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This special seminar will address the history of modern photography through the lens of fiction. The seminar will feature a wide range of projects and works from the photobook to the individual print, magazine work to the film essay. The course is propelled by the following question: what can be achieved by turning to fiction as a lens through which to view American photographic history anew? The work of Lewis Hine, Walker Evans, Maya Deren, Robert Frank, Roy DeCarava, Diane Arbus, Allan Sekula, Carrie Mae Weems, Vivian Maier, John Divola, Arthur Jafa, and Agnès Varda will be addressed throughout the duration of the course. The work of these artists will be read alongside key texts in contemporary photographic theory, from Saidiya Hartman to Abigail Solomon-Godeau, Allan Sekula to Nathalie Léger.
In addition to giving students a base knowledge of the history of modern photography, the goals of this course are three-fold. First, students will develop skills in description and close looking. Second, students will learn to translate this close observation into effective verbal expression both oral and written. Finally, students will develop dexterity in navigating the relationship between the formal components of an image and its cultural, historical, and political significance. This will allow students to better articulate their own opinions, thoughtfully critique the arguments of others, and critically consider the ways in which images and arguments encountered in our own time inflect and interject in ideological categories that we often accept as simply given. |
