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Course Description

Summary

This studio/ seminar invites students to engage both creatively and critically, by making work and through readings and discussions. Throughout the course, students will consider the social life of photographs, with particular emphasis on past and present ways of making and sharing vernacular images. Photographic histories will provide context for discussions about contemporary digital culture, and consideration of artists who incorporate strategies of image sharing and circulation from everyday life into their practices.

This course will run in a hybrid format. We will meet as a full group for in-person classes three times: once for the final critique and twice earlier in the term. Other classes will be structured using both synchronous and asynchronous tools. In addition to full-group Zoom meetings, synchronous class time will include one-on-one meetings with the instructor and meetings with peers (remotely and/or in person).  Asynchronous work will include collaborative annotation, written responses to readings and viewings, and sharing feedback on creative projects.

Assignment prompts will invite students to respond creatively to the themes of the class with photographic (and related) work. In the second half of the term, students will develop a self-directed project, workshopped through multiple critiques. (Note that this is not a technical course in photography and most assignments do not specify the use of particular equipment or processes.) 

Registration priority will be given to students who have taken Foundations of Photography (analog or digital), and ideally at least one other four-credit photography course. This class is particularly well-suited to students who are interested in learning more about the social histories of photography and/ or media studies, and those whose creative work relates to image sharing and popular uses of photography. To express interest in this course, please email the instructor and indicate: your expected graduation date, all previous coursework in photography at Bennington, a summary of other work in visual arts, and a brief description of your Plan.