Description
Religion and Photographic TechnologiesThis panel invites papers that address the impact that the photographic medium, and the various practices and techniques associated with the technology of photography, have had in shaping religions since its invention in the 19th century. While photography has been adopted by many religious communities as a way of materialising communal memory, presenting values and beliefs, and generating the presence of the supernatural, other religious groups have rejected or restricted its use perceiving danger in its seemingly peculiar power to capture reality. The global medium of photography has been the subject to dynamic and culturally-specific adaptation representing one of the most pervasion technologies adopted and adapted by religious actors. The various technological innovations and interventions, from photocollage, cropping, over-painting to digital editing, have allowed religious communities to experiment and innovate, creating new visual, material and digital religious cultures whilst the increasing accessibility and affordability of photography in the 20th century democratised the production of religious images which became easily reproduceable on a mass scale allowing photography to be become a powerful force for spreading new religions and reinvigorating existing ones. Photography also became a means of controlling religious groups from their use by the police to create the image of the illegal sectarian or in the course of surveillance operations. The work that photographs do in religious communities and in society relies on their character as both visual images and material objects. This panel invites papers that explore not only how photographs are viewed, but how they are made, altered, used, kept, lost and destroyed.
| Period | 4 Sep 2023 → 8 Sep 2023 |
|---|---|
| Event type | Conference |
| Location | Vilnius, LithuaniaShow on map |