652.2
Being There: Capturing Event with the Camera
In the paper, I show that the ambivalent position of the Collective members and how it is manifested in their photographs singles-out the work of Activestilles. In "Being there" I strive to understand this unique position by basing my analysis on the text of David Green and Joanna Lowry.
In the text "From presence to performative: rethinking the photographic indexicality" these scholars suggest a broader perspective on the connection between photography and the photographed image and our way of comprehending this connection. The authors re-think this relationship by offering a framework analysis of engagement that blurs the dichotomy between the event of photography and the photographed. With the help of the framework analysis of Green and Lowry, I suggest to perceive Activestilles photography work as "being there" rather than the common Bartheain notion on indexicality of photography as "it was there". The paper is an outcome of a multi-layered study that combines between discussions with the photographers of Activestilles, a critical examination of the photographs and the political context that marked their work. Through this examination and with this framework analysis I present an understanding of this performative photography of the Collective Activestilles.