Donald Trump’s presidency began with a battle over images. Photographs had been reframed, his administration insisted, to detract from the largest inauguration crowd in history. When images of the 2009 and 2017 inaugurations showed otherwise, the new administration refused to back down. The production of knowledge in photography has been much debated, yet with little emphasis on the agents involved in this exchange and the production process. Building on Photography in Academic Research, an international event organised by Photography+(Con)Text at UCL in September 2016, this conference will address and critically discuss the power struggles between the photographer and the photographed in a world where these two roles are constantly interchangeable. It will draw on the history of photography to interrogate claims that photography finds itself in a changed socio-political context. Through roundtables, research panels, workshops and networking opportunities, this interdisciplinary event will promote collaboration and exchange between social researchers who use photography in their research and practitioners. It will serve as a space for photography, encouraging its uses, analyses and practices in social research and art.

Keynote speakers include Steve Edwards (Professor of History & Theory of Photography at Birkbeck).

This event is organised by Birkbeck’s Departments of Politics, Cultures and Languages, Geography and History of Art, the Derek Jarman Lab, the Centre for Iberian and Latin and American Visual Studies and the History and Theory of Photography Research Centre with the support of the Birkbeck Institute for Social Research, Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities and the The Royal Anthropological Institute.

Contributions are welcome from scholars, researchers, artists, educators, and graduate students working in all fields including but not limited to social research, the arts, pedagogy, history, museums, archives and other fields engaged in the analysis and the production of photography. Panel submissions of up to four speakers are also welcome.

Submissions may be made via e-mail attachment (Word documents or PDF preferred) to [email protected]. Please include the following information with your submission:

• Title of your submission
• Name(s) of the author(s) and Country of residence
• Affiliation(s) of the author(s) if applicable
• E-mail address(s) of the author(s)
• Short Abstract (maximum 300 characters)
• Long Abstract (maximum 250 words)

The call for submissions opens on 7 December 2017 and closes on 6 April 2018.
For further details, please contact Dr Marcel Reyes-Cortez: marcel at reyes-cortez.com