Curatorview [Alfredo Cramerotti]

Fortunes of War: Photography in Alter Space

By Eric Lesdema Series edited by Alfredo Cramerotti

£49.00 | 120 pages | 7 Oct 2020

An extended edit of Eric Lesdema’s photographic series of the same name, with 83 colour photographs and essays from leading academics which analyse how his work provides an alternative approach to documentary photography. Twenty-first-century interpretations and applications of photography are questioned, as are warfare and its cultural framework.

An extended edit of Eric Lesdema’s photographic series of the same name, with 83 colour photographs and essays from leading academics which analyse how his work provides an alternative approach to documentary photography. Twenty-first-century interpretations and applications of photography are questioned, as are warfare and its cultural framework.

Eric Lesdema’s photographic series Fortunes of War was awarded the UN Nikon World Prize in 1997. Originally a series of fifteen images, this extended edit includes 83 colour photos, accompanied by a series of essays by leading academics in the field. The essays explore ideas raised by the prescient nature of the work, offering a highly original and engaging debate about its alternative approach to documentary photography, which views photography as an alternate space with the potential to project events rather than record them. In exploring an approach that cuts against the traditional concept central to documentary photography since its inception, the book thus raises important questions about twenty-first century interpretations and applications of photography and media. With thought-provoking research and a diverse array of essay contributions, Fortunes of War proposes new lines of interdisciplinary investigation, reflection and inquiry.

Photography as Critical Practice: Notes on Otherness

By David Bate Afterword by Liz Wells Series edited by Alfredo Cramerotti

£45.00 | 300 pages | 15 Dec 2020

A collection that combines visual works with critical essays around the theme of everyday life to explore the concept of otherness and highlight photography as a form of critical practice. Put together in this way, the book images and text work in dialogue with one another to construct a new perspective on questions of otherness and alterity.

The ‘other’ is a topic of great interest within and across contemporary photographic practice and theory, yet it remains neglected outside the now well-established field of postcolonial studies. This volume brings together photography and written essays that relate to aspects of otherness and visual work. Presented together, the images and critical writings work in concert to construct a new social perspective on questions of otherness and alterity and to highlight photography as a form of critical practice.

In a departure from existing conceptions of otherness in postcolonial discourse, Photography as Critical Practice places emphasis on the human condition not as a liberal concept, but as something formed and framed by a broader dimension of social, sexual and cultural otherness. In this way, the book provides a fascinating new vista on the otherness of photography.