The panel conversation on Decolonial Photographies, is hosted by HDK-Valand, Gothenburg University, one of the partners in the network Global Photographies. This international network of academics, artists, photographers, writers, curators and publishers is rooted in exchange and a concern to de-center and decolonise photographic practice. It aims to share knowledge and tools, organise talks, workshops and academic seminars, and give space to expansive contextual and conceptually adventurous approaches to the photographic.
The talk coincides with the launch of the publication The Routledge Companion to Global Photographies, whichprovides a transnational discussion, grounded in dialogue between authors and editors from many locations and contexts. The section Decolonial Practices: Speaking Back to the Canon, edited by Nina Mangalanayagam and Emese Mucsi, reflects the variety and complexity of postcolonial legacies, with a set of contributions that frame photography’s potential to be used within decolonial practices in contexts as diverse as South Asia, Greenland, Hungary and South Africa. In this panel discussion the editors of the book, Duncan Wooldridge and Lucy Soutter, will be in conversation with the contributors of the book Nina Mangalanayagam, Tanvi Mishra and Àgnes Bàshty to discuss key terminology and unpack the ways contemporary photographic projects speak back to colonial pasts through processes including the strategic reframing of archival materials, engagement with indigenous practices, and the construction of auto-narratives.
Editor Biographies
Lucy Soutter is an artist and writer based in London. She is Reader in Photography at the University of Westminster. Her work focuses on questions of value and meaning in the expanded field of photography and contemporary art. She is the author of Why Art Photography? (2nd ed. 2018), co-editor of Writer Conversations (2023) and writes for publications including 1000 Words, Photoworks and Source.
Duncan Wooldridge is an artist and writer and is Reader in Photography at the School of Digital Arts, Manchester School of Art, Manchester Metropolitan University. His research explores experimentation, materialities and photography’s future tenses. He is the editor of John Hilliard: Not Black and White (2014), the author of To Be Determined: Photography and the Future (2021) and the co-editor of Writer Conversations (2023).
Contributor Biographies
Ágnes Básthy is PhD student in the Doctoral School of Sociology at Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) Budapest. Her current research focuses on contemporary art in Hungary since the regime change. She completed an MA in Sociology at the University of Szeged and her thesis analyzed the field of fine art photography in state socialist Hungary. She has been working at the intersection of culture, sociology and art for more than a decade as a researcher, critic and organizer.
HDK Valand Fotografi
©Hendrik Zeitler
Nina Mangalanayagam is a Senior Lecturer at HDK-Valand, Sweden. She researches hybridity and decolonial image making through photography and video and completed her PhD at Westminster University, UK, in 2015. Her current research includes Glitch and Photography in collaboration with the Hasselblad Foundation, and Colouring-in-Sweden, funded by the Swedish Research Council.
Tanvi Mishra is a curator, photo editor and writer based in New Delhi. She is part of the photo-editorial team of PIX, has been Creative Director of The Caravan, and has contributed as a curator to events including Photo Kathmandu, Delhi Photo Festival, BredaPhoto Biennial and Rencontres D’ Arles.