Decolonizing images

Decolonizing images

A new history of photographic cultures in Egypt

By Ronnie Close
Hardcover $130.00

$130.00

Publication Date: 6th February 2024

Decolonizing images focuses on Egypt’s local visual heritage and continues the urgent process of decolonizing the canon of photography. It presents a new account of the visual cultures produced and exhibited in Egypt by interpreting the camera’s ability to conceal as much as it reveals in a complex vision of decolonial difference. Read More
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Decolonizing images focuses on Egypt’s local visual heritage and continues the urgent process of decolonizing the canon of photography. It presents a new account of the visual cultures produced and exhibited in Egypt by interpreting the camera’s ability to conceal as much as it reveals in a complex vision of decolonial difference. Read More
Description
The 2011 revolution put Egypt at the centre of discussions around radical transformations in global photographic cultures. But Egypt and photography share a longer, richer history rarely included in western accounts of the medium. Decolonizing images focuses on the country’s local visual heritage, continuing the urgent process of decolonizing the canon of photography. It presents a new account of the visual cultures produced and exhibited in Egypt by interpreting the camera’s ability to conceal as much as it reveals. The book moves from the initial encounters between local knowledge and western-led modernity to explore how the image intersects with the politics of representation, censorship, activism and aesthetics. It overturns Eurocentric understandings of the photograph through a compelling narrative of contemporary Egypt’s indigenous visual culture.
Details
  • Price: $130.00
  • Pages: 224
  • Carton Quantity: 20
  • Publisher: Manchester University Press
  • Imprint: Manchester University Press
  • Publication Date: 6th February 2024
  • Illustration Note: 14 black & white illustrations
  • ISBN: 9781526165954
  • Format: Hardcover
  • BISACs:
    PHOTOGRAPHY / History
    HISTORY / Middle East / Egypt (see also Ancient / Egypt)
    HISTORY / Modern / 20th Century
    HISTORY / Modern / 21st Century
Reviews

'That imperialism and photography are closely entwined is by now no secret; but how do we navigate and unpick that complex legacy today? In this engaging, accessible and important book, Ronnie Close introduces a series of compelling responses, using rich examples from Egyptian cultural production to destabilise and radically expand established histories of photography.'
Benedict Burbridge, Professor of Visual Culture, University of Sussex

‘Identifying the decolonial image as neither de-linked from the western historiography of photography nor constrained by the limitations of its frameworks of interpretation, Ronnie Close provides a compelling alternative reading of Egypt’s visual heritage. Tracing the decolonial across Egyptian photographic culture, this wide-ranging account demonstrates Dipesh Chakrabarty’s claim that our historical differences actually make a difference.’
Justin Carville, Lecturer in Photography, IADT Dún Laoghaire

Author Bio
Ronnie Close is an Associate Professor at the American University in Cairo
Table of Contents

Introduction: unruly photography
1 Rethinking the histories of photography
2 Decolonizing the lens
3 National images
4 Histories of the street
5 Censorship gazes on female portraiture
6 Contemporary lenses within Egypt
Conclusion: decolonial aesthetic futures
Index

The 2011 revolution put Egypt at the centre of discussions around radical transformations in global photographic cultures. But Egypt and photography share a longer, richer history rarely included in western accounts of the medium. Decolonizing images focuses on the country’s local visual heritage, continuing the urgent process of decolonizing the canon of photography. It presents a new account of the visual cultures produced and exhibited in Egypt by interpreting the camera’s ability to conceal as much as it reveals. The book moves from the initial encounters between local knowledge and western-led modernity to explore how the image intersects with the politics of representation, censorship, activism and aesthetics. It overturns Eurocentric understandings of the photograph through a compelling narrative of contemporary Egypt’s indigenous visual culture.
  • Price: $130.00
  • Pages: 224
  • Carton Quantity: 20
  • Publisher: Manchester University Press
  • Imprint: Manchester University Press
  • Publication Date: 6th February 2024
  • Illustrations Note: 14 black & white illustrations
  • ISBN: 9781526165954
  • Format: Hardcover
  • BISACs:
    PHOTOGRAPHY / History
    HISTORY / Middle East / Egypt (see also Ancient / Egypt)
    HISTORY / Modern / 20th Century
    HISTORY / Modern / 21st Century

'That imperialism and photography are closely entwined is by now no secret; but how do we navigate and unpick that complex legacy today? In this engaging, accessible and important book, Ronnie Close introduces a series of compelling responses, using rich examples from Egyptian cultural production to destabilise and radically expand established histories of photography.'
Benedict Burbridge, Professor of Visual Culture, University of Sussex

‘Identifying the decolonial image as neither de-linked from the western historiography of photography nor constrained by the limitations of its frameworks of interpretation, Ronnie Close provides a compelling alternative reading of Egypt’s visual heritage. Tracing the decolonial across Egyptian photographic culture, this wide-ranging account demonstrates Dipesh Chakrabarty’s claim that our historical differences actually make a difference.’
Justin Carville, Lecturer in Photography, IADT Dún Laoghaire

Ronnie Close is an Associate Professor at the American University in Cairo

Introduction: unruly photography
1 Rethinking the histories of photography
2 Decolonizing the lens
3 National images
4 Histories of the street
5 Censorship gazes on female portraiture
6 Contemporary lenses within Egypt
Conclusion: decolonial aesthetic futures
Index