Accustomed to seeing war movies, (violent) action movies, looking at war photographs and pictures of violence, we rarely see anything peaceful on the news. More and more the pictures resemble each other. Just by looking at a photograph, one hardly knows, where it was taken, and which conflict it refers to. Or is it rather our perception that everything looks similar? Are we just not capable of empathising with all the people involved in conflicts and wars?
During this course we will look at different propaganda and manipulations of images - also the images in our head. We will look at the history of war photography and see how it has changed over the decades. Has our perception changed as well?
What exactly is a war picture? Does it need to show violence? On the other hand, what does a peace picture look like?
Another main topic of this course will be the search for ethical frameworks for creating war pictures - and their use, because the responsibility for what happens to the people, who are in a picture, does not stop with the publication of a picture. Especially in the age of the re-tweet and the like-button, this responsibility needs to be debated again.
- Professor: Daniela Ingruber