Object Women: A History of Women in Photography
- Submitting institution
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Cardiff University / Prifysgol Caerdydd
- Unit of assessment
- 27 - English Language and Literature
- Output identifier
- 122962776
- Type
- T - Other
- DOI
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- Location
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- Brief description of type
- Curated Instagram account and explanatory articles
- Open access status
- -
- Month
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- Year
- 2018
- URL
-
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- Supplementary information
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- Request cross-referral to
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- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
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- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- Yes
- Number of additional authors
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0
- Research group(s)
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- Proposed double-weighted
- Yes
- Double-weighted statement
- Developing from a sustained period of research involving a substantial body of material held at the George Eastman Museum, New York, this creative-critical project resulted in the generation of a multi-layered experiment with new forms. It tested the feminist possibilities of art history adapted to the needs of the digital age by using Instagram for the purpose of art curation and scholarly inquiry. In addition to an introductory essay and the digital project itself, the author produced a second essay explaining the scholarly context and contributed to an academic exchange about the possibilities of Instagram for scholarship and art practice.
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- Exploring the representation of women from early photography to the present, the digital art project Object Women was launched in March 2018. Images were released daily on the social media platform Instagram over a two-month period (www.instagram.com/objectwomen), with a link to Facebook and Twitter. Each image was accompanied by a short written reflection or microessay that examined its historical and artistic significance, its aesthetic effects, and/or its importance for understanding the politics and conventions that shape representations of femininity across history. Wales Arts Review assisted with sharing and marketing the project. Many of the original objects can be found in the collections of the George Eastman Museum, which provided assistance with securing image permissions.
We are submitting three essays with Object Women because these offer essential scholarly and theoretical context and elaborate the project’s stakes and implications. Our rationale for this multi-component output is that its four components reflect on the processes involved in curatorial art projects that experiment, over a duration of time, with social media technologies. The three essays represent three key points across the project’s life. The introductory piece, ‘Looking again at Women in Photography’ (George Eastman Museum blog and Wales Arts Review, 1 March 2018), frames the project and establishes its key questions and suppositions. ‘From Early Photography to the Digital Age’ (OUP blog, 24 April 2018), published in the second month of the project, explains the scholarly background and situates the project within photography studies. ‘On Instagram’, a discussion between Beeston and two other academics (ASAP/J, 29 February 2020) published in the project’s afterlife (in the Association for the Study of the Arts of the Present online journal), reflects critically on the findings, situates the project alongside innovative uses of Instagram by contemporary artists, and suggests how scholars might use the platform for future work.
- Author contribution statement
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- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
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