The Aesthetics of Photographic Production: Why Material Practices Matter
Lead Research Organisation:
Nottingham Trent University
Department Name: Graduate School
Abstract
This research focuses on the role of material practices in the aesthetics of photographic production;
specifically, it addresses the interactive and networked nature of technologies, materials and practices
in shaping the meaning and aesthetics of the 'doing and making' of photography. Drawing on recent
debates on post-humanism (Wolfe 2009, Rubinstein 2015, Zylinska 2017), I query the overt humanistic
focus on the photograph (Mackinnon 2016). Going beyond 'the human' as it supposedly exists (Butler
2010, Azoulay 2015), my research explores human actors and objects as actants within a network of
co-enabling practices (Barad 2003, Latour 2005), acknowledging their contingent contribution to the
aesthetics of photographic production.
I investigate areas of photographic production that are hidden and marginalised: material practices in
the realworld
settings of photographic labs (Bayeux London, Photo Parlour), Hahnemuhle's papermaking
facility and Leica's camera production site. The interdisciplinary research frame combines
Grounded Theory (Glaser & Strauss 1967) with Ethnography (Suchman 2007) and Practice as
Research (Nelson 2013) to reconstruct and analyse tacit knowledge, human-machine/material
interactions and underlying aesthetic practices in these settings.
My approach is not solely conceptual but practice-led, building on a pilot study funded by the Swiss
Research Foundation (£80,000), in which I developed a framework for studying the doings and
makings of two studio photographic artists, combining ethnographer's methodology with artist's
praxis. Successfully completed within the timeframe, the findings were presented at the International
Conference of Artistic Research and yielded a published research report (2014). As a photographic
artist, my practice traces photography-in-the-making by bringing to light the sensuous aesthetics of
production. The resulting works have been internationally recognised and were recently awarded the
Attenborough Prize.
specifically, it addresses the interactive and networked nature of technologies, materials and practices
in shaping the meaning and aesthetics of the 'doing and making' of photography. Drawing on recent
debates on post-humanism (Wolfe 2009, Rubinstein 2015, Zylinska 2017), I query the overt humanistic
focus on the photograph (Mackinnon 2016). Going beyond 'the human' as it supposedly exists (Butler
2010, Azoulay 2015), my research explores human actors and objects as actants within a network of
co-enabling practices (Barad 2003, Latour 2005), acknowledging their contingent contribution to the
aesthetics of photographic production.
I investigate areas of photographic production that are hidden and marginalised: material practices in
the realworld
settings of photographic labs (Bayeux London, Photo Parlour), Hahnemuhle's papermaking
facility and Leica's camera production site. The interdisciplinary research frame combines
Grounded Theory (Glaser & Strauss 1967) with Ethnography (Suchman 2007) and Practice as
Research (Nelson 2013) to reconstruct and analyse tacit knowledge, human-machine/material
interactions and underlying aesthetic practices in these settings.
My approach is not solely conceptual but practice-led, building on a pilot study funded by the Swiss
Research Foundation (£80,000), in which I developed a framework for studying the doings and
makings of two studio photographic artists, combining ethnographer's methodology with artist's
praxis. Successfully completed within the timeframe, the findings were presented at the International
Conference of Artistic Research and yielded a published research report (2014). As a photographic
artist, my practice traces photography-in-the-making by bringing to light the sensuous aesthetics of
production. The resulting works have been internationally recognised and were recently awarded the
Attenborough Prize.
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
| Emma Cocker (Primary Supervisor) | |
| Andrea Jaeger (Student) |