28th of June 2019
Photography in the global age
Read Allan Sekula’s essay ‘Reading an Archive: Photography between Labour and Capital’ in Evans & Hall (1999) Visual Culture: The Reader.
Note down your response to this essay – and your thoughts on the discussion of globalisation above.
Photography is the global age relates to my body of work as one it will be published online for all to view but also I intend to bring a local pilgrimage to a globally available audience.
Sekula states that his aims to looking into the relationship between economic life and photographic culture. Archives are important, and their forms are numerous. Archives can be personal or public, their ownership varies too. For photography, the owner of the archive and the actual taker of the picture are not usually the same person or institute. “Archives, then, constitute a territory of images; the unity of an archive is first and foremost that imposed by ownership” (Sekula, p. 182). Meaning and context are important to photographs, an Images meaning is formed due to its text, it’s format, and its presentations. These all contribute to a fuller picture. According to Sekula, “photographic archives suspend meaning and use, the archive meaning exists in a state that is both residual and potential” (Sekula, p. 184). Archives can contradict themselves. This can be through science and art. A dualism exists in photography, which has been around from its birth. These archives preserve the relationship between power and knowledge. “Photography is an art. Photography is a science. Photography is both an art and a science” (Sekula, p. 190).
Bibliography
Sekula, A. (2007). ‘Reading an archive: photography between labour and capital’. In: Evans & Hall (ed.) Visual Culture: A Reader. London: Sage Publications Ltd. pp. 181-192.
Georgina's Contextual Studies 