Myth, Montage and Magic Realism : Rethinking the photograph as a discursive document
- Submitting institution
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The University of Huddersfield
- Unit of assessment
- 32 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
- Output identifier
- 40
- Type
- D - Journal article
- DOI
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10.1080/17540763.2018.1512518
- Title of journal
- Photographies
- Article number
- -
- First page
- 3
- Volume
- 12
- Issue
- 1
- ISSN
- 1754-0763
- Open access status
- Compliant
- Month of publication
- December
- Year of publication
- 2018
- URL
-
-
- Supplementary information
-
-
- Request cross-referral to
- -
- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
- -
- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
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0
- Research group(s)
-
-
- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- ‘Myth, Montage & Magical Realism’ was published in January 2019 in the peer reviewed journal Photographies, edited by David Bate and Prof Liz Wells. The paper uses the literary critiques of Magical Realism to understand how photographic artworks can be used to undermine authoritative narratives as a means to help engender and propagate debate. Focusing on examples from the artists Walid Raad and Seba Kurtis, whose works operate across a range of overlapping discourses from vernacular photography to contemporary art, the research aimed to find a new way to consider the use of documentary images. In her book, Magic(al) Realism(2004), Maggie Bowers proposes that “the magical realist attack on dominant culture and its authoritative version of the truth actually provides a new and more comprehensive mode of referentiality” (Bowers, 71). The article considers how artists use photographic images in the creation of possible truths and invite participation and debate as a vital means by which we collectively critique and make sense of the world around us.
‘Myth, Montage and Magical Realism: Rethinking the photograph as a discursive document,’ was initially drafted as an exploratory paper delivered at the Society for Photographic Education’s annual conference held in Orlando, Florida in 2017.The theoretical framework of the paper was subsequently used as a critical and curatorial framework for audio-visual artefact (artwork) by Dr Devlin, titled Bigfoot in West Belfast, exhibited in2019 at the Temporary Contemporary Gallery, Huddersfield, UK.
- Author contribution statement
- -
- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
- -