Photographic Returns
Racial Justice and the Time of Photography
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Duke University Press
Published:3rd Jan '20
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
This hardback is available in another edition too:
- Paperback£20.99(9781478004684)
This book examines how photography captures historical moments of racial crisis and reflects on their impact on contemporary society. Photographic Returns highlights the ongoing dialogue between past and present.
In Photographic Returns, Shawn Michelle Smith explores the intricate relationship between photography and historical moments, particularly focusing on racial crises. Through the lens of contemporary artists such as Sally Mann, Lorna Simpson, and Carrie Mae Weems, Smith examines how these artists utilize photography to engage with the past. By employing various techniques, including the revival of 19th-century methods and the recreation of iconic historical images, they create a dialogue that resonates with today's social and political landscapes.
The book delves into how these photographs serve as a bridge between history and the present, allowing viewers to reflect on the ongoing struggles for racial justice in the United States. Smith's analysis highlights the notion of temporal recursivity in photography, where images not only capture moments in time but also return to challenge and haunt the viewer. This recursive nature prompts critical reflection on how the past continues to shape contemporary realities.
Photographic Returns ultimately calls attention to the unfinished political project of racial justice, urging readers to consider the role of photography in remembering, revising, and amplifying the narratives surrounding racial politics. Through her thorough examination of these artworks, Smith invites us to imagine a more equitable future informed by the lessons of history.
“Offering a major contribution to how we think about the relationship between time and photography, Shawn Michelle Smith stuns the reader into seeing familiar texts in new ways. Her scholarship is a model of careful thinking, close reading, clear writing, and historical sensibility. I learned so much from reading this book! It is a spectacular accomplishment.” -- Elspeth H. Brown, author of * Work! A Queer History of Modeling *
“Photographic Returns is nothing less than a revelation. Shawn Michelle Smith takes us on a deep dive into the telescoping temporality of photography and, in doing so, fundamentally shifts our understanding of how photographic images register backward and forward in time. The hinge point of her study is its sumptuous reading of contemporary artists' use of photography as a critical apparatus that bends time in ways that connect us to the deeper affects of history. Her haunting, subtle, and truly sensuous analysis of the aftereffects of historical photography fundamentally re-visions our conception of the relationship between photography, history, memory, and temporality.” -- Tina M. Campt, author of * Listening to Images *
"The charm in Smith’s writing lies in its ability to pair images (archival, vintage, popular) with reinterpretations by contemporary artists. These visitations—or, as she calls them, returns—magnify the persistent terror of white supremacy in the United States. Her chapters all bring readers to see the obvious and forgotten aspects of antiblack racism. The book positions these photographs as reminders that justice in the United States has not yet arrived." -- Yasmine Espert * Public Books *
"Seen through their photographic eyes, racial historical events resurface to inspire, challenge, provoke, and provide metaphoric opportunities that reveal and expand conversations in an attempt to energize the social justice movement in the US. A much-needed addition to the literature on the pressing subject of race, representation, and photography, the book includes extensive and informative notes for each chapter and a 16-page insert of color plates." -- J. Natal * Choice *
“Smith’s lucid prose and her focus on contemporary artists’ engagements with pressing social issues will make Photographic Returns appealing to advanced undergraduate students. Her implicit and explicit engagements with key concerns in the history of photography, visual culture studies, American studies, and African American studies will be of interest to graduate students and specialists in these fields.” -- Darius Bost * American Literary History *
ISBN: 9781478004073
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: 590g
248 pages