Brief Description of Module
In this module, I am asked to realise an ongoing photographic research project in the form of a publication. The module is designed to help me consider specific issues attending the photograph in the printed page: audience, narrative, editing, text, design, binding, materials, etc.
The module also sets the photographic book within both an historical and contemporary cultural context, considering the changing value, function, and significance of the book as a photographic medium in a digital age.
Module Aims, Assessment and Support
This module aims to:
- Allow me to explore the significance of contemporary authored photography books and publications
- Enable me to acquire aesthetic and technical skills involved in producing a photographic publication
- Facilitate me to realise a photographic publication
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of the module, I will be able to:
- Acknowledge the significance of contemporary photographic publications (LO1).
- Deploy technical skills required to realise a photographic publications (LO2).
- Demonstrate an understanding of the structural, rhetorical, aesthetic, and narrative possibilities of photographic publications (LO3).
Content
This module begins considering the historical context of the photograph in the printed page, followed by a series of presentations on aspects related to contemporary approaches to the photographic book.
Indicative content might include notions of montage, materiality, technical processes, high art and vernacular forms of the printed image and digital visual platforms.
I am asked to realise an ongoing photographic research project in the form of a publication. This may take the form of a book or a magazine, pamphlet, newspaper, a collection of post cards, etc. The publication may be hand-made or professionally printed. It may represent the whole project or be a separate iteration of one part of it.
The module is designed to help me consider the specific issues attending photographic publications: audience, narrative, editing, text, design, binding, materials, etc. It considers the way in which the form of the photographic book relates to different photographic genres, how it has been transformed by new developments in self-publishing and the relationship between on-line publications and traditional book forms.
The module also explores the fetishisation of the photobook as a commodity and its implications for our understanding of photography as an art form. I am invited to investigate how photographers currently use the medium of the book form to extend their practice and to achieve greater visibility for their work.
Learning Support
Armstrong, C (1998) Sceenes in a Library: Reading the Photograph in the Book, 1843–1875. Cambridge, MA: MIT.
‘Artists’ Books’ (1977), Art-Rite Magazine No. 14, Winter 1976. New York: Art-Rite Publishing
Brunet, F. (2009) “Photography and the Book”. In Photography and Literature. London: Reaktion Books.
di Bello, P., Wilson, C. & Nazir, S. (2012) The Photobook: From Tablot to Ruscha and Beyond. London, I.B.Tauris.
Gidley, M. (ed.) (2003) Writing with Light: Words and Photographs in American texts. Oxford: Peter Lang.
Hughes, A. & Noble, A. (eds) (2003) Phototextualities: Intersections of Photography and Narrative. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.
Hunter, J (1987) Image and Word: The Interaction of TwentiethCentury Photographs and Texts. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Ionescu, C. (ed.) (2011) Book Illustration in the Long Eighteenth Century. Reconfiguring the Visual Periphery of the Text. Cambridge.
Kusnerz, P.A. (ed.) (2002) “Special Issue: Photography and the Book”, in History of Photography 26:3.
Scott, C. (1999) The Spoken Image: Photography and Language. London: Reaktion.
Source Photographic Review 88 Winter 2016: http://www.source.ie/photobook/
Badger, G., Bate, D., Lockemann, B. & Mack, M. (2014) Imprint – Visual Narratives in Books and Beyond. Gothenburg: Valand Academy.
Desjardins, A (2013) The Book on Books on Artists Books. London: The Everyday Press.
Fernández, H. (2000) Fotografía Pública. Photography in Print (1919- 1939). Madrid: Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía.
Fenrnández, H (2011) The Latin American Photobook. New York:Aperture.
Kugelberg, J. and Sanders, J (2012) Artists’ Book Not Artists’ Book. New York: Boo-Hooray.
Parr, M. & Badger, J. (2004, 2006, 2014) The Photobook: A History Vols I, II, and III. London: Phaidon
Roth, A. (2004) The Open Book. A History of the Photographic Book from 1878 to the Present. Göteborg: Hasselblatt Centre.
Online Projects / Books
Dana Lixenberg Imperial Courts Project (2015) http://www.imperialcourtsproject.com
Dana Lixenberg The Last Days of Shishmaref (2009) http://www.thelastdaysofshishmaref.com/shishmaref3/cms/cms_modul e/index.php http://www.paradox.nl/project/lastdaysofshishmaref/#work
Susan Meiselas, Kurdistan. In the Shadow of History (1997) http://www.akakurdistan.com
Teaching & Learning Activities
An initial introduction to the history of the photographic book will provide a starting point for the module. Discussion about contemporary practices of photographic book making are extended through a series of presentations, seminars plus group and individual tutorials. Students form working groups to help book project ideas with the aim of each student producing a photographic publication that provides an appropriate vehicle of dissemination for my major project. An introduction to InDesign and a book binding workshop are also offered as part of this module.
At the end of formally taught part of the module, I will present my publication alongside my major project (AGM64) and receive formative feedback from my student peers and tutors.
Face-To-Face Learning
- Lectures
- Seminars
- Group Tutorials
- Tutorials
- Technical Workshop
- Studio visits
Online Learning
- Digital resources as recommended in tutorial discussion
- Online text and audio-visual materials as recommended
- Student-owned social media site used as a focus for sharing additional course materials and subject-related news
Allocation of Study Hours
Scheduled: 25
Guided Independent Study: 175
Total Study Hours: 200
Assessment Tasks
Task 1 (80%): For me to submit a photographic book or publication.
Learning Outcomes: LO2, LO3
Task 2 (20%): To write and submit a Report: artist’s statement outlining the rationale for the book design and situating it in the context of contemporary debate about the photographic book (500) words.
Learning Outcomes: LO1
The volume of the portfolio is to be agreed in consultation with the Module Tutor. The framework for its content is determined through formative assessment, while the independent study hours of the module will be indicative of my effort.
Jennie Meadows MA Photography 