Membrana
The deadlines for contribution proposals (150-word abstracts and/or visuals): April 28, 2022
1. Histories
Image of a photograph of a painting by Paul Klee, Angelus Novus, 1920.
Photography has proven to be a productive (even overproductive) subject and object of histories. Both the photographs themselves and the act of photographing anticipate the processes of storytelling, of constructing a connection between social groups and their understanding of time, of past, present and anticipated future. Consequently, examining the question of what kind of socio-historical connection photography offers – or, more precisely, attempts to offer – is of paramount importance.
Such critical enquiry can focus on the role of photography in our understanding of history/histories, question photography as a historical endeavour itself, or examine photography as a means of challenging existing histories or actively creating alternative histories. These issues are by no means new. The uncovering of alternative histories, marginal voices and peripheral visions is as important today as it was when they were being explored in the last decades of the 20th century. However, changing social and economic conditions call for a reformulation or expansion of the questions being asked in order to take into account the changing conditions of social communication (e.g. algorithmization), the changing nature of the media, the assertion of knowledge (e.g. “alternative” facts, post-truth), the resurgence of undemocratic forms of governance (e.g. illiberalism) and the restructuring of neoliberal capitalism (e.g. platformisation, techno-feudalism, etc.).
Membrana Vol. 7, No. 1, 2022 welcomes contributions addressing (but not limited to) the following topics:
– Questioning the evidential aspect of photography.
– Photography, factuality and evidence in the post-truth society
– Photography and the narration of alternative histories
– Alternative histories of photography
– Photography, history and power (of dominant institutions)
– Photographs between traces of history and traces of historians
– History as (re)creation (historiography and visuality)
– Photography and collective memory
– Vernacular visual archives and alternate histories
– Visual archives, social movements and counter-publics
– (Re)interpretations of visual archives
– Photography in the social sciences and humanities
– The colonial and postcolonial legacy of photography
– Historiography, visual culture and politics
– The construction of the “Other” in place and time
Histories in PDF
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Histories on Membrana's page
2. Stories
Image from private collection, unknown author, n.d.
Throughout its history, photography has been used to deceive, to construct, to lie, to create fictitious worlds and to convince us of their indisputable truths – both with equal impact on our notion of reality – on our experience, on the notion of society and culture. As “incomplete utterances”, photographs are inseparable from and dependent on narrative and storytelling. Contrary to popular belief, photographs are not primarily means of communication, but objects of communication. It is not just that narrative anchors the meaning of photographs – photographs as objects anchor narrative.
Our narratives through or with photographs are always constructed or reconstructed in the face of the medium’s seductive promise of veracity and visual insight. Photography’s ability to conjure up new meanings and reinterpret past meanings while giving the appearance of documentary veracity is and has been used extensively in both art and politics. As a result, photography has become not only an effective means for constructing factual stories and creating facts (a factography), but also a powerful and persuasive instrument for the creative appropriation of facts. Whether as a tool or mere raw material for the production of creative fictional worlds, aesthetic pleasure, lies or political deception, photography supports these practises of reconstructing our sense of time and reality, producing alternative timelines, histories and stories.
Membrana Vol. 7, No. 2 explores the imaginative, re/constructive possibilities of photography, different creative strategies, its possibilities for ruptures, interruptions and counter-narratives through (but not limited to) following topics:
– Photography as a narrative tool (storytelling)
– Deconstruction of dominant narratives (art, history)
– Artistic appropriation of archives
– Illusion and photography
– Fictional documentary (docu-fiction / faux documentary)
– Alternative facts and alternative fiction
– Re-creation of the past with/via photographs
– Veracity as a creative strategy
– Computer-generated images, fictitious photographic worlds
– Fictional words, computer-generated illusions and deep-fakes
– Hoaxes, deceptions – past and present
– Exhibition and narrative
– Photography and myth
– Photography, narration and alternative temporalities
Stories in PDF
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Stories on Membrana's page
Format of contributions
Essays, theoretical papers, overview articles, interviews (approx. 2,500–6,000 words), visuals encouraged
Short essays, columns (1,200–3,000 words), visuals encouraged
Photographic projects and artwork: proposals for non-commissioned work or samples of work
More information about the contributions can be found in our guidelines. The contributions will be published in the English edition – journal Membrana(ISSN 2463-8501; eISSN: 2712-4894) and/or in the Slovenian edition – magazine Fotografija(ISSN 1408-3566; eISSN: 1855-8941).
Proposals and deadlines
The deadline for contribution proposals (150-word abstracts and/or visuals) is April 28, 2022. The deadline for the finished contributions from accepted proposals is July 4, 2022.
Please send proposals via the online form or contact us directly at editors(at)membrana.org.
Find more about us at: http://www.membrana.org
Contact: Membrana, Maurerjeva 8, SI-1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
publishing(at)membrana.org
editors(at)membrana.org
