Documentary Photography and the Representation of Life on the Streets in Two Works by Martha Rosler and Jeff Wall: Ethical and Aesthetic Considerations
Four decades separate Martha Rosler’s The Bowery in two inadequate descriptive systems (1974-1975) from Jeff Wall’s Approach (2014), two representations of life on the streets. In the 1970s, Martha Rosler, among others, sought to define and practice documentary photography in ways that would invite...
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Institut des Amériques
2019-03-01
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| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/ideas/5233 |
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| author | Gwen Cressman |
| author_facet | Gwen Cressman |
| author_sort | Gwen Cressman |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Four decades separate Martha Rosler’s The Bowery in two inadequate descriptive systems (1974-1975) from Jeff Wall’s Approach (2014), two representations of life on the streets. In the 1970s, Martha Rosler, among others, sought to define and practice documentary photography in ways that would invite the viewer to reflect on the politics of representation at work in documentary art. Forty years later, in his work Approach, representing a homeless woman, Jeff Wall, in the style he describes as “near-documentary”, also questions notions of objectivity, authenticity and realism in photography. The balance that both Wall and Rosler pursue between proximity with reality taken as lived experience and distance from the illusion of the authentic moment is emblematic of a shared strategy. Through the dialectic of visibility and invisibility, this strategy aims at revealing the double process at work in documentary photography, that of approaching a subject and establishing a distance with it. The radical act of “not photographing” ironically present in both works underlines the ways in which Rosler and Wall are engaged in a critique of the politics of visibility. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-fcf4dc17fa534b839e9cfbdbfbeab656 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 1950-5701 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2019-03-01 |
| publisher | Institut des Amériques |
| record_format | Article |
| series | IdeAs |
| spelling | doaj-art-fcf4dc17fa534b839e9cfbdbfbeab6562025-08-20T02:32:49ZengInstitut des AmériquesIdeAs1950-57012019-03-011310.4000/ideas.5233Documentary Photography and the Representation of Life on the Streets in Two Works by Martha Rosler and Jeff Wall: Ethical and Aesthetic ConsiderationsGwen CressmanFour decades separate Martha Rosler’s The Bowery in two inadequate descriptive systems (1974-1975) from Jeff Wall’s Approach (2014), two representations of life on the streets. In the 1970s, Martha Rosler, among others, sought to define and practice documentary photography in ways that would invite the viewer to reflect on the politics of representation at work in documentary art. Forty years later, in his work Approach, representing a homeless woman, Jeff Wall, in the style he describes as “near-documentary”, also questions notions of objectivity, authenticity and realism in photography. The balance that both Wall and Rosler pursue between proximity with reality taken as lived experience and distance from the illusion of the authentic moment is emblematic of a shared strategy. Through the dialectic of visibility and invisibility, this strategy aims at revealing the double process at work in documentary photography, that of approaching a subject and establishing a distance with it. The radical act of “not photographing” ironically present in both works underlines the ways in which Rosler and Wall are engaged in a critique of the politics of visibility.https://journals.openedition.org/ideas/5233United StatesCanadadocumentary photographystaged photographysocial realism |
| spellingShingle | Gwen Cressman Documentary Photography and the Representation of Life on the Streets in Two Works by Martha Rosler and Jeff Wall: Ethical and Aesthetic Considerations IdeAs United States Canada documentary photography staged photography social realism |
| title | Documentary Photography and the Representation of Life on the Streets in Two Works by Martha Rosler and Jeff Wall: Ethical and Aesthetic Considerations |
| title_full | Documentary Photography and the Representation of Life on the Streets in Two Works by Martha Rosler and Jeff Wall: Ethical and Aesthetic Considerations |
| title_fullStr | Documentary Photography and the Representation of Life on the Streets in Two Works by Martha Rosler and Jeff Wall: Ethical and Aesthetic Considerations |
| title_full_unstemmed | Documentary Photography and the Representation of Life on the Streets in Two Works by Martha Rosler and Jeff Wall: Ethical and Aesthetic Considerations |
| title_short | Documentary Photography and the Representation of Life on the Streets in Two Works by Martha Rosler and Jeff Wall: Ethical and Aesthetic Considerations |
| title_sort | documentary photography and the representation of life on the streets in two works by martha rosler and jeff wall ethical and aesthetic considerations |
| topic | United States Canada documentary photography staged photography social realism |
| url | https://journals.openedition.org/ideas/5233 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT gwencressman documentaryphotographyandtherepresentationoflifeonthestreetsintwoworksbymartharoslerandjeffwallethicalandaestheticconsiderations |