Intimate trouble: the domestic snap in performance

This one-day photography forum explores the debates connected with photographic identities in the light of transnational, transcultural and transgender politics. At the same time, the forum sets out to challenge all too formative expectations of the interplay between depicted sitter, photographer and image in relation to the various perceptions of its respective viewers. During the day, we will engage in discursive approaches to images of human nature today – that is to say: after the ‘post-human’ and the supposed ‘death of portraiture’. Additionally, this forum aims at establishing common ground among early and mid-career researchers within UAL with a view to possible future research collaborations.

The forum will take the form of an informal ‘round table’ discussion with two panels: ´Re-Thinking Identities of Photographic Portraiture´ in the morning, and ´Trans-Portraiture: Nation, Gender, Culture´ in the afternoon. Presentations – by both artists and theoreticians – will vary in style including theoretical, practice-led, performative and audio-visual investigations into the subject matter. Papers will be pre-circulated, so the invited speakers will not only present their research but also respond to one of the other presentations.

Speakers include:
Jon Cairns, Senior Lecturer (BA Fine Art, CSM)
Beverley Carruthers, Course Director (BA Photography, LCC)
Bruno Ceschel, Associate Lecturer (BA Photography, LCC)
Steve Cross, Course Director (BA Media and Cultural Studies, LCC)
Daphne Plessner, Course Director (BA Book Arts, LCC)
Dr Jonathan Wright, Senior Lecturer (Media and Cultural Studies, LCC)

Chairs:
Prof Oriana Baddeley, Deputy Director at TrAIN
Prof Elizabeth Edwards, Senior Research Fellow at PARC

Conveners:
Dr Sara Davidmann, AHRC Research Fellow, LCC
Dr Wiebke Leister, Associate Director PARC