Project overview
This project is a collaboration between Drs Maike Potschulat (Liverpool John Moores University) and Laura Harris (University of Southampton), funded by the BA/Leverhulme Small Research Grants SRG 2023-24 Round.
This project will be the first of its kind to bring curatorial theory and practice to bear on sociological photography in order to consolidate the field and raise its public profile. We will achieve this via an exhibition, the publication of a photobook and an academic article as well as a conference paper. We operate with a broad definition of sociological photography as photographs generated by research which draws on sociological theory in its design and/or analysis, allowing us to capture a range of image-making practices. The
project is based on the recognition that sociologically-informed photographs are currently under-valued, under-theorised, and lacking distribution channels, despite the mainstreaming of visual methods in sociology. The lack of sociological photography as a distinct and widely-recognised visual genre means that little is known about it beyond the confines of the academic social sciences, a shortcoming that this project aims to address.
This project will be the first of its kind to bring curatorial theory and practice to bear on sociological photography in order to consolidate the field and raise its public profile. We will achieve this via an exhibition, the publication of a photobook and an academic article as well as a conference paper. We operate with a broad definition of sociological photography as photographs generated by research which draws on sociological theory in its design and/or analysis, allowing us to capture a range of image-making practices. The
project is based on the recognition that sociologically-informed photographs are currently under-valued, under-theorised, and lacking distribution channels, despite the mainstreaming of visual methods in sociology. The lack of sociological photography as a distinct and widely-recognised visual genre means that little is known about it beyond the confines of the academic social sciences, a shortcoming that this project aims to address.
