Abstract
What is the role of the image as advocate in atrocity of the 21st century? What are the limits of image as advocate? Scopic regimes of post modernity instill visual-centricism yet remain silent about the labour required for images to appear as advocates. I look at the context of images of atrocity and trauma of the 21st century: 9/11 and the war on terror, multiple armed conflicts and military belligerence contour atrocity defining images at work and image work/ labour. Commenting upon select images in contexts ranging from the securitised state, images of trauma, images that integrate a US national narrative, and so on, I expand on the notion of the labour the image makes, and the limits of the labour the viewer undertakes. The paper makes use of a close reading of select images and opens the image up to the world through a discursive analysis of its production and circulatory meanings. The final section looks at the practice of photographic journalism creating a dystopian imaginary of image making in atrocity by interpreting the film Civil War (2024). Each iteration of the image is linked to a notion of image advocacy in a human-rights framework yet the contexts carry a limit to what images as labour can actualise.
Presenters
SwatieAssistant Professor, English and Cultural Studies, Panjab University, Chandigarh, India
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Image, Labour, Dystopia, Photograph, Atrocity
