Symbolic Imprints

Current research into photography from a European perspective strikes a solid contrast to North American studies. This synopsis of Continental thought covers recent attempts to re(write) the history and theory of photography. In assessing current research, the contributors argue that photography is the matrix according to which we produce images in the broadest sense, including imaginary ones. Major emphasis is placed on the reception of the image. Individual authors comment on the task of verbally describing a photograph, survey historical issues of visuality and interpretations, discuss new documentary practices, and measure the significance of the subject in the statement made by the photograph. The work of Victorian photographer Clementina Hawarden and her sensual, rarely pictured pictures are featured. In studying gender aesthetics and politics, the essays explore the connection between photography and pornography, reject standard psychoanalytic interpretations, and incorporate new linguistic philosophical approaches to the medium. Death, memory, the traumatic, and photography's muteness towards the past are also discussed. A final essay assesses how the impact of photography will vary once a passive viewer becomes a use of interactive video. This book should be of use in advancing theories of photography and photography's place in the post-modern consciousness.