoughtful about how we use our cameras or other image-making technology becomes more important.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217926/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The research underpinning this article was supported by a research grant from the International Visual Literacy Association. T.J. Thomson receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>The research underpinning this article was supported by a research grant from the International Visual Literacy Association. Shehab Uddin is affiliated with Pathshala South Asian Media Institute.
. </span></em></p>
Camera rolls reveal how photography is transforming in the smartphone era.
T.J. Thomson, Senior Lecturer in Visual Communication & Digital Media, RMIT University
Shehab Uddin, Programme Director, Higher Degree Research, Pathshala South Asian Media Institute
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/214551
2023-10-13T01:40:42Z
2023-10-13T01:40:42Z
Photography: Real and Imagined at the NGV – a huge and dazzling exhibition that reexamines our thinking
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553440/original/file-20231012-17-erd11r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C2787%2C1856&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Installation view of Patrick Pound’s People who look dead but (probably) aren’t 2011–2014 on display in Photography: Real & Imagined at The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia from October 13 2023 – February 4 2024. Photo: Lillie Thompson</span> </figcaption></figure><p>Photography is <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_photography">almost 200 years old</a> and Photography: Real and Imagined at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) can be interpreted as an attempt to make sense of its history. </p>
<p>A huge and dazzling exhibition containing 311 photographs, the basic thesis of this exhibition is that some photographs record an actuality, others are purely a product of the photographer’s imagination, while many are a mixture of the two. </p>
<p>The parameters of the exhibition are determined, in part, by the holdings of the NGV collection and, in part, by the perspective adopted by the curator, the erudite and long-serving senior curator of photography at the NGV, Susan Van Wyk. </p>
<p>Mercifully, the curator has not opted for a linear chronological approach from daguerreotypes to digital, although both are included in the exhibition, but has devised 21 diverse thematic categories, for example light, environment, death, conflict, work, play and consumption. </p>
<h2>Australian artists, international context</h2>
<p>The categories have porous boundaries. Even with the assistance of the 420-page book catalogue, it is difficult to determine why Michael Riley’s profoundly moving photograph of a dead galah shown against the cracked earth belongs to the environment theme instead of death; why Rosemary Laing’s Welcome to Australia image of a detention camp belongs to movement, instead of being in community, conflict or narrative. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553584/original/file-20231012-19-751mc3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553584/original/file-20231012-19-751mc3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553584/original/file-20231012-19-751mc3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553584/original/file-20231012-19-751mc3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553584/original/file-20231012-19-751mc3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553584/original/file-20231012-19-751mc3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553584/original/file-20231012-19-751mc3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553584/original/file-20231012-19-751mc3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Installation view of Photography: Real & Imagined on display at The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia from October 13 2023 – February 4 2024. Photo: Lillie Thompson.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I felt that there was a perceived need to somehow organise the material, and the broad thematic structure allows the viewer to develop some sort of mega-narrative for the show.</p>
<p>There is also evident a desire to create an international context within which to display the work of Australian photographers. </p>
<p>It is indeed a very rich cross-section of Australian photographers assembled in this exhibition. This is not an Anglo-American construct of the history of photography; Australian photographers are presented together with New Zealanders and their Asian contemporaries. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553585/original/file-20231012-25-dggj4a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553585/original/file-20231012-25-dggj4a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553585/original/file-20231012-25-dggj4a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553585/original/file-20231012-25-dggj4a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553585/original/file-20231012-25-dggj4a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553585/original/file-20231012-25-dggj4a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553585/original/file-20231012-25-dggj4a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553585/original/file-20231012-25-dggj4a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Installation view of Photography: Real & Imagined on display at The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia from October 13 2023 – February 4 2024. Photo: Lillie Thompson.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Although the NGV boasts of having the first curatorial <a href="https://photocurating.net/timeline/">department of photography</a> in any gallery in Australia, in the department’s 55-year history there remain serious lacunae in the collection. </p>
<p>For example, Russian constructivist photographers, including Aleksandr Rodchenko, who, as far as I am aware, in the NGV collection is represented by a <a href="https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/artist/30961/">single small booklet</a>, but looms large in any account of the history of photography as presented by the British, European and American museums. Eastern European photographers are also generally underrepresented. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-10-photography-exhibitions-that-defined-australia-166755">Friday essay: 10 photography exhibitions that defined Australia</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Key moments, and surprises</h2>
<p>This exhibition combines the iconic with the new and the unexpected. </p>
<p>The expected key moments in the history of photography are generally all present with the roll-call of names including Dora Maar, Man Ray, André Kertész, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Dorothea Lange, Eadweard Muybridge, Bill Brandt, Lee Miller and László Moholy-Nagy. </p>
<p>They are all included in the exhibition and are represented through their iconic pieces. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553578/original/file-20231012-25-avdskc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553578/original/file-20231012-25-avdskc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553578/original/file-20231012-25-avdskc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553578/original/file-20231012-25-avdskc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553578/original/file-20231012-25-avdskc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553578/original/file-20231012-25-avdskc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553578/original/file-20231012-25-avdskc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553578/original/file-20231012-25-avdskc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Henri Cartier Bresson, Juvisy, France 1938; printed 1990s. Gelatin silver photograph 29.1 x 43.9 cm (image). National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. Purchased NGV Foundation, 2015. © Henri Cartier-Bresson / Magnum Photos. Photo: Nicholas Umek / NGV.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Henri Cartier Bresson’s Juvisy (1938), colloquially known as Sunday on the banks of the Marne, is an intentionally subversive image by this left-wing radical photographer. </p>
<p>This image, made at the height of the Great Depression, shows a victory by France’s popular left-wing government that legislated in 1936 the entitlement for French workers to have two weeks of paid vacation. Here the working class is enjoying a picnic at Juvisy, just to the south of Paris. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553581/original/file-20231012-17-t1uccj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553581/original/file-20231012-17-t1uccj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553581/original/file-20231012-17-t1uccj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=607&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553581/original/file-20231012-17-t1uccj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=607&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553581/original/file-20231012-17-t1uccj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=607&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553581/original/file-20231012-17-t1uccj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=763&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553581/original/file-20231012-17-t1uccj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=763&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553581/original/file-20231012-17-t1uccj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=763&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dorothea Lange, Towards Los Angeles, California 1936; printed c. 1975. Gelatin silver photograph 39.6 x 39.1 cm (image); 40.8 x 50.5 cm (sheet). National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. Purchased, 1975 © Library of Congress, FSA Collection. Photo: Predrag Cancar / NGV.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At about the same time, Dorothea Lange’s Towards Los Angeles, California (1936) contrasts the anguish of the unemployed trekking in search of work and a billboard advertising the comforts of train travel. An aphorism ascribed to her sums us much of her work: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Bad as it is, the world is potentially full of good photographs. But to be good, photographs have to be full of the world.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Man Ray’s Kiki with African mask (1926) is one of the most famous photographs in the world, also known as Noire et blanche (Black and White). The surrealist artist juxtaposes the elongated face of his Muse and mistress, Kiki (Alice Prin), with her eyes closed with that of a black African ceremonial mask. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553582/original/file-20231012-21-gznf86.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553582/original/file-20231012-21-gznf86.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553582/original/file-20231012-21-gznf86.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553582/original/file-20231012-21-gznf86.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553582/original/file-20231012-21-gznf86.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553582/original/file-20231012-21-gznf86.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=575&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553582/original/file-20231012-21-gznf86.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=575&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553582/original/file-20231012-21-gznf86.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=575&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Man Ray, Kiki with African mask, 1926. Gelatin silver photograph 21.1 x 27.6 cm (image); 22.1 x 28.5 cm (sheet). National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. Purchased through The Art Foundation of Victoria with the assistance of Miss Flora MacDonald Anderson and Mrs Ethel Elizabeth Ogilvy Lumsden, Founder Benefactors, 1983. © MAN RAY TRUST / ADAGP, Paris. Licensed by Copyright Agency, Australia. Photo: Helen Oliver-Skuse / NGV.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The photograph was <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/507505?typeAccessWorkflow=login">controversial</a> when it was first published and continues to be controversial to the present day.</p>
<p>There are also numerous modern classics in the exhibition, including Pat Brassington’s Rosa (2014), Polly Borlan’s Untitled (2018), from MORPH series 2018 and Robyn Stacey’s Nothing to see here (2019), that can all be viewed as edging into the realm of the uncanny. Beyond the façade of the familiar, we are invited to enter an unexpected world. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553586/original/file-20231012-29-t81g4t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553586/original/file-20231012-29-t81g4t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553586/original/file-20231012-29-t81g4t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553586/original/file-20231012-29-t81g4t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553586/original/file-20231012-29-t81g4t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553586/original/file-20231012-29-t81g4t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553586/original/file-20231012-29-t81g4t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553586/original/file-20231012-29-t81g4t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Installation view of Polly Borland’s Untitled 2018 from MORPH series 2018 on display in Photography: Real & Imagined at The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia from October 13 2023 – February 4 2024. Photo: Lillie Thompson.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Reinterpreting our world</h2>
<p>Photography’s reputation of creating a trustworthy facsimile of the real had long been eroded, even before the creation of digital software. There is an old adage, “paintings sometimes deceive, but photographs always lie” – precisely because there was a perception that they could not lie.</p>
<p>One of the most intriguing works in the exhibition is by the New Zealand-born photographer Patrick Pound, titled Pictures of people who look dead, but (probably) aren’t (2011–14). It is a sprawling installation of mainly found photographs where the audience is invited to create a life and death narrative.</p>
<p>Photography: Real and Imagined reexamines our thinking about the art of photography and explores photography’s ability to recreate and reinterpret our world. </p>
<p><em>Photography: Real and Imagined is at the Ian Potter Centre, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, until February 4 2024.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/can-a-photograph-change-the-world-204648">Can a photograph change the world?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214551/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sasha Grishin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Photography: Real and Imagined at the National Gallery of Victoria can be interpreted as an attempt to make sense of photography’s history.
Sasha Grishin, Adjunct Professor of Art History, Australian National University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/212267
2023-09-11T01:04:45Z
2023-09-11T01:04:45Z
The persistence of nature, the movement of water, the rigidity of walls: photographer Zoe Leonard documents the US–Mexico border
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547381/original/file-20230911-21-58ra8j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=5%2C0%2C1832%2C1248&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Al río/To the River (detail) © Zoe Leonard.</span> </figcaption></figure><p>For Zoe Leonard, photography is not just about using a camera. Photography is also about a way of thinking, seeing and interacting. </p>
<p>This focus continues in her recent series Al río/To the River at the <a href="https://www.mca.com.au/artists-works/exhibitions/zoe-leonard-al-rio-to-the-river/">Museum of Contemporary Art</a>. </p>
<p>An American artist who works across photography, sculpture and installation, Leonard’s work is wide-ranging in theme but always finely attuned to the role of photography in how the world is ordered and understood. </p>
<p>Interested in the role of photography in mapping and archiving, Leonard often turns her camera towards the uneventful and the everyday. </p>
<p>Leonard has photographed <a href="https://whitney.org/collection/works/25578">bricked up houses</a>, with windows and doors closed up; and the trunks of trees <a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/leonard-tree-fence-6th-st-close-up-p79208">pressing</a> against fences. In <a href="https://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/1477">Analogue</a> (1998–2009), she observes the changing urban fabric of New York and the global movement of recycled objects and textiles in secondhand market stalls. </p>
<p>Queer politics also informs her work. Strange Fruit (1992-1997), a collection of fruit skins sewn together with thread, zippers and buttons, engages with <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfD8iWicHB4">loss, mourning and repair</a> – an acknowledgement of the many who died in the early days of the AIDS crisis, including many of Leonard’s friends. </p>
<p>She is most famous, perhaps, for <a href="https://whitney.org/collection/works/62454">I want a president</a>, a work she typed out in 1992. This work was given new life as a large scale <a href="https://www.thehighline.org/art/projects/zoeleonard/">installation on the New York highline</a> during the 2016 US election, the same year Leonard began photographing the Rio Bravo/Rio Grande. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-photography-can-reveal-overlook-and-manipulate-truth-the-fearless-work-of-australian-iranian-artist-hoda-afshar-211994">How photography can reveal, overlook and manipulate truth: the fearless work of Australian Iranian artist Hoda Afshar</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Movement and displacement</h2>
<p>Al río/To the River surveys the stretch of river known as Rio Grande in the United States and the Rio Bravo in Mexico. The river marks the <a href="https://theconversation.com/bidens-answer-to-mexican-border-crisis-might-slow-crossings-but-is-not-winning-support-210652">politically contentious border</a> between the US and Mexico. Al río/To the River consists of photographs taken between 2016–2022 along the expanse of this river/border, but it is not straightforward documentary. </p>
<p>The images in Al río/To the River imply narratives about movement and displacement. They suggest the underlying hum of surveillance, industry and commerce. They observe the persistence of trees, soil and birds and the movement of water, as well as the rigidity of walls and bridges. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547383/original/file-20230911-184-n5os9t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Border marker." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547383/original/file-20230911-184-n5os9t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547383/original/file-20230911-184-n5os9t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=882&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547383/original/file-20230911-184-n5os9t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=882&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547383/original/file-20230911-184-n5os9t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=882&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547383/original/file-20230911-184-n5os9t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1109&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547383/original/file-20230911-184-n5os9t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1109&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547383/original/file-20230911-184-n5os9t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1109&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Al río/To the River (detail) © Zoe Leonard.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Like much of Leonard’s work, human subjects are often not directly represented. Instead, their presence and stories are felt through objects, structures, detritus. </p>
<p>In one image Leonard gives us the afterlife of a cleaning broom, resting at the border. The broom suggests the labour of cleaning, of workers who constantly negotiate the barrier between the two countries. </p>
<p>The exhibition is a complex portrait of the border that trades in traces. In one sequence of images Leonard focuses on the tyre and rake marks left on soil by patrol cars. Another image presents discarded tyres attached to rope, used by border patrol to flatten soil ready to reveal the footprints of fleeing bodies. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547384/original/file-20230911-23-g69bsi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Tires on the dirt." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547384/original/file-20230911-23-g69bsi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547384/original/file-20230911-23-g69bsi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547384/original/file-20230911-23-g69bsi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547384/original/file-20230911-23-g69bsi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547384/original/file-20230911-23-g69bsi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547384/original/file-20230911-23-g69bsi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547384/original/file-20230911-23-g69bsi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Al río/To the River (detail) © Zoe Leonard.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Another sequence of black and white photographs observes the lines of an agricultural field, and a flock of birds taking flight. By the end of the sequence the birds in flight almost fill the frame. </p>
<p>These moments of beauty and movement provide relief from other photographs which document the rigidity of fences and walls, the sharpness of barbed wire. </p>
<p>There is no singular vision here of the river. There is harshness as well as beauty, surveillance and flight. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547150/original/file-20230908-19-xpasvv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547150/original/file-20230908-19-xpasvv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547150/original/file-20230908-19-xpasvv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547150/original/file-20230908-19-xpasvv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547150/original/file-20230908-19-xpasvv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547150/original/file-20230908-19-xpasvv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547150/original/file-20230908-19-xpasvv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547150/original/file-20230908-19-xpasvv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Al río/To the River (detail) © Zoe Leonard.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/crossing-the-us-mexico-border-is-deadlier-than-ever-for-migrants-heres-why-186632">Crossing the US-Mexico border is deadlier than ever for migrants – here's why</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Fragments of a whole</h2>
<p>While most of the modestly-scaled photographs are gelatin black and white prints, there are also some colour photographs. The colour appears in a sequence of photographs of bright pink flowers blooming on the ground and a set of close-up photographs of the river’s churning brown water. </p>
<p>At the end of the exhibition a series of iPhone photographs document a live-feed on Leonard’s laptop witnessing people migrating across a bridge. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547155/original/file-20230908-19-g91vwo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547155/original/file-20230908-19-g91vwo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547155/original/file-20230908-19-g91vwo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547155/original/file-20230908-19-g91vwo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547155/original/file-20230908-19-g91vwo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547155/original/file-20230908-19-g91vwo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547155/original/file-20230908-19-g91vwo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547155/original/file-20230908-19-g91vwo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Al río/To the River (detail) © Zoe Leonard.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>All these photographs need to be understood cumulatively: each a layer or fragment of a more complex picture. </p>
<p>Leonard’s vantage point is unfixed, shifting. Leonard photographed from both sides of the river. Sometimes she pointed her camera skyward at ominous hovering helicopters. At other times she observes what is at her feet, or the cars queuing ahead of her at border checkpoints. </p>
<p>These vantage points are, of course, Leonard’s own. She emphasises this through her choice not to crop out the black edge of the negative. This thin black frame from the unexposed edge of negative film is a reminder these photographs do not give us direct access to the river/border. Our access is mediated – framed – by Leonard’s camera and position. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547152/original/file-20230908-17-7xrh0v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547152/original/file-20230908-17-7xrh0v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547152/original/file-20230908-17-7xrh0v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547152/original/file-20230908-17-7xrh0v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547152/original/file-20230908-17-7xrh0v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547152/original/file-20230908-17-7xrh0v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547152/original/file-20230908-17-7xrh0v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547152/original/file-20230908-17-7xrh0v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Al río/To the River (detail) © Zoe Leonard.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The lens flare on one image reminds us these images are the result of a relationship between a lens, the sun and Leonard’s finger on the camera’s shutter. </p>
<p>Al río/To the River is organised around a suite of rooms, and structured into passages which reflect the flow of the river it observes. The exhibition offers a spatial experience as much as a visual one.</p>
<p>In one room the windows reveal Sydney Harbour, which connects to a river with its own <a href="https://www.ourlivingriver.com.au/learn-more/history-of-the-river">complex history</a>. A wall in the same room is covered with a grid of 34 photographs: an echo of the photographic contact sheet, again showing how Leonard brings into conversation the matter, form and scale of photography with questions about the politics of looking.</p>
<p><em>Zoe Leonard: Al río / To the River is at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, until November 5.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-a-better-vision-for-the-us-mexico-border-make-the-rio-grande-grand-again-73111">Here's a better vision for the US-Mexico border: Make the Rio Grande grand again</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Image caption: Zoe Leonard, Al río/To the River (detail) 2016–2022 gelatin silver prints, C-prints and inkjet prints. Production supported by Mudam Luxembourg–Musée d'Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris, Paris Musées, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, Galerie Gisela Capitain and Hauser & Wirth. Image courtesy the artist, Galerie Gisela Capitain, and Hauser & Wirth © Zoe Leonard</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212267/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jane Simon does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
For Zoe Leonard, photography is not just about using a camera. Photography is also about a way of thinking, seeing and interacting.
Jane Simon, Senior Lecturer in Media, Macquarie University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/211994
2023-09-08T01:07:55Z
2023-09-08T01:07:55Z
How photography can reveal, overlook and manipulate truth: the fearless work of Australian Iranian artist Hoda Afshar
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546575/original/file-20230906-27-5xaf8v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=5%2C11%2C3988%2C3245&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Hoda Afshar 'Untitled #88', from the series 'Speak the wind' 2015–22, pigment photographic print, 80 x 100 cm © Hoda Afshar, image courtesy the artist
</span> </figcaption></figure><p>Through her poetically constructed images, <a href="https://www.hodaafshar.com/">Hoda Afshar</a> illuminates a world overshadowed by history and atrocity. Yet we never see despair: we see defiance, comradeship, reinvention and a search for how photography can activate new ways of thinking.</p>
<p>Afshar was born in Iran and migrated to Australia in 2007. She began her practice as a documentary photographer in Tehran, having originally been attracted to acting. </p>
<p>Staging and creative intervention would become significant features of her work. </p>
<p>Even in her early, nominally “documentary” series, you can sense an embracing of the ambiguity of the still image, and an interest in composing a reality more vivid (and perhaps genuine) than dispassionate reportage might be capable of.</p>
<p>Afshar is now one of Australia’s most significant photo media artists, so it’s a surprise that <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/whats-on/exhibitions/hoda-afshar/">Hoda Afshar: A Curve is a Broken Line</a> at the Art Gallery of New South Wales is her first major survey exhibition.</p>
<p>What unites her materially diverse work is a concern with visibility: who is denied it, what is made visible by media, and how photography can reveal, overlook and manipulate truth. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546572/original/file-20230906-27-iuzza0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546572/original/file-20230906-27-iuzza0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546572/original/file-20230906-27-iuzza0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546572/original/file-20230906-27-iuzza0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546572/original/file-20230906-27-iuzza0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546572/original/file-20230906-27-iuzza0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=599&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546572/original/file-20230906-27-iuzza0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=599&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546572/original/file-20230906-27-iuzza0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=599&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hoda Afshar ‘Twofold’ 2014, printed 2023, from the series ‘In the exodus, I love you more’, 2014–ongoing, digital print on vinyl, installation dimensions variable © Hoda Afshar, image courtesy the artist.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Much of her work addresses critical humanitarian issues of our time: war, statelessness, diaspora, oppression, corruption. She challenges stereotypes. We don’t see passive victims or closed narratives: we are introduced to new perspectives that might lead us to reappraise the world we inhabit.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/waqt-al-tagheer-time-of-change-explores-the-diversity-of-muslim-australian-identities-91916">Waqt al-tagheer: Time of change explores the diversity of Muslim Australian identities</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Familiarity and distance</h2>
<p>The exhibition is made up of six bodies of work, the first of which began with the passing away of her father in Iran. </p>
<p>In the exodus, I love you more (2014–) is a portrait of her home country formed by experiences of familiarity and distance. The artist is both at home and searching, like an outsider. Images suggest at times an intimate proximity, and at others a separation akin to the one made by raising a camera to your eye. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546565/original/file-20230906-29-rq5er9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546565/original/file-20230906-29-rq5er9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546565/original/file-20230906-29-rq5er9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546565/original/file-20230906-29-rq5er9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546565/original/file-20230906-29-rq5er9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546565/original/file-20230906-29-rq5er9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=598&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546565/original/file-20230906-29-rq5er9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=598&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546565/original/file-20230906-29-rq5er9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=598&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hoda Afshar ‘Grace’ 2014, from the series ‘In the exodus, I love you more’ 2014–ongoing, pigment photographic print, 47 x 59 cm © Hoda Afshar, image courtesy the artist.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Afshar examines her experience of migration and, she tells me, seeks to “dismantle the idea of there being one way of seeing Iran”.</p>
<p>The final image in this series shows the erasure of a woman’s face in a painted Persian miniature.</p>
<p>In the adjoining room, the new series In turn (2023) is a suite of large, framed photographs of Iranian women based in Australia. Many images show them as they tenderly braid one another’s hair. These women are unidentifiable, apart from artist and activist <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/say-her-name-melbourne-s-iranian-community-protests-over-mahsa-amini-death-20221001-p5bmh7.html">Mahla Karimian</a>, who appears airborne with a pair of flying doves. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546563/original/file-20230906-19-xon6lk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546563/original/file-20230906-19-xon6lk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546563/original/file-20230906-19-xon6lk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546563/original/file-20230906-19-xon6lk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546563/original/file-20230906-19-xon6lk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546563/original/file-20230906-19-xon6lk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=942&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546563/original/file-20230906-19-xon6lk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=942&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546563/original/file-20230906-19-xon6lk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=942&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hoda Afshar ‘Untitled #4’, from the series ‘In turn’ 2023, pigment photographic print, 169 x 128 cm © Hoda Afshar, image courtesy the artist.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This work was catalysed by the <a href="https://www.icrw.org/women-life-freedom-why-icrw-stands-with-the-protest-movement-in-iran/">women-led protest movement</a> sparked by the death of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/sep/16/iranian-woman-dies-after-being-beaten-by-morality-police-over-hijab-law">Mahsa Jina Amini</a>, an Iranian Kurdish woman arrested in September 2022 for not following Iran’s strict <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/iran-impose-strict-dress-code-hijab-women-protests-mahsa-amini-rcna79081">female dress codes</a>. The uprising filled the streets with women chanting “Women, Life, Freedom!” and “Say her name!” in fearless defiance of authorities, who responded with <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/watch-women-and-girls-are-still-protesting-in-iran-heres-why">murderous retaliation</a>.</p>
<p>Afshar was observing her homeland from afar. She says she wanted to “share voices the media was ignoring”. She was inspired by social media images of women plaiting each other’s hair in public: a rebellious act that echoes a practice of <a href="https://qz.com/467159/these-female-kurdish-soldiers-wear-their-femininity-with-pride">female Kurdish fighters</a> preparing for battle. </p>
<p>But the images aren’t violent. They’re quietly peaceful, showing solidarity in grief, hope and determination. In making this “visual letter” to her Iranian sisters, Afshar has risked long-term exile from her country of birth. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546570/original/file-20230906-24-b5xvun.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546570/original/file-20230906-24-b5xvun.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546570/original/file-20230906-24-b5xvun.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546570/original/file-20230906-24-b5xvun.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546570/original/file-20230906-24-b5xvun.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546570/original/file-20230906-24-b5xvun.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=942&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546570/original/file-20230906-24-b5xvun.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=942&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546570/original/file-20230906-24-b5xvun.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=942&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hoda Afshar ‘Untitled #2’, from the series ‘In turn’ 2023, pigment photographic print, 169 x 128 cm © Hoda Afshar, image courtesy the artist.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Resolute defiance</h2>
<p>Much of Afshar’s work fearlessly tells stories that have been hidden or misrepresented. </p>
<p>Remain (2018) was made in collaboration with asylum seekers detained on <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/oct/06/australia-to-end-offshore-processing-in-papua-new-guinea">Manus Island</a>.</p>
<p>This work is made up of a series of austere, absorbing portraits and a large-scale two-channel video installation. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546571/original/file-20230906-20-72bk24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546571/original/file-20230906-20-72bk24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546571/original/file-20230906-20-72bk24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546571/original/file-20230906-20-72bk24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546571/original/file-20230906-20-72bk24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546571/original/file-20230906-20-72bk24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546571/original/file-20230906-20-72bk24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546571/original/file-20230906-20-72bk24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hoda Afshar ‘Remain’ 2018 (video still), from the series ‘Remain’ 2018, two-channel digital video, colour, sound, duration 23:33 min, aspect ratio 16:9, installation dimensions variable, Art Gallery of New South Wales, purchased with funds provided by the Contemporary Collection Benefactors 2020 © Hoda Afshar, image © Art Gallery of New South Wales.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We see men imprisoned in a place that would otherwise resemble paradise. We hear their voices recounting experiences of trauma and displacement. But, with Afshar, they co-create performative, narrative-evoking works that avoid degrading cliches of victimhood. </p>
<p>The most widely recognised image in this series is a portrait of Kurdish Iranian writer and filmmaker <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/may/22/behrouz-boochani-the-refugee-writer-who-exposed-the-cruelty-of-australias-island-jail">Behrouz Boochani</a>, who chose to be pictured alongside fire. Smoke and flames echo the ardent strength of his gaze. This strength allowed him to emerge a free man after <a href="https://www.humanrightspulse.com/mastercontentblog/behrouz-boochani-refugee-detained-by-australia-for-six-years-is-granted-asylum-in-new-zealand">six years of incarceration</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546566/original/file-20230906-18-olfirs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546566/original/file-20230906-18-olfirs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546566/original/file-20230906-18-olfirs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=723&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546566/original/file-20230906-18-olfirs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=723&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546566/original/file-20230906-18-olfirs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=723&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546566/original/file-20230906-18-olfirs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=909&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546566/original/file-20230906-18-olfirs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=909&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546566/original/file-20230906-18-olfirs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=909&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hoda Afshar ‘Behrouz Boochani – Manus Island’, from the series ‘Remain’ 2018, pigment photographic print, 130 x 104 cm, Art Gallery of New South Wales, purchased with funds provided by the Contemporary Collection Benefactors 2020 © Hoda Afshar, image © Art Gallery of New South Wales.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In Behold (2016), once more we see acts of resolute defiance by people performing for the camera. Afshar was invited by a group of gay men to observe re-enacted gestures of protection and intimacy <a href="https://www.economist.com/open-future/2018/06/06/how-homosexuality-became-a-crime-in-the-middle-east">outlawed</a> in most of the Middle East.</p>
<p>Unable to freely express their love in society, they disclose and affirm it for Afshar and her lens.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546567/original/file-20230906-28-72bk24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546567/original/file-20230906-28-72bk24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546567/original/file-20230906-28-72bk24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546567/original/file-20230906-28-72bk24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546567/original/file-20230906-28-72bk24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546567/original/file-20230906-28-72bk24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546567/original/file-20230906-28-72bk24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546567/original/file-20230906-28-72bk24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hoda Afshar ‘Untitled #7’, from the series ‘Behold’ 2016, pigment photographic print, 95 x 120 cm © Hoda Afshar, image courtesy the artist.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Agonistes (2020) pays homage to a group of Australian whistleblowers who appear as a Greek chorus of heroic truth tellers. </p>
<p>Created through a complex process of photographic recording and 3D printing that conjures lifelike detail, the portraits look like sculpted marble busts. But this rendering leaves the eyes blank, and captions describing the corruption revealed by each figure don’t divulge their names. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546568/original/file-20230906-27-8q4djc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546568/original/file-20230906-27-8q4djc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546568/original/file-20230906-27-8q4djc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=751&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546568/original/file-20230906-27-8q4djc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=751&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546568/original/file-20230906-27-8q4djc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=751&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546568/original/file-20230906-27-8q4djc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=944&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546568/original/file-20230906-27-8q4djc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=944&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546568/original/file-20230906-27-8q4djc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=944&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hoda Afshar ‘Portrait #3’, from the series ‘Agonistes’ 2020, pigment photographic print, text, 69 x 55 cm © Hoda Afshar, image courtesy the artist.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Afshar maintains her practice of disclosing truth while protecting those who have the courage to tell it.</p>
<h2>Being alive is breaking</h2>
<p>Speak the wind (2015–22) returns us to Iran, to the Strait of Hormuz, where “ill winds” are said to blow. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/iran-blog/2016/jan/14/african-slavery-in-qajar-iran-in-photos">African slaves</a> were brought here over centuries, a trade only stopped in the 1920s. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546569/original/file-20230906-19-5xaf8v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546569/original/file-20230906-19-5xaf8v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546569/original/file-20230906-19-5xaf8v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546569/original/file-20230906-19-5xaf8v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546569/original/file-20230906-19-5xaf8v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546569/original/file-20230906-19-5xaf8v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546569/original/file-20230906-19-5xaf8v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546569/original/file-20230906-19-5xaf8v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hoda Afshar ‘Untitled #18’, from the series ‘Speak the wind’ 2015–22, pigment photographic print, 80 x 100 cm © Hoda Afshar, image courtesy the artist.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Afshar’s photographs and video imagery explore a place haunted by history. We see the outward manifestations of an invisible wind (dramatically carved rock formations, ripples in water, flowing fabric). Shrouded figures bow on the dry earth, seeking cure from possession by malicious spirits. </p>
<p>Afshar investigates to what extent we are captives of history (in Australia we must grapple with the legacy of colonisation). In making this lyrical work, Afshar again collaborated with local people, some who made drawings of “<a href="https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/zar">wind spirits</a>” they said they had encountered. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546573/original/file-20230906-17-9dqnez.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546573/original/file-20230906-17-9dqnez.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546573/original/file-20230906-17-9dqnez.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546573/original/file-20230906-17-9dqnez.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546573/original/file-20230906-17-9dqnez.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546573/original/file-20230906-17-9dqnez.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546573/original/file-20230906-17-9dqnez.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546573/original/file-20230906-17-9dqnez.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hoda Afshar ‘Untitled #11’, from the series ‘Speak the wind’ 2015–22, pigment photographic print, 80 x 100 cm © Hoda Afshar, image courtesy the artist.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The title of the exhibition was inspired by lines in a poem by <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/kaveh-akbar">Kaveh Akbar</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>a curve is a straight line broken at all its points so much <br>
of being alive is breaking.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Hoda Afshar’s work addresses conflict, injustice, mobility and the often fragile state of being alive. It reminds us that dominant powers can be challenged by exposing truth and envisioning something new. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-10-photography-exhibitions-that-defined-australia-166755">Friday essay: 10 photography exhibitions that defined Australia</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Hoda Afshar: A Curve is a Broken Line is at the Art Gallery of New South Wales until January 21 2024.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211994/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tom Williams does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Hoda Afshar is one of Australia’s most significant photo media artists. A Curve is a Broken Line at the Art Gallery of New South Wales is her first major survey exhibition.
Tom Williams, Lecturer - Visual Arts, University of Wollongong
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/210448
2023-08-29T20:12:37Z
2023-08-29T20:12:37Z
The charismatic, enigmatic Charmian Clift: a writer who lived the dream and confronted its consequences
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541884/original/file-20230809-5449-s2ch1q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=59%2C5%2C3922%2C2988&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Charmian Clift in Greek costume (1941).</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Frederick Stanley Grimes/State Library of New South Wales</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The centenary of the birth of <a href="https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/clift-charmian-9764">Charmian Clift</a> takes place on August 30. It comes at a time when the renowned Australian writer is, as they say, having a moment. </p>
<p>Clift’s typewriter has been still for over half a century, but the fascination with her life and writing shows little signs of abating. Recent years have seen new Australian editions of her work in its various genres: fiction, memoir and journalistic essays. There has been a <a href="https://theconversation.com/sue-smiths-hydra-how-love-pain-and-sacrifice-produced-an-australian-classic-113640">play</a> about her in the theatres. A <a href="https://documentaryaustralia.com.au/project/life-burns-high/">documentary</a> is in the making and a feature film is in <a href="https://www.news.uwa.edu.au/archive/2019060611424/arts-and-culture/page-big-screen-half-perfect-world-writers-dreamers-and-drifters-hydr/">pre-production</a>. </p>
<p>Next year we will see “new” writing from Clift, with the first publication of <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/culture/books/a-hundred-years-on-charmian-clift-s-time-has-finally-arrived-20230814-p5dwau.html">The End of the Morning</a>, the autobiographical novel she was working on at the time of her death.</p>
<p>Interest in Clift’s legacy has also been evident overseas, where her <a href="https://www.harpercollins.com.au/9781460700037/mermaid-singing-and-peel-me-a-lotus/">two memoirs</a> of Greek island living – <a href="https://muswell-press.co.uk/product/mermaid-singing/">Mermaid Singing</a> (1956) and <a href="https://muswell-press.co.uk/product/peel-me-a-lotus">Peel Me a Lotus</a> (1959) – have been republished in the UK after more than six decades, to often rapturous reviews. These books have appeared in translation for the first time in Greek, Spanish and Catalan – a measure of an international readership that was elusive during Clift’s lifetime. </p>
<p>And if this cake needed further icing, it comes in the form of Clift and her writer husband George Johnston emerging as “characters” in international novels and films. They have come to exemplify the experience of artistic expatriation, solidarity and dissolution that transpired on the island of Hydra in the 1950s and 1960s. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-a-fresh-perspective-on-leonard-cohen-and-the-island-that-inspired-him-105392">Friday essay: a fresh perspective on Leonard Cohen and the island that inspired him</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>A riveting portrait</h2>
<p>Exactly why Clift enjoys this prolonged afterlife when once far-better-known mid-century writers struggle to sustain reputations is a matter for another time. But there is a hint to be found in a fragment of her extraordinary life – a photographic moment that condenses her charismatic and enigmatic essence into a single, riveting image. It is a photograph that is remarkable in itself, but made extraordinary by the use to which it would be put. </p>
<p>Intrinsic to the photo’s quality is its creator. It was the work of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liselotte_Strelow">Liselotte Strelow</a> (1909-1981), a significant German portrait photographer. Her powerful and intensely focused black-and-white images identified her as an <em>Autorenphotographie</em> – an artist-photographer – capable of extracting from the human face a deep reflection of character and interiority. </p>
<p>Strelow built her stellar reputation with memorable portraits of the artistic, intellectual and political greats of postwar Europe, including Jean Cocteau, Salvador Dali, Marlene Dietrich, Henry Moore, Thomas Mann and Maria Callas. Her portrait of Clift is as well realised as anything in her body of work. </p>
<p>Also critical to the photo’s success is that Strelow found in Clift a subject who was prepared to match her ambition. Clift exposed herself in a starkly unadorned and unguarded manner. Her hair is thrown about and seemingly tied with string; her skin flaws are clearly visible. She has what appears to be a bruised left eye. </p>
<p>Devoid of coquetry or coyness, Clift’s direct gaze penetrates the camera lens with uncommon intensity. She appears both assertive and vulnerable. </p>
<p>Clift wasn’t new to working with photographers. She first attracted attention by winning a beach-girl photo competition in 1941 with a image taken by her sister, Margaret. She then undertook part-time photographic modelling in wartime Sydney. As her biographer Nadia Wheatley noted, Clift was blessed with “that indefinable thing which makes a certain face photogenic. It is clear that the camera loved Charmian – and that the feeling was mutual.” </p>
<p>This much is true, but what is on show in Strelow’s image is something more than a straightforward representation of a photogenic subject. Working in tandem, Strelow and Clift have created an image that reaches beyond the superficial appeal of an attractively structured face to reveal a scintillating intellect, and expose layers of anguish and self-doubt. The result is a masterwork of “Australian” photographic portraiture.</p>
<p>Little is known of the context in which the photo was taken, or even when Strelow travelled to Hydra, which is demonstrably where it was taken. It is almost certain, however, that the image was specifically required (by author and publisher) for use with Clift’s forthcoming book, Peel Me a Lotus, a highly personal account of her Hydra life. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541885/original/file-20230809-25-qpfxif.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541885/original/file-20230809-25-qpfxif.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541885/original/file-20230809-25-qpfxif.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541885/original/file-20230809-25-qpfxif.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541885/original/file-20230809-25-qpfxif.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541885/original/file-20230809-25-qpfxif.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541885/original/file-20230809-25-qpfxif.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541885/original/file-20230809-25-qpfxif.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The first UK edition of Peel Me a Lotus (Hutchison, 1959).</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Existential yin and yang</h2>
<p>In some ways, the dust jacket designed for the first British edition of Peel Me a Lotus is entirely of its time. The stylised chevrons are highlighted by “of-the-moment” saturated colours and fonts that are typical of postwar design. What is unexpected is the use of an author photograph to adorn a travel memoir in the 1950s. </p>
<p>The 1950s continued the pre-war preference of British publishers for illustrated or graphically designed dust jackets, usually based on watercolours, woodcuts or pencil drawings, and adapted for two or three-colour offset printing. Clift’s previous travel memoir, Mermaid Singing, was typical. Both the front and back covers featured drawings by her friend, Australian artist <a href="http://newtheatrehistory.org.au/wiki/index.php/Person_-_Cedric_Flower">Cedric Flower</a>. </p>
<p>Author photos, if used, were relegated to the back cover or the internal cover flaps. It was extremely rare to find an author pictured on the front of a dust jacket, and particularly with a photo presenting the author as anything other than a confident and reassuring presence. </p>
<p>There were few precedents for a dust jacket portrait that challenged the reader in the manner of Strelow’s photo of Clift, which is far more likely to unsettle or provoke potential readers rather than offer reassurance. But somebody – very likely Clift herself – selected this image and promoted its use on the front cover. </p>
<p>And it was done with good reason, in that Clift’s achievement in Peel Me a Lotus is the literary equivalent of Strelow’s photo. The book’s success – and a key to its lasting appeal – is found in Clift’s willingness to go beyond the benign expectations of Mediterranean exoticism and take the reader into a darker personal experience of expatriation. </p>
<p>Peel Me a Lotus is made memorable because of its evocation of Clift’s existential yin and yang of exhilaration and despair, belonging and deracination. The book commences amid a blossom of optimism that accompanies the birth of a child, the buying of a house, and the embrace of the sun-drenched Hydra lifestyle. But it soon pitches headlong into the anxieties brought on by Clift’s recognition that she and Johnston are “marooned” in poverty. </p>
<p>The growing numbers of expats and tourists attracted to the island provide an irresistible link to the outside world and relief from growing tedium, while posing a threat to the personal dreams the couple were seeking to fulfil.</p>
<p>Clift describes how work and family suffer amid the dockside sociability. She and Johnston would “go home a little drunker than we ought to be, feeling vaguely worsted, jangling with some unspecified resentment, indefinably tainted”.</p>
<p>Her growing anguish in response to her increasingly complex reality is momentarily frozen by Strelow’s camera. The image exposes Clift’s realisation that the very circumstances that fed her creativity were also capable of depleting it. This compatibility between image and text transforms a great photo into the basis for one of the most compelling dust jackets produced for an Australian writer.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542917/original/file-20230816-17-polgjf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542917/original/file-20230816-17-polgjf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=940&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542917/original/file-20230816-17-polgjf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=940&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542917/original/file-20230816-17-polgjf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=940&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542917/original/file-20230816-17-polgjf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1182&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542917/original/file-20230816-17-polgjf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1182&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542917/original/file-20230816-17-polgjf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1182&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Peel Me a Lotus did not have its first Australian publication until a decade later, when it was occasioned by Clift’s <a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/136943230">suicide</a>. For this edition, the dust jacket consisted of a stock photo of cliched “Greekness” used as a stand-in for Hydra. Specifically, the photo depicted the blue-domed dockside church of Agios Nikolaos on Mykonos. </p>
<p>It was the first of a series of Australian editions to feature covers of generic domed churches unaffiliated with Hydra – an island with its own remarkable architecture, but notably devoid of these classic painted domes. One can confidently assume that Clift would have been appalled to see such photos deceptively embellishing a book that was emphatically about the beloved and very singular island that shaped her expatriation for a decade.</p>
<p>It is easy to understand the marketing appeal of these images, which speak, however inaccurately, to an audience of sun-seeking holiday makers dreaming of a Greek island summer. They are, however, an inadequate representation not only of Hydra, but Clift’s intentions in marshalling her writerly genius to expose the fractures in her own psyche. </p>
<p>It is a pity that Australian readers of Peel Me a Lotus were denied the opportunity to look into the eyes and soul of the woman who was both living the dream and confronting its consequences.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210448/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Australian writer Charmian Clift was born 100 years ago today. One rivetting photograph of Clift captures the existential yin and yang explored in her work.
Tanya Dalziell, Professor, English and Literary Studies, The University of Western Australia
Paul Genoni, Associate Professor, School of Media, Creative Arts and Social Inquiry, Curtin University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/210486
2023-08-21T12:47:49Z
2023-08-21T12:47:49Z
Why are ‘photo dumps’ so popular? A digital communications expert explains
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539601/original/file-20230726-25-fk6s12.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=74%2C40%2C4419%2C2943&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/multiracial-girls-having-fun-together-outdoors-1939179247">Nuva Frames/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>It’s summer 2009. You’ve been to a “campout” with your school friends in someone’s back garden and taken a bunch of out-of-focus pictures on your digital camera. The next day, you dig out your trusty USB cable and upload the photos to your laptop, sharing every single one, without even vetting them, to a dedicated Facebook album. The likes and comments come rolling in – the campout is complete.</p>
<p>It somehow feels too soon for a trend like this to come back around, but it has, and in a new form called the “photo dump”. A photo dump is the act of posting multiple pictures from either a specific time span (usually a month or season), or an event (like a holiday), to an image-based social media platform such as Instagram. </p>
<p>The photos must be posted in a seemingly incoherent order and be “<a href="https://www.vogue.in/culture-and-living/content/instagram-photo-dumps-and-gen-z-search-for-authenticity">low effort</a>” as opposed to being obviously edited. Photo dumps are typically tied together by a <a href="https://www.inverse.com/input/culture/instagram-photo-dump-trend-captions-meaning-kim-kardashian-kylie-jenner-bella-hadid-emma-chamberlain">nonchalant caption</a>, as the poster should offer <a href="https://www.inverse.com/input/culture/instagram-photo-dump-trend-captions-meaning-kim-kardashian-kylie-jenner-bella-hadid-emma-chamberlain">little to no explanation</a> of why they chose those particular images. Photo dumps are tremendously popular: even photo editing software <a href="https://www.adobe.com/express/learn/blog/photo-dump">Adobe</a> has released a guide to using them to “inject some fun and authenticity into your Instagram presence”.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Quarter life, a series by The Conversation" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em><strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/quarter-life-117947?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=UK+YP2022&utm_content=InArticleTop">This article is part of Quarter Life</a></strong>, a series about issues affecting those of us in our twenties and thirties. From the challenges of beginning a career and taking care of our mental health, to the excitement of starting a family, adopting a pet or just making friends as an adult. The articles in this series explore the questions and bring answers as we navigate this turbulent period of life.</em></p>
<p><em>You may be interested in:</em></p>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/instagram-is-making-you-a-worse-tourist-heres-how-to-travel-respectfully-209272?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=UK+YP2022&utm_content=InArticleTop">Instagram is making you a worse tourist – here’s how to travel respectfully</a></em></p>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/boundaries-or-coercive-control-experts-explain-how-to-tell-the-difference-209896?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=UK+YP2022&utm_content=InArticleTop">‘Boundaries’ or coercive control? Experts explain how to tell the difference</a></em></p>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/bed-rotting-the-social-media-trend-the-victorians-would-love-especially-writer-elizabeth-gaskell-209725?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=UK+YP2022&utm_content=InArticleTop">Bed rotting: the social media trend the Victorians would love, especially writer Elizabeth Gaskell</a></em></p>
<hr>
<h2>The rise of the dump</h2>
<p>Instagram launched the “carousel” feature in <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2017/02/22/instagram-carousels">early 2017</a>, which enables users to include up to ten images in one post. But photo dumps didn’t grace our feeds until around late 2020. There are several potential explanations for the photo dumps trend:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>A social reaction to a fatigue with sponsored content on Instagram, where it feels like every other post tries to, as Vogue puts it: “<a href="https://www.vogue.in/culture-and-living/content/instagram-photo-dumps-and-gen-z-search-for-authenticity">sell you face serum or an electric toothbrush or a pair of leggings</a>”.</p></li>
<li><p>During <a href="https://www.refinery29.com/en-gb/instagram-photo-dump-trend">the pandemic</a>, few of our life events felt worthy of a single Instagram post, inspiring users to celebrate <a href="https://www.refinery29.com/en-gb/instagram-photo-dump-trend">the beauty in mundanity</a>.</p></li>
<li><p>Many users are seeking <a href="https://www.stylist.co.uk/life/instagram-trend-2021-photo-dumping/530695">authenticity</a> in their social media use, given growing frustrations with the “fakery” of filters and other forms of digital photo editing. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>“Dump” implies that images have been haphazardly thrown together, but this understates the craftsmanship that goes into post curation on Instagram. Sociologist Erving Goffman argued that there’s no such thing as accidental <a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/13511/the-presentation-of-self-in-everyday-life-by-erving-goffman/9780241547991">self-presentation</a>. All human <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1461444819873644">interactions</a>, whether they take place via social media or elsewhere, demand some level of craft and decision making.</p>
<h2>The roots of the dump</h2>
<p>Technological changes do not <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14725860801908528">wipe away</a> existing cultures. The social rituals underpinning older forms of photography and visual communication have evidently made their way into digital spaces, as photo dumps largely conform to the conventions of classic physical photo albums. </p>
<p>People usually craft their physical photo albums into one of a number of themes, like recording an <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00988996">event</a> or a <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00988996">trip</a>, both of which have made their way to Instagram. And both the dump and the album lose meaning if you aren’t known to the poster, akin to the consequences of a physical photo album being discovered <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00988996">at a rummage sale</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A hand holding a phone open on Instagram" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539602/original/file-20230726-27-xe1phm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539602/original/file-20230726-27-xe1phm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539602/original/file-20230726-27-xe1phm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539602/original/file-20230726-27-xe1phm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539602/original/file-20230726-27-xe1phm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539602/original/file-20230726-27-xe1phm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539602/original/file-20230726-27-xe1phm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Grouping photos by theme is popular for dumps.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/7UhkQGlOVJI">June Aye/Unsplash</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>That said, photo dumps and tangible albums are not quite the same. For example, albums benefit tremendously from the <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00988996">white space</a> surrounding each carefully placed image, through which authors can craft a <a href="https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=10395">narrative of personal memory</a>. Dumps, on the other hand, rely on one short caption to tie the images together. Nonetheless, these resonances still tell us something significant about our relationship to Instagram – perhaps most crucially that the platform now occupies a more intimate place in our lives.</p>
<p>It’s easy to disparage photo dumping. It is, after all, a trend, it feels frivolous, isn’t a “serious” topic. But arranging your photos into an album has long been understood as an <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00988996">intensely personal</a> experience. It enables people to share a <a href="https://www.emerald.com/insight/publication/doi/10.1108/9781787564954">story</a> with their audience, conveying social and emotional value not in the truth of each individual image, but in how they have been <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14725860801908528?casa_token=G09RIpJ_3_gAAAAA%3AONDap0GRryn-c4z2kkiirRou6IFzaSspuPY-U2jGpy6awSf2MRjT--AZou0ab5MlZA9PFkWL3EWi#:%7E:text=https%3A//doi.org/10.1080/14725860801908528">pieced together</a>. </p>
<h2>The future of the dump</h2>
<p>The western social media scene is, we are told, falling apart. The Verge has declared “<a href="https://www.theverge.com/2023/7/3/23782607/social-web-public-apps-end-reddit-twitter-mastodon">the end of a social era on the web</a>”, Twitter users are dropping like flies and <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2023/7/3/23782607/social-web-public-apps-end-reddit-twitter-mastodon">don’t know where to go next</a>, Reddit moderators <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/06/15/reddit-profits-goodwill-strike/">are on strike</a> and TikTokers are facing <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/article/tiktok-ban.html">access bans</a> in multiple countries. </p>
<p>Instagram, it seems, feels like a friend, familiar enough to grace with carefully curated, multi-part posts to tell stories about our daily lives. And so, as we grapple with new questions, promises and concerns about emerging technologies such as AI, perhaps we are drawn to using the familiar things in more intimate ways.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
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</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight,
on Fridays. Launches August 4. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/something-good-156">Sign up here</a>.</em></p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210486/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ysabel Gerrard has not previously received funding that is relevant to this article. Ysabel is also an un-contracted, unpaid, independent member of Meta's Suicide and Self-Injury Advisory Board. Her role is to advise the company as an independent academic. She has not signed a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) or contract that prevents her from writing about this topic (or others relating to Meta services), and there are no conflicts of interest or similar here.</span></em></p>
During the pandemic, few of our life events felt worthy of a single Instagram post, inspiring users to celebrate the beauty in mundanity with ‘dumps’.
Ysabel Gerrard, Senior Lecturer in Digital Communication, University of Sheffield
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/209799
2023-07-28T02:43:54Z
2023-07-28T02:43:54Z
More than a picture: how the work of documentary photographer Raphaela Rosella is defined by co-creation
<p><a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/artboards/photography/photo-documentary/">Documentary photographers</a> have traditionally aspired to tell other people’s stories. For 15 years, artist Raphaela Rosella and the women close to her have forged their own complex visual narratives, despite frequent interventions by the criminal justice system.</p>
<p>Rosella is an Italian-Australian documentary artist devoted to long-term, <a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/s/socially-engaged-practice">socially engaged</a> collaborative projects made with participants from Nimbin, Casino, Lismore and Moree in regional New South Wales. </p>
<p>Aware that photographs can <a href="https://photo.org.au/channel/a-brief-history-of-photography-and-truth">enable stereotypes and mislead viewers</a>, she decided early in her career the people she photographed should be given ongoing control of their representation. This means active collaboration in making images and a body of work, as well as continually seeking consent if sharing it with an audience.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.ima.org.au/exhibitions/raphaela-rosella-youll-know-it-when-you-feel-it/">You’ll Know It When You Feel It</a> at Brisbane’s Institute of Modern Art has evolved through these relationships. </p>
<p>Rosella and her co-creators have sought to reclaim and counteract the narratives formed by state records, instead telling stories of the love they feel for family and the challenges they’ve faced: both together and when separated by the geography of prison custody. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/can-a-photograph-change-the-world-204648">Can a photograph change the world?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Welcomed into a home</h2>
<p>Rosella is close to the women she works with, and knows they have been routinely marginalised and denied freedoms. </p>
<p>Some of the audio-visual archive was produced by participants while imprisoned, in response to a legal system that confronted them at a young age. The women see their collaborative work as a “site of resistance” where they can detach their identities from the procedures and labels imposed by bureaucracy. </p>
<p>Rather than granting sole storytelling agency to one artist or organisation, these women take a central role in communicating their own histories and perspectives.</p>
<p>The show feels like being welcomed into someone’s home: there are fabric curtains, handwritten cards, family photos, the reassuring sound of nearby voices. </p>
<p>This warm familiarity contrasts with the dehumanising language of the official documents on display: “At no time are photographs to be taken of the inmate”. </p>
<p>Each section of the exhibition is accompanied by a short text that reads like the opening lines of a personal letter. We’re entrusted with intimate moments and heartfelt correspondence. There are no image titles or dates on most of the photographs or videos, as if in defiance of the classificatory legal papers interwoven throughout.</p>
<p>The first image we see as we enter is a portrait coauthored by Kamilaroi/Biripi woman Nunjul Townsend. She meets our gaze with an intensity of emotion that reflects the profound bond she has with friend and artistic partner Rosella. </p>
<p>Next to it, a tenderly made photograph of Nunjul and her young son embracing is placed inside a sterile grid of blank “<a href="https://www.kdllaw.com/legal-updates/requirements-for-signing-a-statement-of-truth-on-court-documents">statement of truth</a>” court documents. </p>
<p>The juxtaposition is moving: love between mother and son can’t be reduced to written transcripts - or even captured by a camera. But throughout the show the kinship that connects the group is palpable. </p>
<h2>Crucial questions</h2>
<p>Each participant has an individual curated space within the gallery, including Rosella and her identical twin. Rosella doesn’t shy away from revealing her own story to the viewer in self-portaits, video and wall text, or reflecting critically on her process (“the camera was enabling your addiction”). </p>
<p>Many of the people whose lives we engage with in the show are Aboriginal, and all have been impacted by violence. </p>
<p>One participant, Tammara, was killed in 2020 after the pair had been working together for a decade. An image of an empty Jim Beam bottle embedded in a wall speaks of the terror of domestic violence that is so <a href="https://www.ourwatch.org.au/quick-facts/">sickeningly incessant</a> in Australia.</p>
<p>The space dedicated to Kathleen “Rowrow” Duncan is one of the most affecting. Wall text and a small, handwritten note from mother to her newborn baby tell us that Rowrow is under prison guard. She has given birth and will soon return to a cell. </p>
<p>The majority of this space, from floor to wall, is filled by a transcript that maps Rowrow’s transfers from prison to prison over four years. I counted 30 relocations. It’s hard to imagine the effect this would have on a person’s sense of home; or hope. </p>
<p>In a note Rosella has written to co-creator Tricia, Rosella laments how Tricia’s partner had only “spent three of his birthdays on the outside since he was nine”.</p>
<p>One large wall in the exhibition is filled from floor to ceiling with a mosaic of photos, contact sheets, handwritten notes, drawings, redacted documents and letters (many of them posted from behind bars). Formal portraits are assembled alongside childrens’ drawings and intimate correspondence. </p>
<p>There is no visual hierarchy in the installation: each element speaks of a life, a shared experience, a human connection.</p>
<p>As an audience, we are driven to ask questions. Why are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women <a href="https://lens.monash.edu/@politics-society/2021/07/30/1383557/rethinking-female-incarceration-road-to-prison-paved-with-domestic-abuse">imprisoned so disproportionately</a>? Why are many <a href="https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/children-youth/australias-children/contents/justice-and-safety/children-under-youth-justice-supervision">disadvantaged kids</a> who come into contact with law enforcement caught in “<a href="https://humanrights.gov.au/sites/default/files/australias_criminal_justice_system_-_australias_third_upr_2021.pdf">cycles of incarceration</a>”? Why don’t we properly address <a href="https://www.communityservices.act.gov.au/children-and-families/adoption-kinship-and-foster-care/therapeutic-resources/understanding-intergenerational-trauma">intergenerational trauma</a>?</p>
<p>The strength of You’ll Know It When You Feel It is how it makes us connect with real stories that transcend statistics and theoretical debates.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/aboriginal-mothers-are-incarcerated-at-alarming-rates-and-their-mental-and-physical-health-suffers-116827">Aboriginal mothers are incarcerated at alarming rates – and their mental and physical health suffers</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Collaborative dialogue</h2>
<p>Documentary photographers have historically sought to reveal problems and inequalities in the world, fuelled by a desire to provoke change. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/hine-photos">Lewis Hine</a> famously played a role in reforming child labour laws in the USA through his images of young children at work. Visual storytellers are documenting the effects of <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/pictureshow/2022/03/31/1089862924/meet-5-women-documenting-the-effects-of-climate-change-around-the-world">climate change</a>. </p>
<p>But documentary practice has been <a href="https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/the-debate-over-ruin-porn-2170/">criticised</a> by scholars for benefiting privileged photographers and institutions too often, advancing careers under the guise of concerned activism at the expense of their subjects.</p>
<p>Rosella, by contrast, engages in a genuine collaborative dialogue. Exhibition and publication are not the driving force. </p>
<p>This project is a rare example of artwork catalysing practical change. These photographs have been used to influence legal outcomes like the length of jail sentences and granting of parole. The voices of participants are heard and preserved.</p>
<p>The final room of the exhibition contains <a href="https://www.raphaelarosella.com/hometruths">HOMEtruths</a>, an immersive three channel video installation that intercuts home movies from the collaborators with cinematic depictions of family and Country. </p>
<p>It is an absorbing, hope-affirming work that highlights connection to loved ones and significant places across generations. We experience the ancient landscape the artists are part of. Newborn lives engender fresh optimism.</p>
<p><em>You’ll Know It When You Feel It is at the Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane, until August 19.</em></p>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209799/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tom Williams does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
In You’ll Know It When You Feel It at the Institute of Modern Art, Raphaela Rosella and her co-creators have sought to reclaim and counteract the narratives formed by state records.
Tom Williams, Lecturer - Visual Arts, University of Wollongong
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/210372
2023-07-27T01:28:14Z
2023-07-27T01:28:14Z
Through the magnifying glass: how cutting-edge technology is helping scientists understand baby corals
<p>New photographic technology has allowed scientists to dive beneath the ocean’s surface and peer into the hidden world of baby corals, to learn how these tiny organisms survive and grow in their crucial first year of life.</p>
<p>In a study <a href="https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/2041-210X.14175">just published</a>, researchers from Southern Cross University and CSIRO describe how advanced imaging techniques offer new ways to monitor baby corals. </p>
<p>Corals provide vital habitat for a large variety of marine life. So it’s useful to better understand how baby corals select and attach to reefs, establish themselves and grow into adult corals.</p>
<p>This knowledge is particularly important if we want to help reefs recover from devastating events such as mass bleaching and cyclones.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539177/original/file-20230725-23-wrtgjj.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539177/original/file-20230725-23-wrtgjj.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539177/original/file-20230725-23-wrtgjj.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539177/original/file-20230725-23-wrtgjj.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539177/original/file-20230725-23-wrtgjj.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=552&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539177/original/file-20230725-23-wrtgjj.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=552&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539177/original/file-20230725-23-wrtgjj.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=552&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">3D animation of a 6-month old coral recruit approximately 2.1 mm in size.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The secret life of corals</h2>
<p>The life of a coral begins in an annual, synchronised spawning event. Coral colonies release millions of tiny eggs and sperm into the water at the same time. They all rise to the surface where the eggs are fertilised, developing into embryos and then later, into larvae.</p>
<p>Over days or weeks, the millions of larvae disperse with ocean currents. If things go according to nature’s plan, the larvae eventually fall through the water, attach to a reef and grow into adult corals. This process is known as coral “recruitment”.</p>
<p>In healthy coral reefs, this recruitment occurs naturally. But as coral reefs become more degraded – such as through coral bleaching brought on by climate change – <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1081-y">fewer coral larvae are produced</a>. This often means recruitment slows down or stops, and natural recovery weakens.</p>
<p>Scientists are working on ways to ensure coral larvae attach to and grow on reefs. This includes collecting coral spawn from the ocean, rearing embryos in floating nurseries and <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-14546-y">releasing larvae onto damaged reefs</a>.</p>
<p>Coral larvae are less than one millimetre in size, so recruitment occurs on a tiny scale, invisible to the human eye. To better understand the process, researchers traditionally <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s003380000081">attach artificial plates</a> to the reef. Once corals have established themselves, the plates are taken back to the lab to be inspected under a microscope.</p>
<p>This method can provide valuable insights, but it does not replicate the natural reef environment. That’s where our research comes in. Essentially, we brought the lab to the reef.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/safe-havens-for-coral-reefs-will-be-almost-non-existent-at-1-5-c-of-global-warming-new-study-176084">Safe havens for coral reefs will be almost non-existent at 1.5°C of global warming – new study</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="bleached coral reef" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539452/original/file-20230726-23-png2p0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539452/original/file-20230726-23-png2p0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539452/original/file-20230726-23-png2p0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539452/original/file-20230726-23-png2p0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539452/original/file-20230726-23-png2p0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539452/original/file-20230726-23-png2p0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539452/original/file-20230726-23-png2p0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mass bleaching and other damaging events is limiting the establishment of baby corals.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Capturing the reef in incredible 3D detail</h2>
<p>Our new study explores the development and application of an innovative imaging approach known as underwater “macrophotogrammetry”.</p>
<p>The technology combines <a href="https://www.uwphotographyguide.com/macro-underwater-photography">macrophotography</a> – photographing small objects close-up, at very high resolution – and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169534721001944?via%3Dihub">photogrammetry</a> – taking measurements from photos. In this case, we used photogrammetry to “stitch” photos together to recreate three-dimensional models, such as the one below.</p>
<p>The three round objects in the model are “targets” we placed to help the software stitch the photos together. Look closely, and you’ll see a nail head to the left of each target. To give you an idea of the scale of the model, the nail head is 2.8mm in diameter.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539176/original/file-20230725-25-r3sdrj.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539176/original/file-20230725-25-r3sdrj.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539176/original/file-20230725-25-r3sdrj.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539176/original/file-20230725-25-r3sdrj.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539176/original/file-20230725-25-r3sdrj.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539176/original/file-20230725-25-r3sdrj.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539176/original/file-20230725-25-r3sdrj.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A 3D animation of approximately 400 cm² of the reef at micrometre resolution.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Reef-scale photogrammetry can be a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2021.07.004">valuable tool</a> to track changes in coral cover and growth over time. However, it does not provide the detailed resolution needed to identify and observe tiny new corals. </p>
<p>Macrophotography provides this incredibly detailed scale. The coupling of the technologies also enables a comprehensive understanding of the entire ecosystem, from the smallest processes to the largest.</p>
<p>We conducted macrophotogrammetry surveys near Lizard Island on the Great Barrier Reef. We marked several 25cm x 25cm locations on the reef. We then captured hundreds of photographs taken at different angles using high-resolution cameras. </p>
<p>Photogrammetry software was used to process the photos, creating precise 3D models that represent the small sections of reef at very high resolution.</p>
<p>The models were examined to find where baby corals settle, to mark their location and measure their size. They reveal the complexity in the reef micro-structure, including tiny crevices, where coral larvae <a href="https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1890/15-0668.1">often settle</a>. </p>
<p>The models also reveal diverse micro-organisms such as small turf algae or invertebrates, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-59111-2">which interact with corals</a> during the recruitment process.</p>
<p>Macrophotogrammetry surveys can be conducted at the same reef locations over time. This allows us to monitor the survival and growth of baby corals, and observe changes in the organisms living near them. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/record-coral-cover-doesnt-necessarily-mean-the-great-barrier-reef-is-in-good-health-despite-what-you-may-have-heard-188233">Record coral cover doesn't necessarily mean the Great Barrier Reef is in good health (despite what you may have heard)</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="two divers in shallow water" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539170/original/file-20230725-27-j2f1td.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539170/original/file-20230725-27-j2f1td.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539170/original/file-20230725-27-j2f1td.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539170/original/file-20230725-27-j2f1td.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539170/original/file-20230725-27-j2f1td.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539170/original/file-20230725-27-j2f1td.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539170/original/file-20230725-27-j2f1td.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The researchers monitor coral recruitment on a reef slope at Lizard Island.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lauren Hardiman CSIRO</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Looking ahead</h2>
<p>Complementary techniques may increase the potential of macrophotogrammetry even further. For example, coral larvae can be <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3001907">dyed various colours</a> before release, making them more visible when they swim to and settle on the reef. This could be captured in 3D models to allow even better tracking of larval restoration efforts.</p>
<p>The use of macrophotogrammetry will deepen our understandings of why some larvae settle and survive on reefs, and others do not. This knowledge can help support our efforts to improve the overall conservation and recovery of coral reefs. </p>
<p>Its application need not be limited to coral reef ecosystems. We are excited about the potential of the technology to drive marine research more broadly.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/thousands-of-photos-captured-by-everyday-australians-reveal-the-secrets-of-our-marine-life-as-oceans-warm-189231">Thousands of photos captured by everyday Australians reveal the secrets of our marine life as oceans warm</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210372/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marine Gouezo works as a Postdoctoral researcher at Southern Cross University and CSIRO and is involved with the Moving Corals subprogram of the Reef Restoration and Adaptation Program, funded by the partnership between the Australian Government's Reef Trust and the Great Barrier Reef Foundation</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christopher Doropoulos is a Research Scientist at CSIRO. He co-leads the Moving Corals and EcoRRAP Subprograms as part of the Reef Restoration and Adaptation Program (RRAP). RRAP is funded by the partnership between the Australian Government’s Reef Trust and the Great Barrier Reef Foundation.</span></em></p>
This knowledge is particularly important if we want to help reefs recover devastating events such as mass bleaching and cyclones.
Marine Gouezo, Postdoctoral research fellow, Southern Cross University
Christopher Doropoulos, Senior research scientist, CSIRO
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/209069
2023-07-07T14:15:09Z
2023-07-07T14:15:09Z
Yevonde: Life and Colour exhibition reopens the National Portrait Gallery in style
<p>A long-overdue exhibition of the work of photographer Yevonde Middleton (1893-1975) has opened at the National Portrait Gallery (NPG), London. <a href="https://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/exhibitions/2023/yevonde-life-and-colour/">Yevonde: Life and Colour</a> is the first major exhibition since the gallery reopened its doors, following a three-year refurbishment.</p>
<p>Throughout her life, Yevonde was a vocal advocate for women. In her youth, she was a suffragette. And she championed women within photography throughout her long and successful career, gaining wide recognition in her own day. She is best known as a society portraitist and <a href="https://www.npg.org.uk/blog/yevonde-a-beginners-guide">an early pioneer</a> of colour photography at a time when commercial colour photography was new and there was widespread scepticism about its merits. </p>
<p>However, as with so many women artists, Yevonde’s work has been underrepresented by galleries. It wasn’t till 2021 that the NPG acquired a collection of Yevonde’s colour negatives creating its <a href="https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/reframing-narratives-women-in-portraiture/yevonde-colour-archive">Yevonde Colour Archive</a>. A painstaking digitisation process provided the opportunity to reassess this artist’s colour work – much of which has never been seen by the public. </p>
<p>As part of the <a href="https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/reframing-narratives-women-in-portraiture/">Reframing Narratives: Women in Portraiture</a> project, this exhibition, <a href="https://www.designboom.com/art/tracey-emin-45-women-portraits-london-national-portrait-gallery-new-bronze-doors-06-19-2023/">among other initiatives</a>, signals the gallery’s intention to improve the representation of women in its holdings and exhibitions. </p>
<h2>What to expect from the exhibition</h2>
<p>The viewer is guided chronologically through Yevonde’s 60-year career, which began in 1914. Early, tentative society portraits in black and white soon give way to a confident handling of several famous sitters, such as actress Florence Lambert and actor, singer and activist Paul Robeson.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/yevonde-an-introduction-to-the-woman-who-pioneered-colour-photography-203212">Yevonde: an introduction to the woman who pioneered colour photography</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The show details her groundbreaking work from the advent of the first commercially available professional colour printing process, <a href="https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=the+Vivex+colour+process&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8">the Vivex colour process</a>, around 1930. This process used three negatives, one for each primary colour, which were processed separately and then printed, one on top of the other, by hand to achieve a perfect registration of the final print. Many of the prints on display have been framed in a way that visitors can see the edges – revealing the <a href="https://www.npg.org.uk/assets/uploads/images/800_x221922_2022_oversized_Edited_V2.jpg">three colour separations and swatches</a>.</p>
<p>Yevonde eventually returned to black and white, however, because with the onset of the second world war, Vivex ceased trading. </p>
<p>Wit and raw energy emanate from her most famous series, <a href="https://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/display/2005/goddesses-and-others">The Goddesses</a> – inspired by a charity ball in 1935 attended by society women dressed as mythical figures from western antiquity.</p>
<p>Many examples of Yevonde’s commercial work – for <a href="https://npgshop.org.uk/products/orchids-model-is-wearing-suit-and-hat-by-christabel-russell-ltd-npg-x220749-print">magazines</a> and book jackets – and her idiosyncratic “<a href="https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1419537/still-life-with-head-of-photograph-madame-yevonde/">still-life phantasies</a>”, all playfully draw on her familiarity with surrealism. </p>
<p>Always looking to vary her approach, her innovations include double portrait montages (typically of couples), while later experimentation with <a href="https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1430773/solarised-portrait-of-two-women-photograph-yevonde/">solarisation</a> (a darkroom technique used to reverse tones) echo the much earlier work of Man Ray and Lee Miller. An extraordinary image of the young <a href="https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw142261/Judi-Dench">Judi Dench</a> is a good example. </p>
<h2>Yevonde’s muses</h2>
<p>Yevonde was predominantly concerned with the lives and interests of wealthy and successful women, including debutantes, wives and mothers, but also, importantly, women in their professional capacities as authors, journalists, artists, dancers, actresses and models and adventurers. Her portrait of racing driver and aviator <a href="https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw82814/Jill-Scott">Jill Scott</a> is a notable example.</p>
<p>The exhibition’s strength is in its understanding that art is always <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Social_Production_of_Art/Mn0VCgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcove">a collaborative affair</a>. Yevonde is the star of the show but there are other important contributors. </p>
<p>I spoke with curator Clare Freestone and Katayoun Dowlatshahi, the artist responsible for hand-crafting many of the colour prints on display. Dowlatshahi was brought in for her expertise in using the colour carbon transfer process to mimic the look of the Vivex process.</p>
<p>Achieving the colouration Yevonde desired was far from straightforward. When Yevonde was working in the 1930s, colour photography was still developing and in constant flux. Her process wasn’t consistent for a range of reasons. From the outset, Yevonde approached colour experimentally for its creative and compositional potential – often using coloured lights, filters and transparencies.</p>
<p>Dowlatshahi’s aim was to find the nearest colour equivalents to those used in the 1930s. She told me: “It felt really important to understand the colours, the pigments … used at the time.” Modern colours proved to be unsuitable. It was “a constant learning curve – everything had to be checked and checked again”. Four to six prints per image were produced in order to get the colour balance right.</p>
<p>The process of completing 25 finished prints, including initial research, took seven months and revealed that “everything that Yevonde did was purposeful and deliberate”. She left nothing to chance and gave very precise instructions to the printers at Vivex. </p>
<p>However, much of Yevonde’s portraiture might frustrate contemporary expectations. Her early pictures of celebrated women, particularly those in colour, only rarely give an insight into the sitter’s inner world. With studio portraiture of this kind, a vast amount of retouching was commonplace to “improve” the subject’s appearance while retaining an essential likeness. Yevonde describes this in her autobiography <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/In_Camera/NwrMuAAACAAJ?hl=en">In Camera</a> (1940).</p>
<p>Nevertheless, Yevonde celebrated women’s creativity, ingenuity and individuality which, she argued, was often expressed through colour in their chosen style of dress – hair, makeup, nails, fabrics and accessories – and through magazines.</p>
<p>Yevonde: Life and Colour includes a portrait by the English portrait photographer <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2014/dec/21/jane-bown-a-life-in-photography-in-pictures">Jane Bown</a> taken of Yevonde during her 1968 exhibition of <a href="https://womenwhomeantbusiness.com/2023/01/25/yevonde-middleton-1893-1975/">Some Distinguished Women</a>. The show marked the 50th anniversary of some women gaining the vote and featured 50 portraits, among them writer <a href="https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw143858/Iris-Murdoch">Iris Murdoch</a> and artist <a href="https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw144768/Laura-Knight">Laura Knight</a>.</p>
<p>In Bown’s portrait of Yevonde, she is smiling and appears relaxed. It’s a rare opportunity to see a wonderful study of the woman who had observed so many others during her long and distinguished career.</p>
<p><em><a href="https://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/exhibitions/2023/yevonde-life-and-colour/">Yevonde: Life and Colour</a> is on at the National Portrait Gallery, London, until October 15 2023.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209069/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Darcy White does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Yevonde’s photographs celebrated women’s creativity, ingenuity and individuality which, she argued, was often expressed through colour.
Darcy White, Senior Lecturer in Visual Culture, Sheffield Hallam University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/206314
2023-06-29T17:01:33Z
2023-06-29T17:01:33Z
V&A’s new centre reveals pivotal role photography plays in reflecting and shaping our world
<p>In May, London’s <a href="https://www.vam.ac.uk/">Victoria and Albert Museum</a> opened the much-anticipated second phase of its <a href="https://www.vam.ac.uk/info/photography-centre">Photography Centre</a>. Set to be the UK’s largest permanent photography display, it will survey the medium’s past, present and future. With plans to rotate displays across seven galleries, it reflects the V&A’s renewed commitment to photography.</p>
<p>The centre has the feel of a museum within a museum and is clearly designed to cultivate debate, as it also houses a dedicated reading and research room that aims to examine the relationship between photography and the book as a form of publishing. The centre’s archive has been opened to researchers and the public alike.</p>
<p>The centre will provide not just a new home for the V&A’s extensive photography collection (which dates back to the 19th century), it will also go some way to cementing the status of photography as a leading form of expression within contemporary visual culture. </p>
<p>The V&A’s new addition will, like London’s long-established <a href="https://thephotographersgallery.org.uk/">Photographers’ Gallery</a>, contribute to our understanding of the pivotal role that photography has played in reflecting on and shaping our world.</p>
<h2>A quick tour</h2>
<p>Sidestepping the pitfalls of categorisation by genre, the opening rooms, Photography 1840s – Now, present a more idiosyncratic curation of images. Visitors are presented with juxtaposing images under a programme of changing themes, starting with Energies: Sparks from the Collection.</p>
<p>The theme prompts visitors to meditate on the way the medium captures the energy of a subject in an image. It also asks them to consider the way images are manipulated through photo-chemical processes.</p>
<p>It will be interesting to see to what extent this approach will produce new perspectives on the diversity of images held in the V&A’s collection. Navigating darkened galleries with backlit displays, it becomes clear that these unique commissions and new acquisitions will become the site for developing knowledge of the medium – expanding notions of photographic practice by making links between historical and future techniques and processes.</p>
<p>The works selected for another theme, Photography Now, set a political agenda and echo pressing themes for our times: climate change, socio-political conflict, gender and identity and the legacy of colonial histories.</p>
<p>A foray into decolonising the canon is exemplified in the work of <a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/visit/tate-modern/display/artist-and-society/sammy-baloji">Sammy Baloji</a>. In his mirror prints, fragmented images of raw copper ore float over archive photographs of the Congo’s colonial past.</p>
<p>Also compelling are the evocative images from Speak the Wind, <a href="https://www.vam.ac.uk/blog/museum-life/hoda-afshar-in-conversation">Hoda Afshar’s</a> combination of poetic landscapes and human subjects that attempt to make visible the invisible force of a mythical malevolent wind known as “Zar”. These works expose the physical and cultural traces of the Arab slave trade from Africa to the Persian Gulf.</p>
<p>Elsewhere there is an emphasis on the fascination many contemporary photographers have with the medium itself. A number of the showcased artists create a dialogue with the past by adapting some of the earliest techniques in novel ways.</p>
<p>Notable are the performance self portraits by <a href="https://www.tarrahkrajnak.com/bio">Tarrah Krajnak</a>, who combines projected images with the <a href="https://brightpoint.edu/library-blog/cyanotypes-photographs-without-cameras/#:%7E:text=Cyanotype%20photographs%20can%20be%20made,will%20react%20and%20turn%20blue.">cyanotype process</a>. This is an early form of photographic printing using coated paper and light, later widely known as blueprinting. Krajnak uses it to explore personal identity in relation to Peru’s traumatic political past. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.moma.org/collection/terms/collotype">Collotypes</a> (a 19th-century photographic-based printmaking technique) by <a href="http://www.antony-cairns.co.uk/bio">Antony Cairns</a> constitute a “translation” between old and new, taking images of urban spaces which are frozen on defunct Kindle screens and then reproducing them on paper.</p>
<p>It is positive to see a significant number of female photographers represented in the Photography Centre.</p>
<p><a href="https://gagosian.com/artists/vera-lutter/">Vera Lutter’s</a> unique monochrome negative of a radio telescope – inscribed directly onto light-sensitive paper through an extended period of exposure using a large pinhole camera – is a reminder that photography is inextricably linked to time through the actual processes employed (exposure times, developing, printing and so on). </p>
<p>Concluding these rooms is the monumental sculptural photo installation, Giant Phoenix VI, by <a href="https://noemiegoudal.com/infos">Noémie Goudal</a>. Her complex process explores the deep time of <a href="https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/news/what-is-paleoclimatology#:%7E:text=Similar%20to%20the%20way%20archeologists,widespread%20availability%20of%20instrumental%20records.">paleoclimatology</a>, which reconstructs the climates of ancient history. Goudal photographs trees and then inserts scale photographs back into the real world and photographs them again.</p>
<p>The resulting images are then layered as fragments onto towering metal panels that, when viewed from different positions, simultaneously break up and reform the picture plane, alluding to the fragility of the image and the subject it depicts.</p>
<h2>A huge undertaking</h2>
<p>The photograph is deeply entangled in our contemporary experience, playing a crucial role in recording and informing our understanding of the world. Which means photography has a number of overlapping histories: as a technology of seeing, a social document and an aesthetic practice. </p>
<p>So how do we begin to unpick and present these interwoven histories in a way that does not leave one overshadowed by another? And how best do we present each photograph to stimulate thought and action beyond the confines of the gallery? It will be interesting to observe how the V&A’s new Photography Centre navigates these challenges now that the gallery is open to the public.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206314/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Duncan Cook does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Surveying photography’s past, present and future, the new Photography Centre will cement the status of the medium as a leading form of expression in contemporary visual culture.
Duncan Cook, Senior Lecturer Photography, Cardiff Metropolitan University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/207473
2023-06-15T18:18:00Z
2023-06-15T18:18:00Z
Generative AI is a minefield for copyright law
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532241/original/file-20230615-11155-nww82y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=17%2C5%2C3817%2C2149&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Still from 'All watched over by machines of loving grace' by Memo Akten, 2021. Created using custom AI software.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Memo Akten</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In 2022, an AI-generated work of art won the Colorado State Fair’s art competition. The artist, Jason Allen, had used Midjourney – a generative AI system trained on art <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/robsalkowitz/2022/09/16/midjourney-founder-david-holz-on-the-impact-of-ai-on-art-imagination-and-the-creative-economy/?sh=6b99081f2d2b">scraped from the internet</a> – to create the piece. The process was far from fully automated: Allen went through some 900 iterations over 80 hours to create and refine his submission. </p>
<p>Yet his use of AI to win the art competition triggered a heated backlash online, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/02/technology/ai-artificial-intelligence-artists.html">with one Twitter user claiming</a>, “We’re watching the death of artistry unfold right before our eyes.”</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1565712173183016960"}"></div></p>
<p>As generative AI art tools like Midjourney and Stable Diffusion have been thrust into the limelight, so too have questions about ownership and authorship. </p>
<p>These tools’ generative ability is the result of training them with scores of prior artworks, from which the AI learns how to create artistic outputs.</p>
<p>Should the artists whose art was scraped to train the models be compensated? Who owns the images that AI systems produce? Is the process of fine-tuning prompts for generative AI a form of <a href="https://theconversation.com/generative-ai-is-forcing-people-to-rethink-what-it-means-to-be-authentic-204347">authentic creative expression</a>? </p>
<p>On one hand, <a href="https://www.freethink.com/robots-ai/ai-and-future-of-creativity">technophiles rave</a> over work like Allen’s. But on the other, many working artists consider the use of their art to train AI to be <a href="https://www.artnews.com/art-in-america/features/midjourney-ai-art-image-generators-lawsuit-1234665579/">exploitative</a>.</p>
<p>We’re part of a team of 14 experts across disciplines that just published a paper on generative AI in Science magazine. In it, we explore how advances in AI <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adh4451">will affect creative work, aesthetics and the media</a>. One of the key questions that emerged has to do with <a href="https://www.copyright.gov/what-is-copyright/">U.S. copyright laws</a>, and whether they can adequately deal with the unique challenges of generative AI.</p>
<p>Copyright laws were created to promote the arts and creative thinking. But the rise of generative AI has complicated existing notions of authorship.</p>
<h2>Photography serves as a helpful lens</h2>
<p>Generative AI might seem unprecedented, but history can act as a guide. </p>
<p>Take the <a href="https://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/coml8&div=41&g_sent=1&casa_token=oFkqu0HYSOgAAAAA:C_ZxdPOJEoIWzr2PmppzxZgIdgdf6mx-bocutIgYsKOFyOJAomcBF4rfVVymEGmBgt3fFXZR&collection=journals">emergence of photography in the 1800s</a>. Before its invention, artists could only try to portray the world through drawing, painting or sculpture. Suddenly, reality could be captured in a flash using a camera and chemicals. </p>
<p>As with generative AI, many argued that photography lacked artistic merit. In 1884, the <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/111/53/">U.S. Supreme Court weighed in on the issue</a> and found that cameras served as tools that an artist could use to give an idea visible form; the “masterminds” behind the cameras, the court ruled, should own the photographs they create. </p>
<p>From then on, photography evolved into its own art form and even sparked <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0752/7/2/18">new abstract artistic movements</a>. </p>
<h2>AI can’t own outputs</h2>
<p>Unlike inanimate cameras, AI possesses capabilities – like the ability to convert basic instructions into impressive artistic works – that make it <a href="https://theconversation.com/ai-isnt-close-to-becoming-sentient-the-real-danger-lies-in-how-easily-were-prone-to-anthropomorphize-it-200525">prone to anthropomorphization</a>. Even the term “artificial intelligence” encourages people to think that these systems have humanlike intent or even self-awareness.</p>
<p>This led some people to wonder whether AI systems can be “owners.” But the U.S. Copyright Office has stated unequivocally that <a href="https://www.copyright.gov/ai/ai_policy_guidance.pdf">only humans can hold copyrights</a>.</p>
<p>So who can claim ownership of images produced by AI? Is it the artists whose images were used to train the systems? The users who type in prompts to create images? Or the people who build the AI systems?</p>
<h2>Infringement or fair use?</h2>
<p>While artists draw obliquely from past works that have educated and inspired them in order to create, generative AI relies on training data to produce outputs. </p>
<p>This training data consists of prior artworks, many of which are protected by copyright law and which have been collected without artists’ knowledge or consent. Using art in this way might violate copyright law even before the AI generates a new work.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Computer generated image made to look like a painting of a face with wires spilling out of its head surrounded by a field of grass and flowers." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532244/original/file-20230615-15-urogfz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532244/original/file-20230615-15-urogfz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532244/original/file-20230615-15-urogfz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532244/original/file-20230615-15-urogfz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532244/original/file-20230615-15-urogfz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532244/original/file-20230615-15-urogfz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532244/original/file-20230615-15-urogfz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Still from ‘All watched over by machines of loving grace’ by Memo Akten, 2021. Created using custom AI software.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Memo Akten</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For Jason Allen to create his award-winning art, Midjourney was trained on <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/robsalkowitz/2022/09/16/midjourney-founder-david-holz-on-the-impact-of-ai-on-art-imagination-and-the-creative-economy/?sh=b14a0aa2d2b8">100 million</a> prior works.</p>
<p>Was that a form of infringement? Or was it a new form of “<a href="https://www.copyright.gov/fair-use/">fair use</a>,” a legal doctrine that permits the unlicensed use of protected works if they’re sufficiently transformed into something new? </p>
<p>While AI systems do not contain literal copies of the training data, they do <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/2212.03860">sometimes manage to recreate works</a> from the training data, complicating this legal analysis. </p>
<p>Will contemporary copyright law favor end users and companies over the artists whose content is in the training data? </p>
<p>To mitigate this concern, some scholars propose new regulations to protect and compensate artists whose work is used for training. These proposals include a right for artists to <a href="https://arxiv.org/pdf/2303.11074.pdf'">opt out of their data’s being used</a> for generative AI or a way to <a href="https://www.uspto.gov/sites/default/files/documents/Jessica-Fjeld_RFC-84-FR-58141.pdf">automatically compensate artists</a> when their work is used to train an AI.</p>
<h2>Muddled ownership</h2>
<p>Training data, however, is only part of the process. Frequently, artists who use generative AI tools go through many rounds of revision to refine their prompts, which suggests a degree of originality.</p>
<p>Answering the question of who should own the outputs requires looking into the contributions of all those involved in the generative AI supply chain.</p>
<p>The legal analysis is easier when an output is different from works in the training data. In this case, whoever prompted the AI to produce the output appears to be the default owner. </p>
<p>However, copyright law requires meaningful creative input – a standard satisfied by clicking the shutter button on a camera. It remains unclear how courts will decide what this means for the use of generative AI. Is composing and refining a prompt enough? </p>
<p>Matters are more complicated when outputs resemble works in the training data. If the resemblance is based only on general style or content, it is unlikely to violate copyright, because style is not copyrightable. </p>
<p>The illustrator Hollie Mengert encountered this issue firsthand when her unique style was mimicked by generative AI engines in a way that did not capture what, in her eyes, <a href="https://waxy.org/2022/11/invasive-diffusion-how-one-unwilling-illustrator-found-herself-turned-into-an-ai-model/">made her work unique</a>. Meanwhile, the singer Grimes embraced the tech, “open-sourcing” her voice and encouraging fans to create songs <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/24/arts/music/grimes-ai-songs.html">in her style using generative AI</a>.</p>
<p>If an output contains major elements from a work in the training data, it might infringe on that work’s copyright. Recently, the Supreme Court ruled that Andy Warhol’s drawing of a photograph <a href="https://theconversation.com/warhol-foundation-v-goldsmith-supreme-court-rules-for-income-streams-over-artistic-freedom-205986">was not permitted by fair use</a>. That means that using AI to just change the style of a work – say, from a photo to an illustration – is not enough to claim ownership over the modified output. </p>
<p>While copyright law tends to favor an all-or-nothing approach, scholars at Harvard Law School have proposed new models of <a href="https://clinic.cyber.harvard.edu/files/2020/02/WIPO-Comment-FINAL-2020-02-14.pdf">joint ownership</a> that allow artists to gain some rights in outputs that resemble their works.</p>
<p>In many ways, generative AI is yet another creative tool that allows a new group of people access to image-making, just like cameras, paintbrushes or Adobe Photoshop. But a key difference is this new set of tools relies explicitly on training data, and therefore creative contributions cannot easily be traced back to a single artist. </p>
<p>The ways in which existing laws are interpreted or reformed – and whether generative AI is appropriately treated as the tool it is – will have real consequences for the future of creative expression.</p>
<p></p><hr><p></p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528404/original/file-20230525-19537-m9iltu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528404/original/file-20230525-19537-m9iltu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528404/original/file-20230525-19537-m9iltu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528404/original/file-20230525-19537-m9iltu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528404/original/file-20230525-19537-m9iltu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528404/original/file-20230525-19537-m9iltu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528404/original/file-20230525-19537-m9iltu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>Learn what you need to know about artificial intelligence by <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?nl=ai&source=inline-promo">signing up for our newsletter series of four emails</a> delivered over the course of a week. You can read all our stories on generative AI at <a href="https://theconversation.com/topics/generative-ai-133426">TheConversation.com</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207473/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jessica Fjeld is a member of the board of the Global Network Initiative.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ziv Epstein received compensation from OpenAI for adversarially testing DALL-E 2 in Spring 2022.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robert Mahari does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Intellectual property law wasn’t written with AI in mind, so it isn’t clear who owns the images that emerge from prompts – or if the artists whose work was scraped to train AI models should be paid.
Robert Mahari, JD-PhD Student, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Jessica Fjeld, Lecturer on Law, Harvard Law School
Ziv Epstein, PhD Student in Media Arts and Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/204078
2023-06-09T12:29:14Z
2023-06-09T12:29:14Z
The US has a child labor problem – recalling an embarrassing past that Americans may think they’ve left behind
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530946/original/file-20230608-2398-osoifr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=311%2C187%2C2993%2C2286&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Lewis Wickes Hine, 'A little spinner in a Georgia Cotton Mill, 1909.'</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Gelatin silver print, 5 x 7 in. The Photography Collections, University of Maryland, Baltimore County (P545)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>At the University of Maryland, Baltimore County’s Special Collections, where I am head curator, we’ve recently completed <a href="https://umbc.edu/stories/preserving-the-photography-of-lewis-hine/">a major digitization and rehousing project</a> of our collection of over 5,400 photographs made by <a href="https://iphf.org/inductees/lewis-hine/">Lewis Wickes Hine</a> in the early 20th century.</p>
<p>Traveling the country with his camera, Hine captured the often oppressive working conditions of thousands of children – some as young as 3 years old. </p>
<p>As I’ve worked with this collection over the past two years, the social and political implications of Hine’s photographs have been very much on my mind. The patina of these black-and-white photographs suggests a bygone era – an embarrassing past that many Americans might imagine they’ve left behind. </p>
<p>But with <a href="https://www.marketplace.org/shows/make-me-smart/in-2023-america-has-a-child-labor-problem/">numerous reports</a> of <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/us-crack-down-child-labor-amid-massive-uptick-2023-02-27/">child labor violations</a>, many involving immigrants, occurring in the U.S., along with an uptick in <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/03/10/1162531885/arkansas-child-labor-law-under-16-years-old-sarah-huckabee-sanders">state legislation</a> <a href="https://apnews.com/article/iowa-child-labor-bill-d2546845dd6ad7ec0a2c74fb3fc0def3">rolling back the legal working age</a>, it’s clear that Hine’s work is as relevant today as it was a century ago.</p>
<h2>‘An investigator with a camera’</h2>
<p>A sociologist by training, Hine began making photographs in 1903 while working as a teacher at the progressive Ethical Culture School in New York City. </p>
<p>Between 1903 and 1908, he and his students photographed migrants at Ellis Island. Hine believed that the future of the U.S. rested in its identity as an immigrant nation – a position that contrasted with <a href="https://pluralism.org/xenophobia-closing-the-door">escalating xenophobic fears</a>. </p>
<p>Based on this work, the <a href="https://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/nclc/background.html">National Child Labor Committee</a>, which advocated for child labor laws, hired Hine to document the living and working conditions of American children. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530975/original/file-20230608-29-2g9rie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Boy covered in soot poses with his hands clasped behind his back." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530975/original/file-20230608-29-2g9rie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530975/original/file-20230608-29-2g9rie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=827&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530975/original/file-20230608-29-2g9rie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=827&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530975/original/file-20230608-29-2g9rie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=827&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530975/original/file-20230608-29-2g9rie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1040&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530975/original/file-20230608-29-2g9rie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1040&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530975/original/file-20230608-29-2g9rie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1040&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Lewis Wickes Hine, ‘Trapper Boy, Turkey Knob Mine, MacDonald, West Virginia, 1908.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Gelatin silver print. 5 x 7 in. The Photography Collections, University of Maryland, Baltimore County (P148)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>By the late 19th century, several states had passed <a href="https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2017/article/history-of-child-labor-in-the-united-states-part-2-the-reform-movement.htm">laws limiting the age of child laborers</a> and establishing maximum working hours. But at the turn of the century, the <a href="https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2017/article/history-of-child-labor-in-the-united-states-part-1.htm">number of working kids soared</a> – between 1890 and 1910, 18% of children ages 10 to 15 were employed.</p>
<p>In his work for the National Child Labor Committee, Hine journeyed to farms and mills in the industrializing South and the streets and factories of the Northeast. He <a href="https://90025031.weebly.com/uploads/2/2/9/4/22941172/6532401.png?256">used a Graflex camera</a> with 5-by-7-inch glass plate negatives and employed flash powder for nighttime and interior shots, hauling upward of 50 pounds of equipment on his slight frame. </p>
<p>To gain entry into factories and other facilities, Hine sometimes disguised himself as a Bible, postcard or insurance salesman. Other times he’d wait outside to catch workers arriving for or departing from their shifts.</p>
<p>Along with photographic records, Hine collected his subjects’ personal stories, including their ages and ethnicities. He documented their working lives, such as their typical hours and any injuries or ailments they incurred as a result of their labor. </p>
<p>Hine, who considered himself “<a href="https://openlibrary.org/books/OL2525831M/Lewis_Hine_in_Europe">an investigator with a camera</a>,” used this information to create what he termed “photo stories” – combinations of images and text that could be used on posters, in public lectures and in published reports to help the organization advance its mission.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Boys standing at a table splayed with seafood as an older worker obsveres" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531002/original/file-20230608-21-jdp136.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531002/original/file-20230608-21-jdp136.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=355&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531002/original/file-20230608-21-jdp136.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=355&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531002/original/file-20230608-21-jdp136.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=355&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531002/original/file-20230608-21-jdp136.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531002/original/file-20230608-21-jdp136.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531002/original/file-20230608-21-jdp136.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Lewis Wickes Hine’s photograph of three young fish cutters working at the Seacoast Canning Co. in Eastport, Maine.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/pnp/nclc/00900/00972v.jpg">National Child Labor Committee collection, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Legislation follows</h2>
<p>Hine’s muckraking photographs exemplify the genre of <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/edph/hd_edph.htm">documentary photography</a>, which relies upon the perceived truthfulness of photography to make a case for social change. </p>
<p>The camera serves as an eyewitness to a societal ill, a problem that needs a solution. Hine portrayed his subjects in a direct manner, typically frontally and looking straight into the camera, against the backdrop of the very factories, farmland or cities where they worked. </p>
<p>By capturing details of his sitters’ bare feet, tattered clothes, soiled faces and hands, and diminutive stature against hulking industrial equipment, Hine made a direct statement about the poor conditions and precarity of these children’s lives.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Five young boys wearing caps and holding newspapers in front of an imposing white building." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530972/original/file-20230608-19-jlog7o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530972/original/file-20230608-19-jlog7o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530972/original/file-20230608-19-jlog7o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530972/original/file-20230608-19-jlog7o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530972/original/file-20230608-19-jlog7o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530972/original/file-20230608-19-jlog7o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530972/original/file-20230608-19-jlog7o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Lewis Wickes Hine, ‘Group of newsies selling on Capitol steps, April 11, 1912.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">The Photography Collections, University of Maryland, Baltimore County (P2904)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Hine’s photographs made a successful case for child labor reform. </p>
<p>Notably, the National Child Labor Committee’s efforts resulted in Congress establishing the <a href="https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubPDFs/Story_of_CB.pdf">Children’s Bureau</a> in 1912 and passing the <a href="https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/keating-owen-child-labor-act">Keating-Owen Act</a> in 1916, which limited working hours for children and prohibited the interstate sale of goods produced by child labor.</p>
<p>Although the <a href="http://sites.gsu.edu/us-constipedia/child-labor-law/">Supreme Court later ruled</a> it and a subsequent Child Labor Tax Law of 1919 unconstitutional, momentum for enshrining protections for child workers had been created. In 1938, Congress passed the <a href="https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/flsa">Fair Labor Standards Act</a>, which established restrictions and protections on employing children. </p>
<p>The National Child Labor Committee’s project also included advocacy for the enforcement of existing child labor regulations, a regulatory problem reemerging today as the Department of Labor – the agency tasked with enforcing labor laws – <a href="https://news.bloomberglaw.com/daily-labor-report/dols-wage-arm-vows-child-labor-focus-despite-no-rule-changes">comes under fire</a> for failing to protect child workers.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Hooded girl in a field of cotton stares forlornly at the camera." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530998/original/file-20230608-29-alq94t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530998/original/file-20230608-29-alq94t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=438&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530998/original/file-20230608-29-alq94t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=438&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530998/original/file-20230608-29-alq94t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=438&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530998/original/file-20230608-29-alq94t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530998/original/file-20230608-29-alq94t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530998/original/file-20230608-29-alq94t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A young picker carries a large sack of cotton on her back.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/young-cotton-picker-carries-a-large-sack-of-cotton-on-her-news-photo/640486085?adppopup=true">Lewis Wickes Hine/Library of Congress via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The ethics of picturing child labor</h2>
<p>A recent surge of unaccompanied minors, primarily from Central America, has brought new attention to America’s old problem of child labor and has threatened the very laws Hine and the National Child Labor Committee worked to enact. </p>
<p>Some estimates suggest that one-third of migrants under 18 <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/25/us/unaccompanied-migrant-child-workers-exploitation.html">are working illegally</a>, whether it’s laboring more hours than current laws permit, or working without the proper authorizations. Many of them perform hazardous jobs similar to those of Hine’s subjects: handling dangerous equipment and being exposed to noxious chemicals in factories, slaughterhouses and industrial farms.</p>
<p>While the content of Hine’s photographs remains pertinent to today’s child labor crisis, a key distinction between the subject of Hine’s photographs and working children today is race. </p>
<p>Hine focused his camera almost exclusively on white children who arrived in the country during waves of immigration from Europe during the late-19th and early-20th centuries. <a href="https://journalpanorama.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Zelt-American-Photographs-Abroad.pdf">As art historian Natalie Zelt argues</a>, Hine’s pictorial treatment of Black children – either ignored or forced to the margins of his images – implied to viewers that the face of childhood in America was, by default, white. </p>
<p>The perceived racial hierarchies of Hine’s era reverberate into the present, where underage migrants of color live and work at the margins of society.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A group of women hold drums and signs reading 'Popeyes Stop Exploiting Child Labor.'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531004/original/file-20230608-29-lcdhg2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531004/original/file-20230608-29-lcdhg2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531004/original/file-20230608-29-lcdhg2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531004/original/file-20230608-29-lcdhg2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531004/original/file-20230608-29-lcdhg2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531004/original/file-20230608-29-lcdhg2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531004/original/file-20230608-29-lcdhg2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Workers protest outside a Popeye’s restaurant in Oakland, Calif., on May 18, 2023, after reports emerged of the franchise exploiting child labor.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/betty-escobar-left-and-other-fast-food-workers-protest-at-news-photo/1491552588?adppopup=true">Jane Tyska/Digital First Media/East Bay Times via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.reuters.com/investigates/section/underage-workers/">Contemporary reports</a> of child labor violations offer few images to accompany their texts, graphs and statistics. There are legitimate reasons for this. By not including identifying personal information or portraits, news outlets protect a vulnerable population. <a href="https://www.unicef.org/eca/media/ethical-guidelines">Ethical guidelines</a> frown upon revealing private details of the lives of children interviewed. And, as Hine’s experience demonstrates, it can be difficult to infiltrate the sites of these labor violations, since they are typically kept secure.</p>
<p>Digital cameras and smartphones offer a workaround. Beginning in 2015, the International Labor Organization <a href="https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ilab/our-work/child-forced-labor-trafficking/My-PEC">urged child laborers in Myanmar</a> to become “young activists” and use their own images and words to create “photo stories” – echoing Hine’s use of the term – that the organization could then disseminate.</p>
<p>Photographs of child labor in foreign countries are far more common than those made in the U.S., which leaves the impression that child labor is someone else’s problem, not ours. Perhaps it’s too hard for Americans to look at this domestic issue square in the eyes. </p>
<p>A similar effect is at work when viewing Hine’s photographs today. While they were originally valued for their immediacy, they can seem to belong to a distant past.</p>
<p>But if Hine’s photographic archive of child laborers is evidence of the power of photography to sway public opinion, does the lack of images in today’s reporting – even if nobly intended – create a disconnect? </p>
<p>Is the public capable of understanding the harmful consequences of lack of labor enforcement when the faces of the people affected are missing from the picture?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204078/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Beth Saunders does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
While Lewis Hine’s early-20th century photographs of working children compelled Congress to limit or ban child labor, the US Department of Labor is now under fire for failing to enforce these laws.
Beth Saunders, Curator and Head of Special Collections and Gallery, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/205378
2023-05-17T12:40:39Z
2023-05-17T12:40:39Z
Barbara Kingsolver’s ‘Demon Copperhead’ and the enduring devastation of the opioid crisis
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526588/original/file-20230516-35975-5ps8gu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=453%2C590%2C3095%2C2057&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Barbara Kingsolver's protagonist, Demon, is much more than his drug habit.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/child-lying-on-the-waterfall-royalty-free-image/537292087">SergioZacchi/iStock via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="http://barbarakingsolver.net">Barbara Kingsolver’s</a> literary honors range from the National Book Prize of South Africa to the PEN/Faulkner Award. </p>
<p>On May 8, 2023, she added a <a href="https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/barbara-kingsolver">Pulitzer Prize</a> to her accolades. </p>
<p>Her winning novel, “<a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/demon-copperhead-barbara-kingsolver?variant=40073146204194">Demon Copperhead</a>,” is more than just a reimagining of Charles Dickens’ “<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/766/766-h/766-h.htm">David Copperfield</a>.” Casting an opioid-addicted Appalachian orphan as her protagonist, Kingsolver sheds new light on one of America’s greatest health crises. </p>
<p>Understandably, the COVID-19 pandemic eclipsed media coverage of and national concern over the opioid epidemic; nevertheless, opioids remain a massive public health problem, and I think the author’s attention to it is both welcome and necessary. </p>
<p>In taking up the topic, she joins artists with ties to Appalachia, such as bluegrass guitar phenom <a href="https://www.billystrings.com/">Billy Strings</a>, the late singer-songwriter <a href="https://www.johnprine.com/">John Prine</a> and photographer <a href="https://www.stacykranitz.com/">Stacy Kranitz</a>, all of whom have used their art to highlight the ravaging effects of these drugs on their region.</p>
<h2>How artists can reclaim a place</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.middlebury.edu/college/people/william-nash">As an American Studies professor</a> who teaches courses on both country music and images of rural America, I see this groundbreaking work through the lens of <a href="https://researchguides.dartmouth.edu/human_geography/cultural">cultural geography</a>, which explores the relationship between culture and place.</p>
<p>A region can inspire unique forms of art, music, literature and architecture, and the work of geographer <a href="https://www.aag.org/memorial/edward-w-soja/">Edward Soja</a> helped show how this work can push back against stereotypes. </p>
<p>In 1996, Soja published “<a href="https://geography.ruhosting.nl/geography/index.php?title=Thirdspace">Thirdspace: Journeys to Los Angeles and Other Real-and-Imagined Places</a>.” </p>
<p>In it, he argued that stereotypes of a region’s people and landscape could lead to damaging politics and policies. For example, outsiders’ views of “the inner city” as hotbeds for poverty, crime and broken families led to the implementation of racist <a href="https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/moynihan-report-1965/">public housing policies in the 1960s</a>.</p>
<p>Soja’s book was a call to arms for artists and the marginalized: In what he called “thirdspace” – a place that exists at the intersection of the real and the imagined – they can reclaim and reframe visions of their region, showcasing <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-black-poets-and-writers-gave-a-voice-to-affrilachia-155706">different identities and experiences</a>. </p>
<p>Appalachia is a region that, for generations, has been subjected to <a href="https://qz.com/1167671/the-100-year-capitalist-experiment-that-keeps-appalachia-poor-sick-and-stuck-on-coal">economic oppression</a>, <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2014/04/03/298892382/stereotypes-of-appalachia-obscure-a-diverse-picture">classist stereotyping</a> and environmental and medical recklessness. <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/speech/assistant-attorney-general-brian-benczkowski-gives-remarks-west-virginia-and-appalachian">The pumping of opioids into rural communities</a> represents just another chapter in this story of exploitation. </p>
<p>Yet artists and writers like Kingsolver are able to show that the people in the region are more than just backward, powerless victims – that they are complicated people with the same goals, longings and fears as the rest of us. </p>
<h2>More than an addict</h2>
<p>Kingsolver, who was raised in rural Kentucky and who currently resides in Virginia, had a keen vision for Copperhead. She weaves the history of the economic fallout from the tobacco industry and coal mining into her protagonist’s backstory.</p>
<p>Her central concern, though, was always the opioid crisis. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/14/books/barbara-kingsolver-demon-copperhead.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare">As she told The New York Times in October 2022</a>, “I wanted to say, ‘Look, it’s still here, and this got done to us and we didn’t deserve it.’”</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526611/original/file-20230516-34052-cr44y0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Book cover of 'Demon Copperhead.'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526611/original/file-20230516-34052-cr44y0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526611/original/file-20230516-34052-cr44y0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=774&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526611/original/file-20230516-34052-cr44y0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=774&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526611/original/file-20230516-34052-cr44y0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=774&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526611/original/file-20230516-34052-cr44y0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=973&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526611/original/file-20230516-34052-cr44y0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=973&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526611/original/file-20230516-34052-cr44y0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=973&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Demon Copperhead’ won the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for fiction.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0570/7209/1326/products/33274BCF-6D06-40F3-B603-2C8F57086E36.jpg?v=1669761668">Black Bird Bookstore and Cafe</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>That’s the story of Demon’s life. An orphan who experiences poverty, an abusive foster home and social isolation, he finds freedom and glory on the football field, only to experience a devastating knee injury. </p>
<p>Pressured by his coach and the townspeople to play through his pain, he blindly takes the OxyContin that the local Dr. Feelgood prescribes, only to find himself crippled physically, psychologically and emotionally by his addiction.</p>
<p>And yet, through all of that, Demon is much more than his habit. Kingsolver foregrounds his humanity, his humor and his potential for goodness in a way that makes him more than “just an addict.” </p>
<p>In doing so, Kingsolver uses her connection to the region, her empathy for its residents and her awareness of stereotypes about Appalachians and addicts to avoid what could have easily been a reductive portrayal. Instead, she crafts a realistic and still-not-despairing vision from the inside.</p>
<p>This approach – an example of Soja’s thirdspace – is, in my view, the most powerful tool that artists have at their disposal to counteract the impulse to move on from grappling with this ongoing epidemic.</p>
<h2>Filling the void</h2>
<p>What Kingsolver does in prose, Billy Strings and John Prine do in song. </p>
<p>Strings, whose breakout hit, “<a href="https://outsider.com/entertainment/music/country-music/billy-strings-dust-in-a-baggie-lyrics-story-behind-song/">Dust in a Baggie</a>,” is a portrait of methamphetamine addiction, takes on opioids in “<a href="https://americansongwriter.com/billy-strings-enough-to-leave-video-jason-isbell-tour-announcement/">Enough to Leave</a>,” a track from his album “Home.” </p>
<p>Written to commemorate two friends who overdosed on fentanyl-laced heroin within the same week, <a href="https://lyrics.lol/artist/1431433-billy-strings/lyrics/4694970-enough-to-leave">the song</a> is a <a href="https://jambands.com/news/2020/02/20/billy-strings-shares-in-studio-video-of-enough-to-leave/">haunting evocation of grief</a> for those left behind when addiction takes its toll:</p>
<pre class="highlight plaintext"><code> Enough to kill ya, enough to put you down
Seems like every way you turned was like a hard wind comin' down
Enough to leave me, enough to leave me here
And though the room is empty now I can almost feel you near
</code></pre>
<p>The same is true for Prine’s “Summer’s End,” a track from his last album, 2018’s “The Tree of Forgiveness.”</p>
<p>The video for that song, directed by West Virginia filmmakers Kerrin Sheldon and Elaine McMillan Sheldon, <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/how-john-prines-summers-end-video-addresses-the-opioid-crisis-776514/">portrays an aging grandfather and his young granddaughter</a> going about the mundanities of daily life in the wake of their daughter and mother’s death. A single frame depicts a news headline about the opioid crisis, illuminating the source of their suffering without overshadowing the regularity of their routines.</p>
<p>The video brings to mind a line from Samuel Beckett’s 1953 novel “<a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Unnamable">The Unnamable</a>”: “You must go on. I can’t go on. I’ll go on.”</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nXbEFTv9zr0?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The music video for ‘Summer’s End.’</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Upending a theory of ‘genetic decline’</h2>
<p>Words, music and pictures – all have become powerful tools in this thirdspace reading of opioid-afflicted Appalachia. </p>
<p>Like the Sheldons, Kentucky-born photographer Stacy Kranitz offers gritty, complex and beautiful photographic portraits of Appalachia.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.readingthepictures.org/2014/02/stacy-kranitz-the-rape-of-appalachia/">She has written</a> about how she wants her work to provide a corrective to the negative portraits of Appalachia penned by Kentuckian <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_Comes_to_the_Cumberlands">Harry Caudill</a> and New York Times reporter <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homer_Bigart">Homer Bigart</a> in the 1960s. </p>
<p>Caudill, who emphasized the economic exploitation of Appalachia, also came to embrace William Shockley’s <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/individual/william-shockley">theory of dysgenics</a>, arguing that “genetic decline” among the people of Appalachia played a contributing role in the perpetuation of their suffering.</p>
<p>Their work brought Appalachia to the <a href="http://acsc.lib.udel.edu/exhibits/show/legislation/appalachian">Johnson administration’s awareness</a>. But it also amplified the national perception of the region and its people as backward, helpless and ripe for exploitation. </p>
<p>Kranitz’s engagement with Appalachia – particularly her refusal to let Caudill’s stereotypical views of its inhabitants as backward and regressive stand – offers a thirdspace revision of the region and its residents. Her series “<a href="https://www.stacykranitz.com/as-it-was-given-to-me">As It Was Given to Me</a>” juxtaposes a burning cross at a Klan rally with an image of a lovely, innocent girl holding a lit sparkler. Unafraid to illustrate the ugliness of the region, Kranitz is equally insistent on finding its beauty. </p>
<p>Like these artists and musicians, Kingsolver set out in “Demon Copperhead” to wrestle with the region’s complex history and its current social ills. </p>
<p>In that, she succeeded. </p>
<p>Hopefully the Pulitzer committee’s recognition of the novel will lead others to not only educate themselves about Appalachia, but also participate in the work needed to undo the damage that these drugs have done – and continue to do. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/CQtOSdzMXDr","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205378/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>William Nash does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
The Pulitzer Prize-winning author is just one of many artists from Appalachia who are probing the crisis in their work, while taking pains to ensure that it doesn’t define the region and its people.
William Nash, Professor of American Studies and English and American Literatures, Middlebury
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/204648
2023-05-03T17:15:55Z
2023-05-03T17:15:55Z
Can a photograph change the world?
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523257/original/file-20230427-24-b29mjq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C3%2C2556%2C1885&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Photograph by Lewis W. Hine of a small spinner at Mollohan Mills, Newberry, S.C.: "She was tending her 'sides' like a veteran, but after I took the photo, the overseer came up and said in an apologetic tone that was pathetic, 'She just happened in.' Then a moment later he repeated the information. The mills appear to be full of youngsters that 'just happened in,' or 'are helping sister.'</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Child_laborer.jpg">National Child Labor Committee/Library of Congress</a></span></figcaption></figure><blockquote>
<p>“Photography is a small voice, at best, but sometimes one photograph, or a group of them, can lure our sense of awareness.” </p>
<p>(<a href="https://bibliotecas.alianzafrancesa.org.co/pmb/opac_css/index.php?lvl=notice_display&id=18971">W. Eugene Smith, Paris: Photopoche</a>)</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Portraying injustices is not something novel. From the beginning of the twentieth century to present day, many photographers have been concerned about leaving their mark. But can we try to change the world – even make it a better place – through a photograph?</p>
<p>You would be surprised to know how many photographers have tried to use their images to persuade us of the need for change. In these cases, photography is intended to make amends, to denounce certain situations and to elicit a response.</p>
<h2>From the world to utopia</h2>
<p>The term “documentary photography” refers to images made with the aim of reflecting the world, respecting facts and seeking veracity. As such, documentary photography is an image that confirms, certifies an event and is based on its ability to bring reality closer. This does not mean that documentary photography shows the whole truth nor is it the only photographic possibility. On top of that, those photographs need to be disseminated and need an audience to be challenged by them. </p>
<p>Utopian documentary is an aspect of documentary photography, but it goes further. Photographs are not only taken to indicate something, to show reality, but they also rely on an image’s potential ability to convince, its powers of persuasion to improve the world.</p>
<p>How can a photograph have such an impact on us? On one hand, the mechanical component of photography (the camera) makes perceived facts more believable. On the other, photography is socially considered to be more accurate than other means of art. The photographer focuses on reality, obtaining an image that, by analogy with the portrayed subject, will be synonymous with veracity. Moreover, there is another idea that in order to capture said image, the photographer had to be an eyewitness – they had to be there.</p>
<h2>The beginnings of documentary photography</h2>
<p>The first images produced with a camera were obtained nearly two centuries ago. From the very beginning, photography swayed between being documentary, getting closer to reality and representing facts, and being artistic, expressing feelings and building scenes. In other words, truth or beauty.</p>
<p>Documentary intention in photography, however, did not emerge until the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It all began in New York, with <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jacob-Riis">Jacob August Riis</a> (1849 - 1914) and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Lewis-W-Hine">Lewis Hine</a> (1874-1940). Both photographed social themes with the ultimate aim of highlighting certain inequalities in order to change them. It is important to understand that during those years the transition to an industrialised society created massive inequalities.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515465/original/file-20230315-26-d02shg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Many men sleeping on bunk beds and mattresses in a small room.." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515465/original/file-20230315-26-d02shg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515465/original/file-20230315-26-d02shg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515465/original/file-20230315-26-d02shg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515465/original/file-20230315-26-d02shg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515465/original/file-20230315-26-d02shg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=578&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515465/original/file-20230315-26-d02shg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=578&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515465/original/file-20230315-26-d02shg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=578&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Photograph by Jacob Riis for How the Other Half Lives: ‘Lodgers in Bayard Street Tenement, Five Cents a Spot.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jacob_Riis,_Lodgers_in_a_Crowded_Bayard_Street_Tenement.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In 1890, Jacob A. Riis, an immigrant of Danish origin who was aware of the limits of the written word to describe facts, began taking photographs to show the vulnerability and living conditions of urban immigrants.</p>
<p>A few years later in New York he published <a href="https://www.historyonthenet.com/authentichistory/1898-1913/2-progressivism/2-riis/index.html">How the Other Half Lives</a>. The book was <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_the_Other_Half_Lives#After_publication">highly significant</a> and led to <a href="http://cup.columbia.edu/book/a-history-of-housing-in-new-york-city/9780231178358">urban reform in the city’s less favoured areas</a>, for example with the creation of playgrounds or gardens.</p>
<p>At the beginning of the twentieth century, Lewis Hine, the first sociologist to make himself “heard” with a camera, took photographs of <a href="https://www.tenement.org/blog/joys-and-sorrows-lewis-hine-at-ellis-island/">immigrants arriving at Ellis Island</a>, showing how <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2018/11/23/this-photographer-set-out-humanize-immigrants-century-before-build-that-wall/">they adapted to a new life</a>. However, his most important works were on <a href="https://www.tenement.org/blog/picturing-child-labor-lewis-w-hines/">child labour in mines and textile factories</a>. Thanks to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2018/09/02/the-incredible-photos-that-inspired-the-end-of-child-labor-in-america/">these images</a> he was able to promote the Child Labor Protection Act.</p>
<p>This intention of reform would be maintained in the 1930s, also in the US, through the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farm_Security_Administration">Farm Security Administration</a> – a set of reforms and subsidies approved during the Roosevelt administration with the aim of alleviating the suffering caused by the crash of 1929. In this programme, a number of photographers were recruited to raise awareness among citizens, through images, of the need for such aid. <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Farm_Security_Administration_photographs_by_Dorothea_Lange">Dorothea Lange</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Walker-Evans">Walker Evans</a> and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Margaret-Bourke-White">Margaret Bourke-White</a>, among others, are worth noting.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515467/original/file-20230315-24-19docw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Three families camped behind an advertising billboard that serves as a windbreak." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515467/original/file-20230315-24-19docw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515467/original/file-20230315-24-19docw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515467/original/file-20230315-24-19docw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515467/original/file-20230315-24-19docw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515467/original/file-20230315-24-19docw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515467/original/file-20230315-24-19docw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515467/original/file-20230315-24-19docw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Photograph by Dorothea Lange during the Great Depression. Three families camped on the plains along the U.S. 99 in California. They are camped behind a billboard which serves as a partial windbreak. All are in need of work. 1938. The billboard says: ‘Next time try the train. Southern Pacific. Travel while you sleep’.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:LangeNextTimeTryTheTrain.jpg">Library of Congress</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>From documentary photography to photojournalism</h2>
<p>After World War II, documentary photography lost some of its vigour. Photojournalism, however, took up its principles, and illustrated magazines, which were a booming success, published topics of human interest.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sebastiao-Salgado">Sebastião Salgado</a> (Brazil, 1944) was one of the noteworthy photographers at the end of the century. His main work focused on portraying the suffering of humans who experienced situations of exile, emigration, hard working conditions or the misery of certain communities. It shows the Western world what life is like in places where our gazes do not fall. The Spaniard Gervasio Sánchez, with his long-term project <a href="https://www.rtve.es/play/videos/programa/vidas-minadas/474547/">Mined Lives</a>, and <a href="http://www.jamesnachtwey.com/">James Nachtwey</a>, with his work in Afghanistan, are notable contributors to this field.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515461/original/file-20230315-18-1um2ak.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two photographs of children staring at the camera." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515461/original/file-20230315-18-1um2ak.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515461/original/file-20230315-18-1um2ak.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=292&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515461/original/file-20230315-18-1um2ak.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=292&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515461/original/file-20230315-18-1um2ak.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=292&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515461/original/file-20230315-18-1um2ak.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515461/original/file-20230315-18-1um2ak.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515461/original/file-20230315-18-1um2ak.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Photo exhibition by Sebastião Salgado at the Museu da Imagem e do Som in Alagoas (Brazil).</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Museu_da_Imagem_e_do_Som_de_Alagoas_-_52.jpg">Ajmcbarreto/Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Nowadays there are photographers with the same concerns who seek to persuade their contemporaries to change the world and mobilise consciences. Furthermore, it is already fully accepted that documentary photographs can offer many possibilities and that they are not governed by one specific formula.</p>
<p>Since the end of the twentieth century, the meaning of the word ‘documentary’ in photography has been evolving, although the same confidence in the communication capacity of photographs runs through every definition.</p>
<p>It could be said that documentaries that aim to improve and stimulate responses are still valid and relevant. There are still photographers who are interested in reforming and persuading their contemporaries of the need to make the world a better place and who still believe that documentary photography has to be committed to this goal. In short, they have not given up on utopia.</p>
<p>However, wherever there is a photographer, there must also be an audience that recognises those images as documents and is able to read them, giving meaning to the images and acting accordingly.</p>
<p>Obviously, it will depend on each person and the life moment they are experiencing at that time. We will not all be affected in the same way. Nevertheless, as individuals, if we ultimately feel challenged by these photographs and we are moved, even just a little, we can do great good.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204648/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Beatriz Guerrero González-Valerio no recibe salario, ni ejerce labores de consultoría, ni posee acciones, ni recibe financiación de ninguna compañía u organización que pueda obtener beneficio de este artículo, y ha declarado carecer de vínculos relevantes más allá del cargo académico citado.</span></em></p>
Documentary photography aims to portray reality and help transform the world.
Beatriz Guerrero González-Valerio, Profesora de Fotografía y Estética, Universidad CEU San Pablo
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/204347
2023-05-01T12:11:29Z
2023-05-01T12:11:29Z
Generative AI is forcing people to rethink what it means to be authentic
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523476/original/file-20230428-26-oalw72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C7500%2C4816&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Generative AI thrives on exploiting people's reflexive assumptions of authenticity by producing material that looks like 'the real thing.'</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/little-fish-dressed-as-a-shark-royalty-free-image/973766358?phrase=deception+concept+illustration&adppopup=true">artpartner-images/The Image Bank via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>It turns out that pop stars <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/19/arts/music/ai-drake-the-weeknd-fake.html">Drake and The Weeknd</a> didn’t suddenly drop a new track that went viral on TikTok and YouTube in April 2023. The photograph that won an international photography competition that same month <a href="https://www.cnn.com/style/article/ai-photo-win-sony-scli-intl/index.html">wasn’t a real photograph</a>. And the image of <a href="https://slate.com/technology/2023/03/pope-coat-midjourney-puffer-jacket-balenciaga-explained.html">Pope Francis sporting a Balenciaga jacket</a> that appeared in March 2023? That was also a fake. </p>
<p>All were made with the help of generative AI, <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2023/1/5/23539055/generative-ai-chatgpt-stable-diffusion-lensa-dall-e">the new technology</a> that can generate humanlike text, audio and images on demand through programs such as ChatGPT, Midjourney and Bard, among others.</p>
<p>There’s certainly something unsettling about the ease with which people can be duped by these fakes, and I see it as a harbinger of an authenticity crisis that raises some difficult questions.</p>
<p>How will voters know whether a video of a political candidate saying something offensive was real or generated by AI? Will people be willing to pay artists for their work when AI can create something visually stunning? Why follow certain authors when stories in their writing style will be freely circulating on the internet?</p>
<p>I’ve been seeing the anxiety play out all around me at Stanford University, where I’m a professor and also lead a large <a href="https://acceleratelearning.stanford.edu/our-work/ai-in-education/">generative AI and education initiative</a>. </p>
<p>With text, image, audio and video all becoming easier for anyone to produce through new generative AI tools, I believe people are going to need to reexamine and recalibrate how authenticity is judged in the first place. </p>
<p>Fortunately, social science offers some guidance.</p>
<h2>The many faces of authenticity</h2>
<p>Long before generative AI and ChatGPT rose to the fore, people had been probing what makes something feel authentic. </p>
<p>When a real estate agent is gushing over a property they are trying to sell you, are they being authentic or just trying to close the deal? Is that stylish acquaintance wearing authentic designer fashion or a <a href="https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/zara-thiliko-knockoff-lawsuit/">mass-produced knock-off</a>? As you mature, <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-the-new-science-of-authenticity-says-about-discovering-your-true-self-175314">how do you discover your authentic self</a>? </p>
<p>These are not just philosophical exercises. <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2011.00134">Neuroscience research</a> has shown that believing a piece of art is authentic will activate the brain’s reward centers in ways that viewing something you’ve been told is a forgery won’t.</p>
<p>Authenticity also matters because it is a social glue that reinforces trust. Take the social media misinformation crisis, in which fake news has been inadvertently spread and authentic news decreed fake. </p>
<p>In short, authenticity matters, for both individuals and society as a whole.</p>
<p>But what actually makes something feel authentic? </p>
<p>Psychologist George Newman <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1037/gpr0000158">has explored this question in a series of studies</a>. He found that there are three major dimensions of authenticity. </p>
<p>One of those is historical authenticity, or whether an object is truly from the time, place and person someone claims it to be. An actual painting made by Rembrandt would have historical authenticity; a modern forgery would not.</p>
<p>A second dimension of authenticity is the kind that plays out when, say, a restaurant in Japan offers exceptional and authentic Neapolitan pizza. Their pizza was not made in Naples or imported from Italy. The chef who prepared it may not have a drop of Italian blood in their veins. But the ingredients, appearance and taste may match really well with what tourists would expect to find at a great restaurant in Naples. Newman calls that categorical authenticity.</p>
<p>And finally, there is the authenticity that comes from our values and beliefs. This is the kind that many voters find wanting in politicians and elected leaders who say one thing but do another. It is what admissions officers look for in college essays.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://repository.isls.org/handle/1/7474">my own research</a>, I’ve also seen that authenticity can relate to our expectations about what tools and activities are involved in creating things.</p>
<p>For example, when you see a piece of custom furniture that claims to be handmade, you probably assume that it wasn’t literally made by hand – that all sorts of modern tools were nonetheless used to cut, shape and attach each piece. Similarly, if an architect uses computer software to help draw up building plans, you still probably think of the product as legitimate and original. This is because there’s a general understanding that those tools are part of what it takes to make those products.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Hands of woodworker using a turning lathe." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523472/original/file-20230428-20-ky2e2e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523472/original/file-20230428-20-ky2e2e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523472/original/file-20230428-20-ky2e2e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523472/original/file-20230428-20-ky2e2e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523472/original/file-20230428-20-ky2e2e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523472/original/file-20230428-20-ky2e2e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523472/original/file-20230428-20-ky2e2e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">When a piece of furniture is advertised as handmade, we assume that tools were still involved.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/woodworker-handling-gouge-while-working-on-wood-with-news-photo/584616682?adppopup=true">Arterra/Universal Images Group via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In most of your quick judgments of authenticity, you don’t think much about these dimensions. But with generative AI, you will need to. </p>
<p>That’s because back when it took a lot of time to produce original new content, there was a general assumption that it required skill to create – that it only could have been made by skilled individuals putting in a lot of effort and acting with the best of intentions. </p>
<p>These are not safe assumptions anymore.</p>
<h2>How to deal with the looming authenticity crisis</h2>
<p>Generative AI thrives on exploiting people’s reliance on categorical authenticity by producing material that looks like “the real thing.”</p>
<p>So it’ll be important to disentangle historical and categorical authenticity in your own thinking. Just because a recording sounds exactly like Drake – that is, it fits the category expectations for Drake’s music - it does not mean that Drake actually recorded it. The great essay that was turned in for a college writing class assignment may not actually be from a student laboring to craft sentences for hours on a word processor.</p>
<p>If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, everyone will need to consider that it may not have actually hatched from an egg.</p>
<p>Also, it’ll be important for everyone to get up to speed on what these new generative AI tools really can and can’t do. I think this will involve ensuring that people learn about AI in schools and in the workplace, and having open conversations about <a href="https://theconversation.com/chatgpt-dall-e-2-and-the-collapse-of-the-creative-process-196461">how creative processes will change</a> with AI being broadly available.</p>
<p>Writing papers for school in the future will not necessarily mean that students have to meticulously form each and every sentence; there are now tools that can help them think of ways to phrase their ideas. And creating an amazing picture won’t require exceptional hand-eye coordination or mastery of Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator. </p>
<p>Finally, in a world where AI operates as a tool, society is going to have to consider how to establish guardrails. These could take the form of regulations, or the creation of norms within certain fields for disclosing how and when AI has been used. </p>
<p>Does AI get credited as a co-author on writing? Is it disallowed on certain types of documents or for certain grade levels in school? Does entering a piece of art into a competition require a signed statement that the artist did not use AI to create their submission? Or does there need to be new, separate competitions that expressly invite AI-generated work?</p>
<p>These questions are tricky. It may be tempting to simply deem generative AI an unacceptable aid, in the same way that calculators are forbidden in some math classes.</p>
<p>However, sequestering new technology risks imposing arbitrary limits on human creative potential. Would the expressive power of images be what it is now <a href="https://aaronhertzmann.com/2022/08/29/photography-history.html">if photography had been deemed an unfair use of technology</a>? What if Pixar films were deemed ineligible for the Academy Awards because people thought computer animation tools undermined their authenticity?</p>
<p>The capabilities of generative AI have surprised many and will challenge everyone to think differently. But I believe humans can use AI to expand the boundaries of what is possible and create interesting, worthwhile – and, yes, authentic – works of art, writing and design.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204347/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Victor R. Lee receives funding from the National Science Foundation, the Wallace foundation, the Spencer Foundation, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and the Marriner S. Eccles Foundation. He has done some advisory work for Google on wearable technology.</span></em></p>
If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, people now need to pause and wonder whether it actually hatched from an egg.
Victor R. Lee, Associate Professor of Learning Sciences and Technology Design in Education, Stanford University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.