Ties that bind: Photographs, personhood, and image relations in Northeastern Australia

Benjamin R. Smith

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    6 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Photographs are a ubiquitous feature of Aboriginal life in Northeastern Australia, with images of relatives being prominently displayed in most Aboriginal houses. This display of photographs is tied to a form of distributed personhood that draws on photographs to create a sense of social immediacy in the absence of close kin. This sense of immediacy also occurs in relation to photographs of the dead, giving these images a particular force for Aboriginal viewers. But further consideration of this force of photographic images suggests that they should be treated neither as things nor as aspects of persons, despite their seeming ability to manifest agency in Aboriginal life-worlds.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)327-344
    Number of pages18
    JournalVisual Anthropology
    Volume21
    Issue number4
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Jul 2008

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