Strange Bedfellows: Appropriations of the Vernacular by Photographic Artists

Author: Langford, Martha

Source: Photography and Culture, Volume 1, Number 1, July 2008 , pp. 73-93(21)

Publisher: Berg Publishers

Key:

- Free Content

- New Content

- Subscribed Content

- Free Trial Content

Abstract:

The article discusses a range of artworks that appropriate, emulate, or copy the photographic works of amateur photographers, especially the photographic album. Examining a variety of processes that have generated such works and taking issue with critical claims for originality and universality, the article questions whether anything of vernacular photography's specificity and private nature can survive its transformation into a public work of art.

Keywords: APPROPRIATION; FOUND OBJECT; PRIMITIVISM; REPHOTOGRAPHY; PERFORMANCE; SNAPSHOT; TOURISM; VERNACULAR PHOTOGRAPHY

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.2752/175145108784861400

Free content The full text is free.

View now: