Browse Hierarchy FRE6013: Photography: the Self and its Image

This module examines how photographic images and processes are used to understand and give accounts of the self. Focusing on experimental self-narratives and specific image types (e.g. self-portraits, family photography, art photography, phototexts), it considers the shifting meanings of photography as a tool of self-knowledge. It explores tensions between self-documentary and self-invention, and the ways in which these tensions are inflected as photographic technologies change. Students will be introduced to key theories and concepts for the analysis of photography in self-narrative. Examples are derived from France and beyond. Where feasible, advantage will be taken of relevant resources/events/exhibitions in London (notably the Photographer's Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery and the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize exhibition).