Alan Sekula: “The body and the archive” « photographic index

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Alan Sekula: “The body and a unit guide a unit guide

the archive” about about
learning resources learning resources
Sekula, A. (1992) The body and the archive, in Bolton, R. (ed.) The contest
Alan Sekula: “The body and Alan Sekula: “The body and
of meaning: critical histories of photography, Cambridge: MIT Press. the archive” the archive”

The main discussion points are: Andy Bennett: Subcultures or neo- Andy Bennett: Subcultures or neo-
What is the relevance of Sekula’s text for photographers working with tribes? tribes?

archives? Dick Hebdige: Hiding in the light Dick Hebdige: Hiding in the light
What is the importance of placing a photographer’s documentary realism licensing licensing
within a compliance with the archival paradigm or as a challenge to it?
photographers photographers
Photographic works to search for: Alphonse Bertillon, Francis Galton, projects 07 projects 07
August Sander, Eugene Atget, Walker Evans, Nancy Burson, Agata Wierzbicka Agata Wierzbicka
Martha Rosler Ahmed Abdisalam Ahmed Abdisalam

In order to present his argument that there is a close connection between the Aneka Augustine Aneka Augustine

archival paradigm and the operations of power that regulate “the deviant Daniel Neves Daniel Neves
body” (and consequently, “the social body”), Sekula places the emergence of Elizabeth Aspden Elizabeth Aspden
photography in the context of the development of police acts and
Helene Ohman Helene Ohman
technologies of surveillance; He goes back to the mid 19th century, to study
Jasmine Blatt Jasmine Blatt
the development of photography (Daguerre’s daguerreotype dating from
1839) to discuss the paradoxical status of photography, both as the promise Jessica Kril Jessica Kril
of honorific portraiture made available to the lower classes but also as a tool Jonathan Dodds Jonathan Dodds
capable of identifying them to the police. Karel Polt Karel Polt
Kate Anthony Kate Anthony
Lee Slaymaker Lee Slaymaker
Mark Westlake Mark Westlake
MJ Gumayagay MJ Gumayagay
Natalie Cheung Natalie Cheung
Nell Broomfield Morris Nell Broomfield Morris
Nicola Penfold Nicola Penfold
Nikki Goodban Nikki Goodban
Parveen Sahota Parveen Sahota
Paul Lincoln Paul Lincoln
Richard Wyatt Richard Wyatt
Ruby Phagurah Ruby Phagurah
Shea Rico Shea Rico
Sindy Pussa Sindy Pussa
Thomas Evans Thomas Evans
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conversations with the girls conversations with the girls
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Alan Sekula: “The body and the archive” « photographic index

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A 19th century Phrenology chart
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This is the context of two parallel emerging sciences- physiognomy (study June 2007 Category Cloud
of the facial characters as an insight into the person’s personality) and
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phrenology (study of the head’s regions as a clue to the person’s "london south bank
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criminality) that aimed at helping the police identify the criminals. In the end university" "photographic
of the essay, Sekula pushes his argument further to place current March 2007
index" anita corbin archive
photographers practices within this tradition, distinguishing between February 2007 blogging career development
photographers that embrace the archival paradigm and those that oppose it.
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The archival paradigm is represented by the work of Alphonse Bertillon
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(French, 1853-1914) and Francis Galton (English, 1822-1911), two pioneers
photographer photography
of early scientific policing that developed the concepts and tools that allowed photo session publication PYMCA
the growth of the generalised practice of the bureaucratic handling of visual re-enactement research project
documents. Bertillon and Galton, represented two attempts to regulate social session01 shane meadows skinheads this
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Bertillon: identity and physiognomy

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Alan Sekula: “The body and the archive” « photographic index

Bertillon: filing system

Bertillon developed a nominalist system of identification, which included

anthopometry,a system of recognition based on body measurements ( of 11
body areas), alongside photography (front and profile) and textual description
(of distinguishink body marks); and to deal with the enormous amount of
data thusobtained from the population , invented as well the first rigorous
system of archival cataloguing and retrieval of photographs. He remained
grounded in the indexical order of photography> the photo of the criminal
remained the trace of its referent.

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Alan Sekula: “The body and the archive” « photographic index

Galton’s composite portraiture

Galton on the other hand, develop the method of composite portraiture,

which consisted in combine through repeated limited exposure (working with
the negatives in a specially prepared apparatus) the faces of a number of
individuals sharing similar characteristics (criminality, illness, race, etc), in
order to arrive at the average type. In spite of his inability to identity a
recognisable criminal type, Galton attempted to distance photography from its
indexical relationship with the real, elevating it to the order of the symbolic,
more than a trace of the individual to get to the generalised order of the
abstraction.

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Alan Sekula: “The body and the archive” « photographic index

August Sander, Secretary at West German Radio, Cologne, 1931

These two attitudes are identified by Sekula in documentary photographers,

in their photographic relation to realism. Amongst the modernists, he
mentions August Sanders (author of the 1925-27 book: People of the 20th
Century), as an attempt to show universal social and professional classes (
its chapters include: The Farmer, The Skilled Tradesman, The Woman,
Classes and Professions, The Artists, The Last People).

Eugene Atget, Ragpicker

Walker Evans, New York [Subway Passengers, New York], 1938

Others, that opposed the archival paradigm were Augene Atget (1857-1927),
who photographed like the police (daily life crime scenes) but to show the
squalid conditions people lived in, and Walker Evans (American, 1903–
1975), that developed work in dialogue with police uses of photography (see
the Subway photographs) but opposed the bureaucratic structure of the
photo archive with a more poetic approach (see the 1938 American Photos)

http://photographicindex.wordpress.com/learning-resources/alan-sekula-“the-body-and-the-archive”/[16-04-2010 13:51:36]
Alan Sekula: “The body and the archive” « photographic index

Nancy Burson, Mankind (Oriental, Caucasian, and Black, weighted according

to current population statistics), 1983–85

Martha Rosler, Vital Statistics of a Citizen, Simply Obtained, color videotape,

40 minutes.
(video clip at Video Data Bank

Amongst the contemporary photographers, Sekula contrast the approaches

by two women photographers: representing the Galtonian heritage, he places
Nancy Burson’s computer generated composites (of different typologies
such Hollywood actresses, varied races, etc) as embracing the archival
paradigm), while Martha Rosler, challenges the instrumental model of
photography (an example is the video work The Vital statistics of a Citizen, a
feminist attack on the normalising legacy of Galton.

For Sekula, the archival paradigm provides an instrumental realism to

photography, that operates according to a specific repressive logic, of which
the criminal identification photographs provide the clearest illustration, with
their only purpose which is to facilitate the arrest of their referent. In
opposition to this he sees a role in documentary realism of portraying the
oppressed and exploited, if this is a way “to help prevent the cancellation of
that testimony by more athoritative and official texts.”

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http://photographicindex.wordpress.com/learning-resources/alan-sekula-“the-body-and-the-archive”/[16-04-2010 13:51:36]
Alan Sekula: “The body and the archive” « photographic index

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