by Jon Lackman | 3 May 2007 | Journals, Photography
The most recent issue of Arena Journal (no. 27), “a place for theoretically and ethically concerned discussion about the prospects for co-operation within contemporary life,” several authors examine the importance of visual images in contemporary politics. Karen Crinall contributes “Destitute Discourses: The Art of Orchestrating Fear and Fantasy in Photographs of Homeless People,” in which she remarks upon how little most photos of homeless people tell us about the conditions that led to their homelessness. John Morton contributes “Seeing Eye to Eye: Photography and the Return of the Native in Aboriginal Australia,” in which he speculates that photographs of Australia’s aboriginal peoples will foster greater recognition of their rights. Dougal Phillips contributes “The Asphyxia of the Image: Terror, Surveillance and the Children Overboard Affair,” in which he describes government strategies to control the circulation of images of refugees as the means to control refugee behavior and public opinion. In all three articles, connections are made with art history, be it Winslow Homer’s rescues at sea or Paul Strand’s photographs of the blind.
