Image politics and identity
Potentials and dangers of identity constructions in the medium of images
Images are not only representations of reality, but also powerful tools for constructing identity. They shape our understanding of gender, ethnicity, class and cultural affiliation. In this seminar, we examine how images, and in particular photographs, reflect, reinforce or challenge identity politics.
We will analyze artistic, journalistic, and advertising image practices and critically examine questions of representation: Who is depicted and how? Which perspectives dominate? And what role does photography play in political movements and digital image culture? We will also look at the work of theorists such as Bernd Stiegler, Stuart Hall, Roland Barthes, Susan Sontag, and bell hooks.
The potential of the (photographic) image is that it can be not only a medium of manipulation, but also, in a positive sense, of imagining and designing. Images can make something visible that would otherwise remain hidden, open something up, or design identities. In this respect, identity constructs in images can also contribute to social transformation processes.
During the semester, you will develop an individual project, individually or in a group, that deals with identity constructions and the jointly developed concepts. This does not necessarily have to be photographic, but can also be realized in other media. And we can create a common glossary as a magazine.
As part of the course, we will visit the extensive festival “EMOP – European Month of Photography Berlin” (probably 4.4.-7.4.) with this year’s theme “what stands between us”. The focus is on the question: how can one use “one’s own voice – and with images – to counter the increasing social division. (…) What can actually still be known and said with images, especially with photographs?”
Consultation hour on course selection:
Tuesday, March 11, 2025, 11-12 a.m.