N I H I L S E N T I M E N T A L G I A,
a blog about photography by Sofia Silva
Everyday, I wake up, hear the news, see some photographic registers of the previous events in Ukraine, get nauseated, shed a few tears and then re-fuel the level of frustration. It’s masochism, but I can’t avoid it. My irritation regarding what photography has been doing in relation to this particular war has been escalating to…
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While WWIII isn’t officially declared, we just go about our days, or we don’t. I’m writing in anger and frustration, sick to the guts, thinking the best way to deal with this is to write and, in doing so, prevent students from having to hear me talk about this non stop for the rest of…
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The following post has been created by author Robin Cracknell. A recent post, ‘Photographs of animals and fake news‘, made me sigh. Why do we buy into this relentless stream of memes-masquerading-as-truth? When did we become so gullible? And why do we use these photographs as badges to advertise ourselves as somehow more virtuous, more…
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More of Jacob Burge’s work here. “Computers are quietly taking over as our main source of memory back up. Enabling us to store, display and edit our version of reality”, excerpt from Burge’s statement about Recall. … “Japan has got a lot of active volcanoes. The internet tells me there are about 110 of them,…
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Campaign posters for the British Army (by agency Karmarama), targeting youth and using the same psychological strategies used in propaganda recruitment from extremists groups, making youngsters believe they need a higher purpose in life and offering the solution: to join the army. Image showing the installation of a photograph in the context of an exhibition.…
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caption: detail from Dioso Simões’ booklet in Propeller Propaganda. Deisgn by Paulo Arraiano. When we asked Diogo to collaborate with Propeller Propaganda, there was a lot of possibilities in the air and no pre-established idea of what he could publish. After some options were dropped, the series of photographs we then published was suggested, but…
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photo caption (above): Chine, Shenzhen, 2017, Scene #1350 © Alex Majoli / Magnum Photos Les employés d’un institut de beauté participent à une réunion de motivation avant de commencer leur travail. When is enough, enough? Vice is obviously no reference when it comes to dignifying the use of photographs in the media, but still I…
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Still from HyperNormalisation showing journalist Daniel Pearl. This is mostly a critic of Adam Curtis‘ work for the show Mezzanine XXI, performed by Massive Attack, although their curating act is equally up for critics. I went to their concert a few days ago, in Lisbon, and was ill impressed (to say the least). I knew…
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Here is the editorial I’ve written for Propeller #3, about Propaganda. This editorial introduces a series of great essays, namely: Fire Inside, by Pete Brook, Propaganda and photography at the front door, by Teresa Mendes Flores, and Shooting in the name of (and now you do what they told ya): Photojournalism – keeping the status…
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caption: unknown author, at Stockholm Pride Festival In the past few weeks several events concerning cultural appropriation have motivated public discussions. I’ll be focusing on three: Gucci’s blackface jumper, Amanda Lind‘s dreadlocks and Donata Meirelles birthday photograph with two black women wearing traditional Bahian outfits. The fact that I’m appropriating these events in order to talk about cultural…
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Propaganda has been a recurrent theme in my life since June 2018 when we, at Propeller, decided that should be the theme for the following edition, which will finally be out on february 20th. I’m also working on the theme with undergraduate students in the context of a larger project about media and photography’s relation…
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caption: Oliviero Toscani for Benetton, 1992. In 1982 the Mafia killing of Benedetto Grado in Palermo, Italy, was captured by Franco Zecchi. Ten years later the image was featured in Benetton’s spring/summer 1992 campaign. Various publications refused to publish the image and the dead man’s daughter claimed she would sue, asking: “How does my father’s…
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© Sarah Maple, ‘Self portrait with Fried Eggs’, C-Type Print, 2008 © Sarah Maple, ‘I’ve got status anxiety (text)’ – Acrylic on paper collage © Sarah Maple, ‘I’ve got status anxiety’, C-Type Print, 2009 Sasha: When told that the theme of the current No More Potlucks was Ego, you quickly responded, “I have a lot…
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N I H I L S E N T I M E N T A L G I A, 