Recent challenges such as the climate crisis have pushed the field to consider how photography shapes and is shaped by the environment. From the mining of natural resources to the effects of mass digital storage, the environmental impact of photography is at the forefront of discussions in photography research, education and practice. For this conference, we would like speakers to reconsider the history of photography using the environment, broadly understood, as a departing point. What kind of histories can be written about photography in its environment? Would it be useful to understand photography as an environment? We look for papers that not only examine photography from the point of view of current environmental concerns, but also, how photographic practices, images and archives have developed in relation to natural, industrial and other environments. By centering the environment as an analytical category, we hope to discuss the ways in which natural, colonial, personal, digital and other types of environments have shaped photography as well as how photographic histories can help to understand environmental histories.
We welcome 15-minutes papers on topics that address themes like (but not limited to):
- How exactly has photography participated in the construction and disruption of environments?
- What has been the environmental impact of the production, consumption, circulation and storage of photography, in the past as well as the present?
- Histories of environmentally friendly photography before the 21st century.
- How have distinct environmental conditions around the globe influenced photographic practices, the development of photographic processes, and the course of the history of photography more specifically?
- What contributions can the field of photographic history make to deepen understanding about the climate crisis?
- How can photographic historians draw on their knowledge and expertise to assist in nurturing care for the environment and its sustainability for future generations?
Please send paper proposals to phrc@dmu.ac.uk by 1 February 2023, embedding in the document your name, contact details, up to 5 keywords and institutional affiliation (when applicable).
Photography in its Environment
Photographic History Research Centre, De Montfort University, Leicester, UK
12-13 June 2023
Hybrid (in person and online)
Follow on Twitter @PHRC_DeMontfort
Conference hashtag #PHRC23
Image: Mark Kasumovic, Skipsea #2, inkjet print, 50 x 60 in, 2020
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