Rethinking Documentary Photography
RETHINKING DOCUMENTARY PHOTOGRAPHY: DOCUMENTARY AND POLITICS IN TIMES OF RIOTS AND UPRISINGS —————————————————— A Thesis Presented to The Honors Tutorial College Ohio University —————————————————— In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for Graduation from the Honors Tutorial College with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in Art History —————————————————— by Jack Opal May 2013 Introduction I would like to think about documentary photography. In particular, I would like to rethink the limits of documentary photography for the contemporary. Documentary, traditionally, concerns itself with the (re)presentation of factual information, constitutes a record.1 For decades, documentary – and especially social documentary – has been under siege; its ability to capture and convey and adequately represent “truth” thrown into question, victim to the aestheticization of the objects, fading trust in their authors, and technological development. So much so that the past three decades have prompted photographer, documentarian, and art historian Martha Rosler to question first its utility, then its role, and finally its future in society. All of this has opened up the possibility and perhaps the need to reconsider the conditions and purpose of documentary practice, and to consider the ways in which it has been impacted by recent technological and historical developments. The invention of the internet and the refinement of the (video) camera into ever more portable devices and finally into the smartphone, and the rise to ubiquity within society of these inventions, signifies a major shift in documentary. So, too, have certain events of the past two decades – namely, the beating of Rodney King (and the circulation of the video of that event) and the development and adoption of the occupation as a major tactic within the political left.
[Show full text]