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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I'm not sure I can find the photos I mentioned
again. Our system of cataloguing photos before 1998 isn't great, but
I can try.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Judith</FONT></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=aurele.parisien@gmail.com
href="mailto:aurele.parisien@gmail.com">Aurele Parisien</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A
title=Personal_archives@mailman.yale.edu
href="mailto:Personal_archives@mailman.yale.edu">Personal_archives@mailman.yale.edu</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, October 29, 2008 9:30
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: [Personal_archives] personal
archives</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>Hello Everyone, <BR><BR>I would like to challenge some
recurring assumptions in the articles and discussion regarding snapshots,
archives, and albums -- specifically the notions that "it is only the positive
aspects life" that are "typically" documented in personal photography; that
these "present a world with no pain"; and that these depictions are
universally "celebratory." <BR><BR>The philosopher of mathematics Imre Lakatos
introduced the concept of "monster barring" to characterize a common technique
for defending a theory against problematic counter-examples by dismissing the
latter as "monsters", i.e. as somehow disqualified from fitting the relevant
category or definition (Alison's "family photograph") and, hence, not really
admissible as a counter-example. <BR><BR>The 'monster' I would like to unleash
into our tidy discussion is the post-mortem commemorative photograph. I should
divulge that this is my area of research -- and yes, Judith, Martha is
correct: I will want to know more about your stash! <BR><BR>Post-mortem
photographs constitute a paradigm instance of Rodney Carter's criteria of
documenting a "momentous life occasion" but otherwise bust up the mould. And
while they may mainly seem "creepy" to contemporary viewers, they were common
in the 19th century -- and not as hidden away taboo objects but prominently
displayed in the parlor (often with elaborate framing and decoration),
included in family albums, and even sent as post cards to friends and family.
The Notman Photographic Archive contains hundreds of them. Although the
post-mortem photograph became uncommon <I>as a publicly displayed</I>
photographic practice around the First World War, sociologists,
anthropologist, social workers, and therapists attest to the fact that it has
continued to the present, probably with equal ubiquity, as a <I>private</I>
photographic practice, shown only to a close circle of intimates. <BR><BR>This
raises several issues. Much of the discussion so far has tended to generalise
completely ahistorically. While there are many photographic practices and
tropes that seem very widespread and consistent over time, we should not gloss
over important historical changes in the cultural context that affect how
different kinds of photographs were received and the complex nexus of cultural
and social attitudes and practices into which they entered -- in this case,
changing attitudes toward death, including drastic changes in the
acceptability of talking about death and in the private/public nature of
institutions dealing with illness and death (sick bed/hospital, home/funeral
parlor). These changes have affected the extent to which these photographs are
discussed and shown (acknowledged) but not necessarily the extent to which
they are made -- in fact, I hazard to guess that, with discrete digital
cameras and cellphones, even more post-mortem photographs are made now than
ever before. <BR><BR>Given this, our notion of personal photography, family
photograph, and archive, needs to include such a practice. So, for instance,
perhaps "commemorative" would be a broader, more neutral and useful term than
"celebratory" for discussing family photographs. <BR><BR>This brings me to
Michael's point about the "encounter". This is crucial I think -- yes, it
applies! And I'm glad he mentioned Derrida's reading of Barthes's punctum:
Derrida's point (sorry) is that it is a mistake to read Barthes as positing
the studium and the punctum as two independently subsisting things -- each can
only exist as offset by the other, like the contrapuntal structure of a
musical composition. Barthes refers to photographs as "laminated objects":
just as iconicity and indexicality are laminated together by the photograph,
so are the studium and the punctum, presence and absence, preservation and
loss, celebration and mourning. What the post-mortem photograph forces us to
acknowledge is that we turn to photography for much more than celebrating the
positive moments -- we also turn to it in our greatest moments of pain and
anguish. Like the studium and punctum, these needs and uses are inseparable --
post-mortem photographs also comfort, affirm, and celebrate and, similarly,
the positive, affirming family photographs contain pain and anguish.
<BR><BR>What we owe to the photographic object in the archive is to exert our
receptive imagination to tease out these complex interminglings -- between the
poles of transformation and contextualization is <I>interpretation</I>. In the
absence of other "complementing" documents, we need to attend to what the
photograph itself can tell us -- and perhaps even <I>more</I> so in the
presence of such documents: perhaps it is the photographs that should guide
how we interpret <I>them</I>. In the marvelous photograph that Jeremy shows
us, is that a First World War uniform the father is wearing? Which regiment?
Do format and process and edge trimming of the photograph itself allow us to
date it to the war period? A "positive milestone" but also much worry and
anxiety. The richness of an entire album, even when anonymous, will usually
reveal to the attentive spectator, in the interstices between happy garden
parties and graduations, plenty of real loss and regret among the
"mythology."<BR><BR>The Collected Visions website attests to this ambivalent
complexity in the photographic encounter -- on the part of both makers and
spectators. Patrick, "age 20," compiles a small history and ethnography of
post-mortem and funerary photography from the archive. He comments on it with
great insight and has sensitively recognized a series of jovial group poses as
situated at a visitation or wake. The punctum of this collection is the
inclusion of a seemingly unrelated photograph of people relaxing on benches on
the <FONT face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>Brooklyn Heights
Promenade -- somehow, it fits:</FONT><BR><BR><A
href="http://cvisions.nyu.edu/gallery/essays19/deathvoid.html">http://cvisions.nyu.edu/gallery/essays19/deathvoid.html</A><BR><BR>Chris
responds to a lovely, Christmas-time family photo by noting the absence of a
generation and projects himself readily into the anguish of an orphaned son --
yes, a Christmas letter, but one with plenty of evocative substance:<BR><BR><A
href="http://cvisions.nyu.edu/gallery/essays19/myfamily.html">http://cvisions.nyu.edu/gallery/essays19/myfamily.html</A><BR><BR>In
the cool, bright-but-diffuse-light of photographic day, my monster is
everywhere. Take, for instance, the complex spacial and temporal
contextualization (and ongoing re-contextualization) of the concise but
poignantly loquacious archive of "celebratory" photographs in a contemporary
crypt in Montreal's Notre-Dame Cemetery -- these are milestones that are hard
and trip us up and yet do celebrate (so many real things):<BR><BR><A
href="http://picasaweb.google.com/aurele.parisien/NotreDameCemetery2007?authkey=aVK3r40btJg#5262504688798654402">http://picasaweb.google.com/aurele.parisien/NotreDameCemetery2007?authkey=aVK3r40btJg#5262504688798654402</A><BR><BR>As
well as the scope of family photography, I think we need to both enlarge and
take more seriously the notions of context -- and, while we're at it, also our
notions of who is constantly using photographs in transformative ways.
<BR><BR>Aurčle Parisien<BR>Doctoral Student<BR>Concordia
University<BR><BR><BR><BR><BR>
<DIV class=gmail_quote>On Tue, Oct 28, 2008 at 3:04 PM, Judith Colwell <SPAN
dir=ltr><<A
href="mailto:ucarchiv@nb.sympatico.ca">ucarchiv@nb.sympatico.ca</A>></SPAN>
wrote:<BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE class=gmail_quote
style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: rgb(204,204,204) 1px solid">The
photos that we have in a church archvies, amid personal papers, are<BR>often
taken to back up a report or to put a face on a church -- hence<BR>alumninum
souvenir plates and postcards showing the image of the minister<BR>and
of the church exterior. In some circles these would be art forms
--<BR>after all the engraving on the aluminum or tin took some skill.
Then the<BR>question arises asking whether the church was as stern as
the minister, or<BR>was the minister pushing an image that he thought the
church wanted.<BR><BR>As to pictures of funerals, etc. -- depends on the
geographic area in<BR>question. I have some photos of people laid out
in their caskets which<BR>appear to be part of a culture. And I
vividly recall, from back in the late<BR>1950's a schoolmate with her album
of photos of her mother in casket and the<BR>funeral. Creepy to me,
but ....<BR><FONT color=#888888><BR>Judith Colwell<BR></FONT>
<DIV class=Ih2E3d>----- Original Message -----<BR>From: "Archives" <<A
href="mailto:archives@trinity.utoronto.ca">archives@trinity.utoronto.ca</A>><BR>To:
<<A
href="mailto:Personal_archives@mailman.yale.edu">Personal_archives@mailman.yale.edu</A>><BR></DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV class=Wj3C7c>Sent: Tuesday, October 28, 2008 3:07 PM<BR>Subject:
[Personal_archives] personal archives<BR><BR><BR>Hello all,<BR><BR>Reading
the articles I have been struck by the universality of the<BR>'snapshot'
experience, how we all know the rules of picture-taking and<BR>viewing.
First we know that although the picture captures a real moment,<BR>it is
also a projection of an idealized life. Secondly, we know that<BR>much is
hidden - hence the sadness that Barthes refers to and which I<BR>would argue
goes beyond the realization that the subject may be dead.<BR><BR>Chambers
refers to the feminine character of snapshot taking and album<BR>making, and
points out that despite this female perspective there are no<BR>pictures of
housework. Taking this one step further, there are also no<BR>pictures of
screaming infants, two-year-olds having a tantrum, sullen<BR>teen-agers
screaming "I hate you!". There are no pictures of sick-beds<BR>or funerals.
The family album or photo collection presents a world<BR>without pain. Since
most of us have personal experience with the<BR>phenomenon of family albums,
we instinctively do not buy into this, and<BR>realize that the mythology
created is unrealistic and to some extent,<BR>banal. Could the family album
be seen as the visual equivalent of the<BR>Christmas letter?<BR><BR>In an
archival context, we find the pictures complemented and completed<BR>by
other elements in a fonds: a file of condolence cards, doctor's<BR>bills,
diaries recording private anguish, letters containing an<BR>outpouring of
emotion. And they are certainly useful, as Catherine<BR>points out, for
identification purposes.<BR><BR>Martha asks the fundamental question: "is
everyday photographic<BR>experience transferrable to art?" I'd argue that it
is and that the<BR>artist has the same mandate as the archivist. The
historic photograph on<BR>its own is nearly meaningless, and thus it
requires either<BR>transformation (by an artist) or contextualization (by an
archivist) to<BR>make it 'real'. It's function during the lifetime of its
subjects, and<BR>perhaps for a generation after, is to follow a path that
has been<BR>tacitly approved by its viewing public. After that, it's fair
game for us!<BR><BR>Thanks, Catherine, Martha et al. for making this
happen.<BR><BR>Sylvia<BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR>----- Original Message
----<BR>From: Alison Nordstrom <<A
href="mailto:anordstrom@geh.org">anordstrom@geh.org</A>><BR>To: <A
href="mailto:Personal_archives@mailman.yale.edu">Personal_archives@mailman.yale.edu</A><BR>Sent:
Tuesday, October 28, 2008 9:40:51 AM<BR>Subject: [Personal_archives]
(re-sent) first thoughts of the morning<BR><BR>I'm curious about who's
lurking here. I suspect we have archivists,<BR>curators and students who may
do any number of things in the future.<BR>Strikes me that we might have very
different notions and working<BR>definitions of "family photograph." Can we
share?<BR><BR>I tend to say various things like "a photograph used in the
family as a<BR>metaphor for that family, an ideological device that defines
family, a<BR>statement both internally directed and externally directed
that<BR>manifests an ideal, a record of a family."<BR><BR>How do these past
uses cling to a photograph ( or group of photographs)<BR>as it/they moves
away from original
use?<BR>_______________________________________________<BR>Personal_archives
mailing list<BR><A
href="mailto:Personal_archives@mailman.yale.edu">Personal_archives@mailman.yale.edu</A><BR><A
href="http://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/personal_archives"
target=_blank>http://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/personal_archives</A><BR><BR>_______________________________________________<BR>Personal_archives
mailing list<BR><A
href="mailto:Personal_archives@mailman.yale.edu">Personal_archives@mailman.yale.edu</A><BR><A
href="http://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/personal_archives"
target=_blank>http://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/personal_archives</A><BR></DIV></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV><BR><BR
clear=all><BR>-- <BR>Aurčle Parisien<BR>4868 Hutchison Street<BR>Montreal,
Quebec<BR>H2V 4A3<BR><BR>Tel . : 514-273-3274<BR>Cell: 514-774-6133<BR><BR>
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