Where is the line?

Conflicts in the contemporary world are constant and thanks to the media we are informed of events in countries distanced many miles from us, in lands and countries never heard of before and possibly never again. The age that we live in is indeed the digital age - a world where everything must be available at the touch of a button, where information, money, business and news travels at a frightening speed that was unimaginable in years gone by. The photographic coverage of those events in main stream media often lacks depth. The dialogue of the imagery in question works on a surface level, thus communicates on a surface level. Regardless of our efforts in decoding photographs we are left with no answer to the many questions that they raise. What information do they actually contain? What is their message? Are those images confirmation of the accompanying text or independent information? This paper intends to discuss issues around the limits of representation from both an informative and ethical point of view, on examples of work of Alfredo Jaar, Susan Meiselas, Anthony Haughey and Melanie Friend.

Autorentext

Jolanta Dolewska is an artist born 1979 in Warsaw. She studied BA Hons Documentary Photography at University of Wales Newport. She is currently based in Scotland.

Klappentext

Conflicts in the contemporary world are constant and 'thanks' to the media we are informed of 'events' in countries distanced many miles from us, in lands and countries never heard of before and possibly never again. The age that we live in is indeed the 'digital age'- a world where everything must be available at the touch of a button, where information, money, business and news travels at a frightening speed that was unimaginable in years gone by. The photographic coverage of those 'events' in main stream media often lacks depth. The dialogue of the imagery in question works on a surface level, thus communicates on a surface level. Regardless of our efforts in decoding photographs we are left with no answer to the many questions that they raise. What information do they actually contain? What is their message? Are those images confirmation of the accompanying text or independent information? This paper intends to discuss issues around the limits of representation from both an informative and ethical point of view, on examples of work of Alfredo Jaar, Susan Meiselas, Anthony Haughey and Melanie Friend.