Topic 8: AUDIENCES and INSTITUTIONS

What came through in the learning this week is that photography is a multi-facetted medium and has many disparate applications and audiences.  Although it was primarily a scientific discovery, it was quickly co-opted into a commercial product or service.  This led to a split in the trajectory of photography, between photography as an inquiry (initially scientific then social, historical, philosophical…) and photography as an object or activity within the remit of the market.

Jurgenson has identified the ‘social photograph’ as a product (in both senses) of late or digital capitalism.  He sees photography not as a stand-alone object or artistic artefact but as a ‘unit of communication’.  However, this communication is defined by its relation to commercialism as we communicate through the medium using the structures and platforms of digital capitalism.  The product in this case is ourself and the information one provides to corporations by using devices, apps and social media.  As with other forms of materialism we have begun to view our world and our place in it through our relationship to the product and in line with Baudrillard’s simulation analogy life is experienced with an audience in mind.   

Concerning the definitions of professional and amature, I found this a dichotomy that was interesting to dissect.  I have never made a living directly from my creative output and have rarely been commissioned to make work or work to a brief.  I have used my expertise and understanding to earn a living by sharing these in my teaching.  I would argue that I have been working professionally as a photographer and artist for over 10 years.  However, my photographic output has been produced in a committed, although not financially rewarding, capacity.  I have approached this work professionally and try to exhibit in exhibitions, events and locations which I consider to be within the boundaries of, what Greyson Perry might consider, the art establishment.  

Work made by students in my Performing to Camera workshop at Bromley High School. Work students’ own.

However,  I have used social media, initially Flickr and later Instagram, to stretch and test my output.  What I consider to be the informality of these platforms has allowed me to lower my guard and send photographs into the world that I wouldn’t necessarily allow to be shown with my name attached in, for example, a gallery context.  This has been beneficial as it has allowed me to grow as a photographer and become more confident in my abilities to show photographic styles outside of my normal, comfortable parameters. 

Author’s Instagram feed

Through Instagram I have located a network which can be seen as an audience.  Validation from other photographers, many of whom I follow and whose work I consider to be of high quality (peer validation) has been integral to me considering and following through with taking this MA and my photographic practice more seriously and professionally.  However, I am reluctant to solely use Instagram as a means to publicise or share my practice.  I value it as a marketing tool and it has great potential for its networking potential however, I fear through it I may only have access to a small echo chamber of an audience. 

As a result of sharing a particular strand of work online, I have submitted and been successful in getting a project published through PhotoIreland.  A 36 page publication of my House Rules series will shortly be printed in an edition of 200 copies.  I see this as a validation of my professionalism and a step in the right direction to moving into a photographic community (both in Ireland and internationally) that I consider to be one of my professional goals.  This provides a new audience for me as the work will be sold in their shop and online, accessing interest far outside of the modest pool of my Instagram followers.  My selection for this publication has also introduced my work to this institution and its associated editors, directors and curators.  I am hopeful that I can capitalise on this selection, making opportunities to exhibit or publish more work in partnership with PhotoIreland.

TLP Editions, website screenshot. Available here.

References and further reading:
JURGENSON, Nathan. 2019. The Social Photo: On Photography and Social Media. New York: Verso Books.
PERRY, Grayson. 2014. ‘Democracy Has Bad Taste’ in Playing to the Gallery: Helping Contemporary Art in Its Struggle to Be Understood. London: Partikular Books. pp. 9-19