This course is based on the works and writings of the intellectuals John Berger and Susan Sontag, who revitalized Anglo-Saxon photographic theory in the 1970s. Their theses, developed respectively in Ways of Seeing (1972) and On Photography (1977), approach the image from a political and social perspective and define the specificities of the photographic medium within the field of Visual Studies. They are analyzed and contextualized through examples of historical and contemporary artistic practices so that students acquire formal and critical reading tools for photographic images.
The sessions begin with a detailed study of the BBC television series Ways of Seeing produced by the British poet and art critic John Berger. In this series, the essayist offers a pioneering analysis of the dominant influence of images in society, presented in a media format that is innovative and impactful. Among the themes addressed are reproductibility, the "male gaze," or advertising ideology—topics that allow for an exploration of popular and artistic uses of images and how these uses have developed and colonized imaginations, feeding dominant ideologies. Extracts from Susan Sontag's writings provide complementary reflections on the ethical issues involved in photographic practices.