Atrocity Photography & War: A Symposium, Monash Prato Centre June 2010
Monash Prato Centre, Tuscany, Italy
15-16 June 2010
This symposium will explore how photographic images of atrocities relate to the development of ideas about human rights, how they influence the memory of particular wars, and the ways they shape perceptions of conflict - both at the time and later. It also encourages critical and historical engagement with the actual concept of 'atrocity', the ways this has changed across time, and the relationship of photography to its articulation and use. Atrocity is a concept most frequently linked with war, but there are important connections with colonialism and its critics yet to be explored.
Questions to be explored at the symposium include:
- What is the relationship between war and photography?
- When does the concept of 'atrocity' come into use, and what is its relationship to photographic evidence of suffering and violence?
- Who produced photographic images of atrocity, who consumed them, how were they read, and does this change across time?
- How do some images become iconic, when others are forgotten?
Keynote Speaker: Professor Joanna Bourke, Professor of History, Birkbeck College, University of London
Please note there will be a welcome cocktail reception, beginning at 6 p.m. on the evening of Monday 14 June, 2010 at the Monash Prato Centre.
Conference Venue
The symposium will be held at Monash University's Prato Centre in Italy. For further information about the Centre, accommodation options and getting to Prato, please visit the Prato website at: www.ita.monash.edu/
Program
The Programme is now available to be downloaded here [785kb]