The Burden of Representation
Douban
Essays on Photographies and Histories
John Tagg
overview
Tagg examines the history of the use of photographs as documentary images, in courtrooms, hospitals, and police work, on passports, permits, and licenses. Rejecting the idea of photography as a record of reality, Tagg traces a previously unexamined history that includes the meaning, status, and effects of photographs.
contents
Introduction....Pages 1-33
A Democracy of the Image: Photographic Portraiture and Commodity Production....Pages 34-59
Evidence, Truth and Order: Photographic Records and the Growth of the State....Pages 60-65
A Means of Surveillance: The Photograph as Evidence in Law....Pages 66-102
A Legal Reality: The Photograph as Property in Law....Pages 103-116
God’s Sanitary Law: Slum Clearance and Photography in Late Nineteenth-Century Leeds....Pages 117-152
The Currency of the Photograph: New Deal Reformism and Documentary Rhetoric....Pages 153-183
Contacts/Worksheets: Notes on Photography, History and Representation....Pages 184-211
