A highly acclaimed academic at De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) took the opportunity to release her latest book during the annual international photography conference held by the Photographic History Research Centre (PHRC).
Professor Elizabeth Edwards, research professor in photographic history and director of the PHRC, launched the latest of her books during the two-day conference held on campus which this year focused on the use of photography in print.
Elizabeth said: “Every year we hold an annual conference, a great gathering of international photographic historians, and each year we look at a less common element of photography that builds upon the previous year. It’s a very interdisciplinary event with people from all sorts of backgrounds attending.
“This year is about looking at all the different manifestations of ‘illustrated’ photography.
“Most people encounter photography on the printed page and it changes how people see and understand the world. Could we imagine anything we take for granted without photography?”
The Conference also hosted the sell-out launch of the latest of her books, entitled Photographs, Museums, Collections: Between Art and Information, published by Bloomsbury Academic. The book was enthusiastically received by the array of international delegates, selling out in less than 15 minutes.
Elizabeth added: “The book is on the history of collecting photographs in museums. There’s been hardly anything at all written about it previously, but it’s important as photographs represent eco-systems of museums.
“It’s very much the first book to address this and in doing so we’ve tried to bring practice back into the discussion rather than relying on theoretical study, which a lot of museological-writing tends to be.”
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The book has been co-edited by Dr. Christopher Morton, Curator of Photographs at Pitt Rivers Museum at Oxford University.
Christopher said: “It’s the first book that brings curators, academics and practitioners together to think about the different roles that photographs play within museums and it engages with practical case studies which will be of interest to anybody working in institutions that hold photographs. It will help them engage with their own photos.”
The Photography in Print conference aimed to explore the functions, effects and dynamics of photographs whether that be in newspapers, books, magazines or in advertising.
The conference welcomed delegates from many countries, from Switzerland to Fiji, with keynote addresses from Professor Jennifer Green Lewis of George Washington University, Washington DC, USA, and Professor Thierry Gervais of Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada.
Posted on Thursday 25 June 2015