Photographs as Public Space
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1344/regac2015.1.09Keywords:
photography, photographs, ontology of photography, public spaceAbstract
Although the taking of a photograph –the moment of capture– has long been considered the essence of photography, the interest in archives over the past few decades has favoured a new conception of photography as a relational platform rather than the expression of the intentions of a single participant. Similarly, although there is greater awareness of the fact that photographs are an integral part of a system that regulates their authority and governs the ideological dictates that legitimise the way images are shown, disseminated, concealed or destroyed, there is nonetheless an urgent need to define new parameters for interpreting the encounter that photography sets in motion. Based on the new ontology of photography developed by Ariella Azoulay, in which she argues that photography should be understood as a collective event, this text has a twofold objective: to show how Azoulay’s approach is a radically necessary contribution to activating a freer and more active imaginary, and to determine how photography, by overcoming the logic of representation and the axiom of the fait accompli, can be constituted as public space.References
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