School of Historical and Philosophical Studies - Theses

Permanent URI for this collection

http://hdl.handle.net/11343/399

Filters

2003 1
1
Reset filters

Settings
Statistics
Citations
Start date: 2003 × End date: 2003 × Author: Ballard, Bernadette Ann ×

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
  • Item
    Thumbnail Image
    The seeing machine: photography and the visualisation of culture in Australia, 1890-1930
    Ballard, Bernadette Ann ( 2003)
    Since its introduction in Australia, photography has had a profound impact on Australian culture. The modern era, it is often alleged, has been dominated by the sense of sight, and from its inception, photography was explicitly understood in relation to this prestigious notion of modern vision. The camera and its associated technologies offered a “new” and modern way of seeing that was central to the overall project of modernity. This thesis is a study of the role of photography in the increasing visualisation of Australian culture during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Drawing on debates around modernism, it explores the cultural and social expressions of photography. Each chapter of this thesis considers an aspect of photography or its use, and traces the emerging popularisation and commodification of the photographic image. The social impact of photography is explored in a selection of specific contexts that include early camera clubs and societies of the 1890s, and the growing amateur movement that followed the new “point and shoot” technology so ably depicted by the Kodak Girl. Other contexts include the professional applications of photography, official and private uses of photography during World War I, and finally the journalistic and cinematic uses of the photographic image in the 1920s. Together these contexts show how the romance and optimism of technology ignited enthusiasm for the visual medium across class and gender divides, moving from initial popularity amongst a local scientific elite, spreading to amateurs, professionals, and eventually being put to political and social uses, throughout the world. The emergence of photography as a popular pastime and profession was instrumental in reconceptualising public and private life. Popularised by the press and reinforced by private uses, photographs constitute a significant cultural terrain for society and in many ways, paved the way for a broader acceptance of a visual discourse that dominates modern society.