Photography

Anxiety about the dangers of new technology traditionally coincides with the advance of the man-made. In particular, recent academic study has expressed anxiety around the relationship of photographic technology to organic memory. Scholars warn that photography interrupts authentic, natural memory and overwrites it with artificial narratives fabricated second-hand. This article closely analyzes four photographers from the past half-century to support an argument that, contrary to recent anxieties, photography does not destroy personal memory but instead enables moments of self-encounter that allow for constructive identity-creation. "The Advent of Myself as Other" deconstructs a view of technology in opposition to the natural. Instead, this article conceptualizes photographic technology as an extension of the organic physical body, a connection predicated on photography's instrumental role in building self-narrative and identity.

This article analyzes Philip-Lorca diCorcia’s “Heads” photographs, specifically “Head”—a photograph of Mr. Erno Nussenzweig. Three and a half years after diCorcia exhibited his “Heads” collection at the Pace/MacGill Gallery in New York City, Nussenzweig learned that he had been photographed on some December 1999 day as he walked through Times Square. Horrified that he had been captured, commodified, exhibited, reviewed, and sold as a result of doing nothing more than walking down the street, Nussenzweig filed suit against diCorcia and the Pace/MacGill Gallery for violating his right to privacy and his religious beliefs (Nussenzweig is an Orthodox Hasidic Jew). This article takes a critical-cultural-legal approach to the case—merging legal theory with urban studies and visual culture—to argue that what was initially made visible by the photograph was not Nussenzweig himself but the city and the conditions of modern life in the city. An analysis of both the legal case (which sides with the city) and a reading of the photographs support such an argument. Though Nussenzweig filed suit against diCorcia and Pace/MacGill for violating his right to privacy, this article suggests that he is the one who violates himself as a result of his lawsuit. Furthermore, through the legal proceedings Nussenzweig initiated, he is the one who attaches his name to the photograph and draws increased attention to ‘Head’, thus making the viewers see him and not the city.

Many have deemed the invasion of Iraq as the American government’s ‘brass-knuckled quest for information’ – a strong statement given that the self-appointed ‘land of the free’ is insinuating that justice can be achieved regardless of the cost. As President George W. Bush stated, “I will never relent in defending America - whatever it takes”. However, one power that the Bush administration failed to consider is the power of digital technology. With the unprecedented release of controversial photographs from the American military prison, Abu Ghraib, the existing beliefs regarding activities in Iraq have been altered. The representation of war that was captured by the personal cameras of American soldiers has provided a tool for examining the difference between the redacted images shown in newspapers and the landmark amateur photographs that illustrate what really happens when the unexpected becomes public.