Photography, like all of the arts, does not exist in a vacuum, yet too often we take photographs at face value, paying attention to what they are of rather than what they are about. Photography lives, and has always lived, in a world of influences and challenges to which it responds and on which it, in turn, has an impact. It's story and current practice reflect debates around issues such as equality, exploitation, censorship and interpretations of history. Usually those matters are expressed through the photographs; sometimes they are expressed through the lives of the photographers. This course will explore these relationships in five sessions covering: ideas that changed photography; photographs that changed the world; women in photography; travellers, exploration and photography; and photographic controversy and the bounds of acceptability (will include pictures that some may find offensive).
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