So I have one semester of my research Masters in photography completed and my brain is definitely bigger than it was previously! I’m conducting research on Re-imaginig Irish Identities: Photography, Hybridity and Identity, which will involve ethnographic fieldwork, interviews and portraits of the Irish diaspora in London.
Going forward, on this blog, I’ll be documenting my process of research, field work, ethnographic notes and writing. Thus, inspired by Ellie’s blog post, here’s my 2018 / 2019 reading list. While I’m working on a review of literature for my thesis chapter, I’ll be reading widely around my topic, which is why these lists aren’t discipline-specific.
The 2018 book-list
Lauren Elkin – Flâneuse: Women Walk the City
Olivia Laing – The Lonely City
Emily Jacir – Europa
Philip Pullman – The Book of Dust
Thuc Van Nhugen – The Refugees
Sean Sexton – The Irish: A Photohistory
Langford – Basic Photography: A Primer For Professionals
Simon Baker – Performing For the Camera
Russell Roberts – William Henry Fox Talbot: Dawn of the Photograph
Jeu De Paume – Dorethea Lange: Politics of Seeing
Various – Dali / Duchamp
Laura Blacklow – New Dimensions in Photo Processes
Niamh O’Sullivan – Coming Home: Art and the Great Hunger
David Farrell – Before, During, After, Almost
Justin Carville – Photography and Ireland
Seamus Murphy – The Republic
London Center for Book Arts – Making Books
Experimental Photography: A Handbook of Techniques
The 2019 to-be-read list
Richard Mosse – The Castle
Iain Sinclair – London Orbital
Reni Eddo-Lodge – Why I’m no longer talking to white people about race
Shirley Read and Mike Simmons – Photographers and Research: the Role of Research in Contemporary Photographic Practice
Rebecca Solnit – The Book of Migrations
Rebecca Solnit – A Field Guide to Getting Lost
Frantz Fanon – The Wretched of the Earth
Svetlana Boym – The Future of Nostalgia
John Berger – About Looking
Patti Smith – M Train
Teju Cole – Known and Strange Things
WG Sebald – The Emigrants
Susan Sontag – On Photography
Iain Sinclair – Living With Buildings
Jacques Ranciere – The Emancipated Spectator
Clare Norton – Liberating Histories
Ian Parr – Memory
Chris Krauss – Social Practices
Gregory Sholette – Delirium and Resistance
Heather Morris – The Tattooist of Aushwitz
James Baldwin – The Fire Next Time
Joan Fontcuberta – Pandora’s Camera
Simon Baker – The Shape of Light
Hal Foster – Bad New Days
Mark Greif – Against Everything
Elif Bautmann – The Idiot
Roland Barthes – Mythologies
Julian Stallabrass – Documentary
I know these two lists are vastly different in length, while writing my MA proposal, I was reading journal articles and texts, mostly, not actual books. My goal for 2019 is to read most, if not all, of the books on my to-be-read list. There’s a lot more on my initial reading list but these are a good starting point.
From next week, I’ll be sharing my initial field notes and thoughts and processes around researching, so stay tuned!