Photo Obscura: The Photographic in Post-Photography discusses the profound transformation of post-photography. It argues post-photography is not merely a trend but a significant movement that redefines photography by integrating it with emerging technologies and creative practices, resulting in works that may not even resemble photographs but still retain a photographic influence.
It is structured around various themes, including AI-generated images, the intersection of digital and physical art forms, and the changing relationship between visual representation and perception. Drawing on photo history, media studies, visual studies, art history, and the digital humanities and through discussions of specific artworks and artists, it provides insights into how post-photography continues to evolve, offering new ways to understand, define, and engage with the photographic image in the digital age. It highlights the influence of digital culture, where the abundance of images and information has led to novel approaches in art that question the very nature of photography, truth, and reality. Still, it maintains that despite this radical shift, photography's influence remains central, even when hidden or abstracted in the final work.
List of Figures
Acknowledgements
Introduction: From Photography to Photographic
On Post-Photography: With, Through, and Because of Photography
A Brief History of AI Images, or the New Composite, Cameraless,
Post-Photographic, Statistical, Vernacular Image
Expressive Realities: Claudia Hart, Maria Mavropoulou, and Diana Velasco
A Robust Flatness: Rosa Menkman, Auriea Harvey, Penelope Umbrico, and
Richard A. Carter
Virtual Landscapes and Hybrid Bodies: Pascal Greco and Snow Yunxue Fu
Performing the Archive: Stephanie Dinkins and Carla Gannis
Photo Objects: Sophie Kahn, Colette Robbins, and Ida Kvetny
Between Resistance and the Expansion of Photography: Lev Manovich
Bibliography
Natasha Chuk, PhD is a New York City-based media theorist, educator, and independent curator whose work is situated at the intersection of art, philosophy, and creative technologies. She is the author of Vanishing Points: Articulations of Death, Fragmentation, and the Unexperienced Experience of Created Objects (Intellect, 2015).
