ARTH 359 Studies in Contemporary Photographic Art: Politics of Circulation

• Instructor: Dr. Gabby Moser

Reproducibility is one of the defining characteristics of photography, permitting images to proliferate and circulate widely to diverse and sometimes unanticipated audiences. This course examines the complex issues that arise from the circulation of photographs into contested terrains, paying particular attention to questions of agency, privacy, ethics, and sovereignty that accrue around photographs. Why does the “currency” of the photograph shift as it enters new contexts and frameworks? What are the ethical and political responsibilities of the photographer, curator and viewer? How is the meaning of a photograph changed by the competing economies—of money, attention, and affect—that it circulates within? Paying particular attention to the ways that photographic depictions of land and territory are commissioned, circulated, exhibited and collected, course texts examine photography’s relationship to extraction, settler colonialism, war, diaspora and citizenship. Assignments aim to provide students with a broad understanding of recent photographic practices, the spectrum of issues confronting artists and curators today, and the current position of photography in visual culture. Specifically, students will be able to identify and discuss critical issues in photography theory and practice, both for themselves as producers of images, and as subjects and viewers.