Social Spheres (Asynchronous - Online Only)
Capturing Distresses: The Invention of the Hysteric through Medical Photography View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Katherine Von Wald
The work of Jean-Martin Charcot was one of the first to physically document the symptomology of “hysteric distresses.” Charcot, most famous for his tenure at the Salpêtrière University Hospital in France, used the emerging technology of photography to categorize hysterical episodes. These photos were incredibly influential and circulated among physicians and analysts) as empirical evidence for this elusive female disease. More importantly, they created an aesthetic language which captured and defined the hysteric. Her movements, her moods, her pain would continue to affect how feminized bodies were and are perceived in and out of medicalized spaces. Using feminist theoretical frameworks from visual and film analysis in combination with sociological frameworks which understand the social construction of disease, this paper demonstrates how the power of an image, such as the hysteric, continues to affect the perception of subjects. The images popularized in this time period haunt the embodied experiences of mental and physical health of those whose bodies continued to be branded as unruly by a white hetero-patriarchal masculine gaze.
Images of Hope, Images of Heartbreak: Citizens Turn Photojournalists and Other Genres of Witnessing View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Kenzie Burchell
During crises, such as the on-going Syrian war, witnessing practices are often strategically hindered with international journalists forced out of conflict zones (Burchell 2020), but what genres and practices of witnessing emerge amongst those who stay and what if they could tell their story again? This paper examines the AFP Correspondent blog using a practice-theory approach (Schatzki 2001; Couldry 2004; Burchell et al 2020) uniquely applied to photojournalism by engaging the relational networks of international news agencies, and emerging melange of genres through the networked spaces of photo-news production. Though the AFP Correspondent blog, photojournalists strive to make sense of their experiences of conflict, highlighting the manner in which institutional processes of news production pry the visual and the objective of traditional agency output from the embodied, relational, and temporal experiences of the photographer. This paper centres upon emerging genres of witnessing (Frosh 2006; Peters 2009) as they are influenced by and adjusting to the wider landscape digital networked media, both in the reliance on citizens turned agency photojournalists and in the embrace of the subjective retrospective accounts through the online blog (Matheson 2004; Zelizer 2007; Wahl-Jorgensen 2015). By applying Critical Discourse Analysis (Fairclough 1992, 1995) to AFP policy documents and 14 AFP Correspondent essays by regional editors and Syrian citizen-photojournalists, a framework has been developed to better understand how the changing conditions of photojournalism on-the-ground and of journalistic output online come together as new genres and practices of photojournalistic witnessing of global crises.
Art and History in Alciato’s Emblemata View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Maria Leonor García Da Cruz
The image represents a construction, the foundations of which reside in reality and the imaginative ability of the artist who, both voluntarily and involuntarily, conveys messages. For this reason, it is so difficult to grasp its full meaning, especially if it is a sixteenth century creation. As a historical source, the researcher makes an in-depth analysis of it, seeking to find details of the theme, date, the workshop and the historical context, by comparing it to other textual and iconographic sources of the same period. This is the type of exercise we wish to conduct based on Alicato’s Emblematum Liber, looking at the pictura, that together with the inscriptio and the subscriptio forms the emblem Quod non capit Christus, rapit fiscus. We compare three editions made on different dates and at different places to carry out a comparative observation. The representation of a sovereign squeezing a sponge and, in two of the examples, a scene of execution of justice, provide comments on related themes: royal power and its symbols; the ruler as a source of justice; attitudes in relation to rising groups in society; behaviour considered corrupt; manifestations of liberality or exemplary punishment. Conclusions are sought from the political, social, financial, and religious context of each creation.
De-Listed - Reflecting on Species Recovery and Reemergence During the COVID-19 Pandemic View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Samantha Earley, Nancy C DeJoy
In the COVID-19 pandemic, the fragility of life and the need to deal with the necessity of “shelter,” “shelter in place” or other shelter needs comes into sharp focus. Musing on these concepts led us to research endangered species who, through communal/governmental/environmental efforts, have come off the international Endangered Species List. Their stories and reemergence are sources of hope. In this multidisciplinary (relief printing, bookmaking, poetry) creative series, we follow the trajectory of three such species: the Oregon Chub Minnow, Kirtland’s Warbler (native to Michigan and northern Ohio), and Eggert’s Sunflower (native to Kentucky, Tennessee, and northern Alabama). The images explain the near demise of the subjects and their comeback as they are delisted. The poetics of listening to the decline of species connects to human experiences of lockdown and the isolation and restricted contact of the COVID-19 pandemic. As recovering species, these plants and animals reflect the complex relationships that emerge through the lens of a global event that creates new ways to understand the interconnectedness of human and natural worlds; extinction takes on positive connotations as the cessation of some human habits opens new pathways through which the natural world can reemerge. The presenters share their prints and poetry as examples of work they have done with these delisted and reemerging species to tell a story of how the natural world, combined with science and people who care, can overcome, survive, and even flourish. We hope that the series offers solace in a time of fear and despair.
Redefining Illustrated Portraits Using Augmented Reality (AR) Social Media Filters View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Lisa Winstanley
Designers are increasingly expected to possess an exponentially broader skill set in order to effectively traverse evolving socio-cultural, economic, and political environments. Thus, design educators also need to evolve to re-evaluate appropriate pedagogical approaches in order to equip students with the tools to successfully navigate a dynamic design milieu. It was with this in mind that a project was developed to reshape student perception of the self and their position in the world, whilst simultaneously equipping them with a multimodal and adaptive skillset, relevant for the demands of a transitional creative industry. This case study reveals the outcomes of an exploratory practice-based project undertaken to develop illustrated portraits for Augmented Reality (AR) Social Media Filters. The result was the development of illustration techniques and methods that sought to redefine the notion of portraiture and self-portraits as a means of self-expression through AR. The project aimed to create an optimum environment for undergraduate visual communication students to create original portraiture using digital or traditional means and then to reimagine and reinterpret these works into a virtual world using Spark AR software. This case study attempts to position the methods of this project as a pragmatic and adaptable lens from which to aid the development of innovative entrepreneurial creations.
Who is What or Who?: Seeking the Subject in Photographic Theory View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Ann Pegelow Kaplan
By addressing the portrait within photography, this survey of the last hundred years of photographic theory focuses on the question of the subjectivity of those pictured and how they have influenced the very basis of theoretical writings. Moving through early twentieth century foundational works, modernism, postmodernism and critical theory, and contemporary explorations, this paper explores the notion that major theorists who have considered the question of what a photograph is have necessarily tied their inquiry to the the genre of portraiture.
