How contemporary photographers have subverted the constructions and
complicities of whiteness
From the advent of early colonial photography in the 19th century to
contemporary "white savior" social-media images, photography continues
to play an integral role in the maintenance of white sovereignty. As
various scholars have shown, the technology of the camera is not
innocent, and nor are the images it produces.
In this way, the invention and continuance of the "white race" is not
just a political, social and legal phenomenon, it is also a complexly
visual one. In a time of revivified fascisms, from Donald Trump to Tommy
Robinson, we must attempt to locate the image of whiteness anew, so that
we can better understand its nonsensical construction. What does
whiteness look like, and how might we begin to trace an anti-racist
history of artistic resistance that works against it?
The Image of Whiteness seeks to introduce its reader to some important
extracts from the troubling story of whiteness, to describe its
falsehoods, its paradoxes and its oppressive nature, and to highlight
some of the crucial work photographic artists have done to subvert and
critique its image.
Edited by writer and photography scholar Daniel C. Blight, The Image of
Whiteness includes the work of artists Abdul Abdullah, Agata Madejska,
Broomberg & Chanarin, Buck Ellison, John Lucas & Claudia Rankine, David
Birkin, Hank Willis Thomas, Kajal Nisha Patel, Michelle Dizon & Viet Le,
Nancy Burson, Nate Lewis, Libita Clayton, Paul Mpagi Sepuya, Richard
Misrach, Sophie Gabrielle, Stacy Kranitz and Stanley Wolukau-Wanambwa.
