Syllabus for Roster(s):
- 15F ARTH 3591-002 (CGAS)
Colloquium: Photography and Culture
Art History Colloquium: Photography and Disappearance
Professor Claire Raymond scp2u@virginia.edu
Fayerweather Hall, Tuesdays and Thursdays, and Fridays, by appointment—just email or speak with me before or after class to set up a time to meet.
Required texts
Roland Barthes Camera Lucida
Jae Emerling Photography History and Theory
Course Packet from N& K Print and Design http://www.nkprintdesign.com/
Images
Graham MacIndoe “Missing Persons”
Matika Wilbur “562” Project
Photographs by Francesca Woodman
Photographs by Mark Ruwedel
Photographs by Ralph Meatyard
Photographs by Ana Mendieta
Photographs by Nan Goldin
Photographs by Carrie Mae Weems
Photographs by Sally Mann
Spirit Photography (various photographers)
Photographs by Jeff Wall
Photographs by Gregory Crewdson
Photographs by Ryan McGinley
Rebecca Belmore, “The Named and the Un-named”
Paula Luttringer El Lamento de Los Muros/the Wailing of the Walls
*All images on our class Collab site unless otherwise noted
Course requirements: (1) regular attendance and active participation in class (class participation including attendance is 40% of your final grade, therefore you really must keep up with readings) please bring a one page commentary, hand written or typed and printed, on each reading with you when you come to class, responding to the reading assigned that day—these write ups can be absolutely casual but they will fold into your participation grade; (2) a Five page prospectus describing clearly and fluently your topic and plans for your term paper—this counts for 10% of your grade and is due at the midterm; (3) a formal presentation of about 12 to 15 minutes describing some aspects of your term paper; this presentation counts for 10% of your grade; (4)a term paper on the topic of your choice related to the themes of this class. You must meet with me to ratify your term paper topic. That means you need to meet with me before midterm. The term paper is to be fifteen pages and counts for 40 % of your grade. The page length is exclusive of images and works cited, ie, fifteen pages of writing.
Note: I ask that you come to class with paper, pen, and the book (or course packet) from which the day's reading is assigned. Please do not use a computer, laptop, tablet, iPad, cell phone or any electronic equipment during class. If this policy poses a hardship to you, please speak to me about that.
August 25th, first class day, introductions, discussion:
Why photography and disappearance? Discuss early photography, heliography, and discuss facebook, and the culture of the internet shared image
Thursday August 27th
Roland Barthes, Camera Lucida, please read pages 1-12
Graham MacIndoe “Missing Persons”
http://grahammacindoe.com/missing/1/
Tuesday September 1st
Roland Barthes, Camera Lucida, please read pages 13-27
Edward Curtis, and Gertrude Kasebier, photographs
Photographs by Matika Wilbur “project 562”
http://www.matikawilbur.com/blog/
Thursday September 3rd
Mortuary photography, 19th century, on Collab; please read Jae Emerling, pages 17-42
Tuesday September 8th
Spirit photographs, please read from Collab “Faces of the Living Dead” and “Ghost Dialectics”
Thursday September 10th
From collab, images by Paula Luttringer. For Thursday, please read from Collab "Los Desaparecidos" read each part of the file; also please read Paula Luttringer Aperture article, on Collab. See, Images from Paula Luttringer, “The Wailing of the Walls” http://prisonphotography.org/2010/06/11/recovering-remembering-returning-the-wailing-of-the-walls-by-paula-luttringer/
Tuesday September 15th
From course packet please read Agamben, The Melancholy Angel; see, Francesca Woodman photographs, On Being an Angel
Thursday September 17th
Francesca Woodman photographs, Collab; please read for Thursday Emerling, pages 48-82
Tuesday September 22nd
Images from Felix Gonzalez Torres (on Collab) http://felixgonzalez-torresfoundation.org/; also see, http://www.tate.org.uk/context-comment/articles/genteel-iconoclasm; Also please read for Tuesday Virillio, from course packet, The Aesthetics of Disappearance
Thursday September 24th
Mark Ruwedel Images, from Collab; please read for Thursday Emerling, pages 82-102
Tuesday September 29th
Images by Ruwedel, from Collab; please read for Tuesday Ranciere, Aesthetics as Politics (from course packet)
Thursday October 1st
Images by Ana Mendieta, on Collab; also, Please read Emerling pages 102-120
Thursday October 8th
Please read Barthes, pages 28-52, from Camera Lucida, and Continue photographs of Ana Mendieta
Tuesday October 13th
Rebecca Belmore, images on Collab and film, and for today please read Adorno, Extracts, from course packet.
Thursday October 15th
Five page prospectus due TODAY: in this prospectus you must describe in detail your paper topic, as well as indicate what research your paper topic will entail. Bring the five page prospectus printed to class. During class today, each student will very casually present her/his topic to the class. In what time remains after these presentations, we will discuss the reading for today, which is Barthes, pages 52-75, from Camera Lucida
Tuesday October 20th
Carrie Mae Weems photographs from Collab; please also read for today Blanchot, The Original Experience, from course packet.
Thursday October 22nd
Ralph Meatyard images; please also for today read from Emerling pages 165-190
Tuesday October 27th
Gordon Parks images, from Collab; please also read from course packet Prosser, Gordon Parks’s Taking a Life
Thursday October 29th
photographs by Jeff Wall and Gregory Crewdson; please read from Course packet, Cixous, The Last Painting
Tuesday November 3rd
Photographs by Ralph Meatyard, Carrie Mae Weems, Francesca Woodman; and read from Camera Lucida, pages 76-100
Thursday November 5th
Sally Mann images, please see Collab; from course packet please read Prosser, Light in the Dark Room
Tuesday November 10th
Please read Prosser, from Course packet, Light in the Dark Room; and view photographs of Sally Mann
Thursday November 12th
Photographs by Ryan McGinley and Nan Goldin; please complete reading Barthes' Camera Lucida
Tuesday November 17th
Presentations of student research projects—please note, the order in which students will give their presentations will be determined once the class roster is set, and it will be random—I will just draw names from the proverbial hat. I will post this schedule as an attachment on our Collab site. Preparing for your presentations, please see my announcement--on Collab-- giving details.
Thursday November 19th
Presentations of student research projects
No classes—Thanksgiving recess—
Tuesday December 1st
Presentations of student research projects
Thursday December 3rd
Presentations of student research projects
Tuesday December 8th
Photography of Hiroshi Sugimoto, and concluding lecture, no preparation required from students
Term papers are due in class TODAY, December 8th. Please note, the term papers must be printed, 12 point Times New Roman font, standard margins. Place all illustrations at the end of the paper and these images do not count toward page length. I am very happy to discuss your term papers with you during the semester; do not leave matters to the last minute, and you will be fine. I grant extensions only in conjunction with your Academic Association Dean. It is appropriate to speak with your dean if you are facing a serious health, mental health, or personal/family crisis.
Other Notes:
Course Rationale Colloquium on Photography and Culture, ARTH 3591
From its inception, photography has been used to save things that vanish, to memorialize the dead, to stop time in the frame of the image. This course explores connections between photography and vanishing. We begin by considering the very earliest photographic images, Henry Fox Talbot’s “fairy pictures” and then look at spectral trends nineteenth-century photography, especially spirit photography-- photographs that people believed showed ghosts-- and then delve into the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, looking at photographers who invoke disappearance by different means: Ralph Meatyard, Francesa Woodman, Graham MacIndoe, Paula Luttringer. multi-media works by Rebecca Belmore, Sally Mann, Ana Mendieta, Carrie Mae Weems, and others. The course is partly about theories of photography and also closely follows this cultural theme of disappearance. Some of the material we cover contends with violence, insofar as violence is often a precipitate of certain kinds of disappearance. For example, Graham MacIndoe, Paula Luttringer, are 21st century photographers whose work contends with missing persons, the aftermath of war, and state sponsored violence. Our course, then, explores in depth how photography creates an image of what vanishes, and how those images shape the cultures of modernity and postmodernity.
Plagiarism, the copying of words or ideas from other people, books, or sources, without citing them, is an offense punishable by a failing grade and appearance before the university’s Honor’s Committee. Written texts, and spoken texts (such as lectures) must be cited if they are incorporated into your paper. Ideas as well as verbatim quotes must be cited. When in doubt: cite it!
Late papers will be graded down one half letter grade per day late.
Mandatory Reporter: per new laws that affect the University of Virginia, as a faculty member I am bound by law to report any crimes, including sexual assault, against a University of Virginia student of which I am made aware. If you are a survivor of sexual assault, I strongly urge you to contact S.A.R.A. 434.977.7273 They are good people and will help you. If you tell me that you have been sexually assaulted, I cannot keep that information confidential and will be bound by law to report the crime.
Thank you! Looking forward to this semester!
CR
Course Description (for SIS)
Colloquium on Photography and Culture, ARTH 3591
From its inception, photography has been used to save things that vanish, to stave off the passage of time, to memorialize the dead, to stop time in the frame of the image. This course explores connections between photography and vanishing. We begin by considering the very earliest photographic images, Henry Fox Talbot’s “fairy pictures” and then look at spectral trends nineteenth-century photography, especially spirit photography-- photographs that people believed showed ghosts-- and then delve into the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, looking at photographers who invoke disappearance by different means: Ralph Meatyard, Duane Michals, Francesa Woodman, An-My Le, Graham MacIndoe, Paula Luttringer. multi-media works by Rebecca Belmore, Sally Mann, Ana Mendieta, Carrie Mae Weems, and others. The course is partly about theories of photography and also closely follows this cultural theme of disappearance. Some of the material we cover contends with violence, insofar as violence is often a precipitate of certain kinds of disappearance. For example, Graham MacIndoe, Paula Luttringer, and An-My Le are 21st century photographers whose work contends with missing persons, the aftermath of war, and state sponsored violence. Our course, then, explores in depth how photography creates an image of what vanishes, and how those images shape the cultures of modernity and postmodernity.