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The Humanity of Wilderness Photography?

journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-16, 17:44 authored by Adrian FranklinAdrian Franklin
What is it you see when you look at wilderness photography? Is it pristine nature that you think you see? Is it an authentic (or proper) ecosystem or ecology that you have in view, or in your mind's eye? Is it an empty landscape that you value when you appreciate wilderness photography? And does 'empty' mean empty of humanity? A land uninhabited by humans, where nature is left alone to be as it should be? Is the content of the photo real, an expression of nothing less than the way the world really is? Was the world really like this when the photo was taken? Or is all of this merely the rhetoric of the photo; that which makes the photograph acceptable as a representational space for wilderness? And if so, what is being represented and to whom? To whom is it meaningful and acceptable? What is the humanity of wilderness? Rather than representing pure nature and empty landscapes, the wilderness photo is full of stories -- and most of them are about humans as much as they are about non-humans.

History

Publication title

Australian Humanities Review

Issue

38

Pagination

1-16

ISSN

1325-8338

Department/School

School of Social Sciences

Publisher

Australian National University

Place of publication

Australia

Rights statement

©Australian Humanities Review all rights reserved.

Repository Status

  • Restricted

Socio-economic Objectives

Other environmental management not elsewhere classified

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