Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Contemporary Photography and Theory offers an essential overview of some of the key critical debates in fine art photography today. Building on a foundational understanding of photography, it offers an in-depth discussion of five topic areas- identity, landscape and place, the politics of representation, psychoanalysis and the event.
Written in an accessible style, it introduces the critical literature relevant to photography that has emerged over recent decades. Moving beyond seminal works by writers such as Walter Benjamin, Roland Barthes, and Susan Sontag, it enables readers to explore an extended canon of theorists including Jacques Lacan, Judith Butler and Giorgio Agamben. The book is illustrated throughout and analyses a range of works by established and emergent artists in order to show how these theoretical concepts are central to understanding contemporary photography.
These 15 short essays encourage readers to apply critical thinking to both their own work and that of others. They are the perfect starting point for essays as well being of suitable length for assigned readings, making this the ideal resource for learning about contemporary photography and theory.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Figures (p. vii)
• Acknowledgements (p. x)
• Introduction (p. 1)
• Part 1 Photography and identity
• 1 The honorific and the subjugated portrait (p. 9)
• 2 The blank portrait and the intimate record (p. 21)
• 3 The portrait and the contemporary self (p. 31)
• Part 2 Photography, landscape and place
• 4 The politics of place (p. 45)
• 5 Non-place and new topologies (p. 57)
• 6 Ruins and the Anthropocene (p. 67)
• Part 3 Photography, performance and the politics of representation
• 7 Gender and the selfie (p. 79)
• 8 Race, history and time (p. 87)
• 9 Performativity and disability (p. 97)
• Part 4 Photography and psychoanalysis
• 10 Psychoanalysis, representation and desire (p. 109)
• 11 Psychoanalysis, spectatorship and the gaze (p. 117)
• 12 The politics of enjoyment (p. 127)
• Part 5 Photography and the event
• 13 Photography, memory, history (p. 139)
• 14 Post-photojournalism and contemporary images of conflict (p. 149)
• 15 Photography, empathy and responsibility (p. 159)
• Notes (p. 171)
• Select Bibliography (p. 208)
• Index (p. 234)

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

True to its title, this book presents key concepts and debates in contemporary photography. Miller (Univ. of Brighton, UK) divides the 15 chapters into 5 parts, opening each part with an overview of related concepts she then debates in detail over the ensuing three chapters. Miller's examples feature both established and emerging photographers, but she purposely highlights less-known artists to prevent more familiar names from overshadowing the concepts presented. The book's breadth of coverage, the myriad examples referenced, and its framing of art photography against various background theories (e.g., gender philosopher Judith Butler) are its strengths--it is solidly researched and heavily referenced. However, Miller includes fewer than 50 illustrations, all black-and-white and on the small side, even when color is the focus of the discussion (for example, Richard Mosse's The Devil You Know). The book will not be accessible to casual readers, because the unnecessarily cerebral writing in places (e.g., in a discussion of psychoanalyst Lacan and his "objet a") makes for laborious reading. Readers should also look at The Photography Cultures Reader: Representation, Agency, and Identity, ed. by Liz Wells (2019). Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students, researchers, faculty. --Lucy C. Duhon, The University of Toledo

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Sally Miller is a Senior Lecturer in Historical and Critical Studies in Photography at the University of Brighton, UK.