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.
Review :
The Image of Whiteness: Contemporary Photography and Racialization, is about much more than skin color. It is a "stubborn and often invisible power structure," a ubiquitous ideology of domination, privilege, and violence that hides in plain sight as a default "natural identity" for white people. It is also a way of seeing the world. And as Blight observes, the camera has been deeply implicated in the promulgation of the white gaze virtually since its invention in the nineteenth century[...] Blight aims to explore how the white imaginary is developed and perpetuated across Western culture and to also consider how photography can help reveal whiteness "for the set of representational fictions that it is."--Ekow Eshun "Aperture"
"The Image of Whiteness" [is] a rare text; a white man producing literature on race for a white audience without intentionally or unconsciously justifying a colonialist, imperialist, or white supremacist regime.--Harley Wong "Wear Your Voice"
Blight introduces readers to some important extracts from the troubling story of whiteness, highlighting its falsehoods, paradoxes, and oppressive nature. This book argues that the invention and continuation of the "white race" is not just a political, social and legal phenomenon, but also a complexly visual one, and explores what photographic artists are doing to subvert and critique its power.--Editors "British Journal of Photography"
Daniel C. Blight's The Image of Whiteness: Contemporary Photography and Racialization...is a gripping multimedia analysis of the vital role of photographs in undergirding racism. The book exposes the often unacknowledged, everyday visuals that prop up a grotesque system of white supremacy.--Genevieve Shuster "Document Journal"
Is taking pictures of white sitters in and of itself a supremacist act? Art critic Daniel C. Blight mulls the implications.--Alex Greenberger "ARTnews"
The Image of Whiteness introduces readers to extracts from the troubling story of whiteness, describing its falsehoods, its paradoxes and its oppressive nature, and highlights some of the work contemporary photographic artists are doing to subvert and critique its image and its continuing power.--Daniel Blight "Guardian"
