The Uses of Photography
Overview
This module aims to introduce students to a wide range of issues related to the medium of photography, including technological and theoretical ways of thinking about its history. It will be taught across the entire period of the medium’s development in order to emphasise aspects of representation specific to photography. Particular questions about the relation of popular photography to fine art practice will be examined in depth – drawing out comparisons between past uses of the medium and the present. The way in which photography can inform questions of relationality – the relations between subjects – will be particularly emphasised, such as the way in which systems of archiving, and images of atrocity are used in order to achieve particular, often unstated, ideological ends. We will use local resources as part of the course, including personal images, photographic collections at the York Railway Museum, The Borthwick Archives and the Media Museum in Bradford as well as thinking about fine art practices. Students will develop an independent research topic throughout the module and will discuss this regularly with the group.
Module information
- Module title
The Uses of Photography- Module number
HOA00069M- Convenor
James Boaden
For postgraduates