Abstract
This research looks at photography as a mode of social activism in light of the “document versus art” debate. As opposed to examining which type of photography is “better,” this paper explores how photojournalists versus pictorialists communicate. While documentary photography, often labeled photojournalism, seems to purport reality, there are many ways images can be manipulated. And although fine art photography appears to convey tropes in a visually evocative manner, it is not fully organic because even the most abstract photos contain pieces of external reality. Instead, each category crosses over to the other side using attributes of the other. As such, we find that perhaps there is a fundamental problem with the debate; that it describes what Edward Steichen labels a “false dichotomy.” Rather, photography as a whole is a medium separate (because of its inclusiveness) from both documents and art. Using this new categorization of photography (thus its communicative properties) we can explore how to use photography as an instrument for change in a globalized yet polarized world.
How to Cite
Etheridge, A., (2015) “Art, Not Art: An Exploration of the Narrative Properties of Photography in Regards to Social Change”, Capstone, The UNC Asheville Journal of Undergraduate Scholarship 28(1).
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