Theme
“Since Edward Steichen’s exhibition The Family of Man in 1955, the notion of ‘family’ has changed radically. The images Steichen chose carried the values of a closed and human rural community, far away from today’s globalized ethic and aesthetic visions. In the 1980s and 1990s the humanist idea of the family was being replaced by a varied and fragmented conception of representing the world through many postmodern exhibitions. The advent of digital technology, the placing on the market of easy-to-use devices such as smartphones and tablets, combined with the proliferation of social networks, have literally transformed ways of communication, experience of reality, self-representation and representation of individuals and communities.
The home environment and the ‘family’ are not exempt from these changes, rather, in virtue of the change in their social significance, they have assimilated these new ways of communicating and of generating new iconography. In the context of post-human society, of genetic manipulation and cyber-culture, many photographs today question the status of the body, of the individual and the group, by reinterpreting the different genres and human themes in an experimental photographic manner.
In the light of these revolutions, the proposed theme ‘Familydom’ after last year’s more ‘self’-oriented ‘You See Me’, aims to investigate the ‘social’ impact of photography and the crucial role it assumes in the ‘certification’ of identity and understanding (or compromise?) of the real in relation to virtual, fictional and imaginary family issues.”
About
Visible White is a photography prize founded in 2012 by Celeste Network and Fondazione Studio Marangoni to support international photographers and artists who engage, creatively, with what is moving personal, social and political issues today.
Jurors are looking for photographs and projects which:
- Deliver new angles of vision and understanding to the chosen theme
- Reflect contemporary ways in which images of people, ideas and places are created
- Show discipline and personal style
- Contain strong reference systems
- Use conceptual or descriptive interpretations to shed new light on the chosen theme
- Push the boundaries of the media
Past editions
