Performing Laughter: Duchenne's Smile in the Light of Photographic Practice

This special issue of the peer-reviewed journal ‘About Performance’ explores stillness and movement in photography and live performance. The article was reprinted in an extended format in a German anthology on photography within the discourse of performative cultures, ‘Fotograpfie im Diskurs performativer Kulturen’ (2009), embedding the research in a photographic rather than performance-orientated context.

The triangular relationship between performer, spectator and stage as mirrored in the association of model, viewer and image in photographic portraiture is discussed. Photographing laughter 'as it flies' means that the mouth is neither half open nor half closed, but is caught in mid-air, neither attached to the future nor the past.

Republished as:
‘Apropos Laughter in Photography´ In: Martin Deppner (ed): Fotografie im Diskurs performativer Kulturen, Kehrer, Heidelberg, 2009, pp.52-67,159; ISBN 978-3-939583-42-4