Reminder: 9th July deadline for abstracts - investigating commemorative, memorial and political uses of personal photography in the digital age in the Global South.

Approaching deadline for abstracts for this September symposium: http://www.warandmedia.org/photomemory/symposium/

Commemoration, memory, archive: investigating commemorative and memorial uses of personal, non-professional images in the digital age in the Global South

University of Sussex

4th-5th September 2018

This symposium aims to explore real and perceived changes in the relationship(s) between private still images and the memorialization and commemoration of mass violence – including trauma – with a particular focus on practices in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and South and Central America in the digital age. 

Abstracts welcome on the following themes:

Regional, national, cultural and geographic contexts

• Examples of the practice of commemorative, memorial and activist uses of personal, non-professional images in different national, cultural, geographical contexts. We are particularly interested in examples from Africa, Asia, the Middle East and South and Central America.
• Holocaust-related commemorative practices and their influence on commemorative practices related to other instances of violence. 
• Current, dominant private image-based commemorative practices in the Global South and how these reflect on the processes of witnessing and mediating pain, memory, trauma and history. 
• Impact of “amateur”, domestic aesthetics and their relationship to authenticity.

Archival, curatorial and artistic practices

• Definitions and re-definitions of the archive, with a focus on exploring the relationship between the private and the public.
• Archival and curatorial practices in the digital age.
• Private image use in artistic practice (film, photography, installation etc). 

After the digital turn 
• To what extent has the memorial ontology of the private image changed as a result of the proliferation of digital technologies? 
• What are the implications – for both image and image owner – in the transition from personal archive to public digital sphere?
• How do issues of connectivity and access impact on the use of private images in the digital sphere? 
• How is the digital integrated into the institutional use of private images and what are the implications?

Now and then: commemoration, activism and future directions? 

• What are the boundaries and relationships between image-based commemoration, activism and citizen journalism? 
• What are the key issues and debates around privacy, ethics and appropriation in relation to the use of private images in digital commemorative practice (personal and institutional)?
• What might be the future directions of image-based commemoration in the Global South? 

If you would like participate please send an abstract of 300 words and a brief biography to Piotr Cieplak on imageandcommemoration@gmail.com by 9th July 2018.