{"id":1137,"date":"2021-08-24T11:44:59","date_gmt":"2021-08-24T11:44:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gobetween.wpengine.com\/?p=1137"},"modified":"2022-06-22T10:06:58","modified_gmt":"2022-06-22T10:06:58","slug":"aayushi-gupta-why-materiality-matters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.courtauld.ac.uk\/digitalmedia\/2021\/08\/24\/aayushi-gupta-why-materiality-matters\/","title":{"rendered":"Aayushi Gupta: Why Materiality Matters"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3>Audio version<\/h3>\n<p>Read by Christopher Williams<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Spotify Embed: Why Materiality Matters\" style=\"border-radius: 12px\" width=\"100%\" height=\"152\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\" src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/episode\/1tVc1Osi8tWqO1TPoMI822?si=98673558f4d04f77&#038;utm_source=oembed\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3>Text version<\/h3>\n<p>Introducing the material turn to the study of photography, visual and historical anthropologist <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Elizabeth_Edwards_%28historian%29\">Elizabeth Edwards<\/a> (2004) encourages us to acknowledge the photograph as a three-dimensional object existing materially in the world \u2013 that is, spatially and temporally in the social and cultural experience. From Edward\u2019s perspective, photographs are material entities because they are chemically deposited onto paper, mounted on different sized, shaped, and coloured cards, subject to changes on their surfaces, and informed by the way that they are presented.<\/p>\n<p>Attention to these aspects of photographs, Edwards argues, can help us engage with the processes of intention, making, distributing, consuming, using, preserving, displaying, discarding, and recycling that are significant to the way we understand photographs as images. This approach to photography I found, also echoed in the ongoing digitisation projects at The Courtauld.<\/p>\n<p>When on placement at The Courtauld, I was particularly drawn to its approach towards digitisation, and its emphasis on retaining the physicality of visual objects in their digital renditions. From the images that were provided to me and my fellow interns, I was able to engage with the signs of wear and tear on archival boxes, with the multiplicity of intentions decipherable from the text \u2013 varied in font, colour, and handwriting \u2013 on the cards onto which images in the Conway Library were mounted, and with the variety of size, colour, and type of image, as well as with the materials onto which the image was printed and then mounted onto the card.<\/p>\n<p>This emphasis on digitally translating physicality was especially impressive to me because I was trying to engage with these images from my laptop screen at home in Oxford, instead of interacting with them in a more multi-sensory, embodied manner in one of the rooms at The Courtauld. Indeed, as former intern <a href=\"https:\/\/sites.courtauld.ac.uk\/digitalmedia\/2019\/07\/01\/peyton-cherry-journey-through-materiality-communicating-familiarity-and-distance\/\">Peyton Cherry<\/a> (2019) predicted, I was brought into The Courtauld, without venturing into its halls to peruse and handle prints, and into the lived experience of working within collections. Despite interacting with the collections intangibly, I was still able to engage with the physicality of the image \u2013 the image as object \u2013 and even in their digital renditions, The Courtauld had managed to make the materiality of these images matter. This was quite significant to me, for The Courtauld had successfully avoided flattening tangible, three-dimensional objects, simply by choosing cameras over flatbed scanners in the digitisation process. Intrigued by this, I spent the duration of my placement reflecting upon why, for The Courtauld, materiality matters, and why indeed it should.<\/p>\n<p>The Courtauld\u2019s emphasis on the materiality of images is based on a succinct and personal manifesto presented by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cambridge.org\/core\/search?filters%5BauthorTerms%5D=Tom%20Bilson%20&amp;eventCode=SE-AU\">Bilson<\/a>\u00a0(2019)<\/p>\n<p>Honour physical form and integrity.<br \/>\nPhotograph, don\u2019t scan.<br \/>\nUse lighting to reveal texture, structure, and composition.<br \/>\nNever crop to neaten.<br \/>\nNever retouch.<br \/>\nDescribe where your metadata has come from.<br \/>\nIf possible, show the source of the transcription.<br \/>\nPhotograph backs and blank pages.<br \/>\nWeigh and show scale.<br \/>\nRecord folders, boxes, and shelves.<br \/>\nDon\u2019t let basis cataloguing hold back publication.<\/p>\n<p>Although in digitising an archive the size of the Conway Library the project has, for practical reasons of time and the costs of storing data, omitted the manifesto\u2019s requirement to photograph backs and blank pages and also weigh the items,\u00a0Bilson, like Edwards, encourages us to honour the physical form and integrity of images by using simple photographic techniques to, for instance, reveal \u201cthe slight line of shadow\u201d (Bilson, 2020) showing the way in which a print was stuck by human hands onto card or the fingerprints of the library visitors who might have handled the object; or to accentuate the multiplicity of textures, materials, colours, and inscriptions that compose each object.<\/p>\n<p>The importance of doing so, as Bilson writes, is to encourage the global online user to appreciate the fact that \u201cevery image presented online has a physical counterpart that still sits in a library box\u201d (2020) within the Institute. In addition, it re-directs the online user\u2019s attention to the \u201cset of visual cues pointing to the personalities and voices enmeshed within [the] collections\u201d (2020) and thus demonstrates that the appearances of these images online are not their \u201cyear zero\u201d (2020), but another milestone in their malleable history.<\/p>\n<p>In essence, therefore, for The Courtauld, materiality matters because an emphasis on it indicates to its increasingly global and online audiences, that the images it is making digitally available are entangled with the tangibly embodied histories and socio-cultural experiences of all those who have interacted with them. As my fellow intern <a href=\"https:\/\/sites.courtauld.ac.uk\/digitalmedia\/2021\/07\/23\/sydney-rose-building-endurances-in-the-courtauld-digitisation-project\/\">Sydney Stewart Rose<\/a> notes, The Courtauld\u2019s emphasis on materiality presents the ultimate digitised image as an \u201cendurance\u201d (2021) that refers to its own history of interaction with its producers, publishers, collectors, archivists, librarians, volunteers, and interns \u2013 each of whom have inscribed their intentions onto the surface of the image.<\/p>\n<p>Recognising this urged me to further explore the implications of taking these intentions \u2013 and especially their material evidence on the surface of the image \u2013 into consideration when interpreting the image. I did this, specifically in relation to two sets of images of the Crystal Palace, archived in a box containing images of exhibitions in London between 1830 and 1900, in the Conway Library of The Courtauld\u2019s collections.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Building Itself<\/strong><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1138\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1138\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.courtauld.ac.uk\/digitalmedia\/files\/2021\/08\/Picture-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1138\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.courtauld.ac.uk\/digitalmedia\/files\/2021\/08\/Picture-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"429\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.courtauld.ac.uk\/digitalmedia\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/26\/2021\/08\/Picture-1.jpg 1887w, https:\/\/sites.courtauld.ac.uk\/digitalmedia\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/26\/2021\/08\/Picture-1-300x215.jpg 300w, https:\/\/sites.courtauld.ac.uk\/digitalmedia\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/26\/2021\/08\/Picture-1-1024x733.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/sites.courtauld.ac.uk\/digitalmedia\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/26\/2021\/08\/Picture-1-768x549.jpg 768w, https:\/\/sites.courtauld.ac.uk\/digitalmedia\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/26\/2021\/08\/Picture-1-1536x1099.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1138\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Figure 1. The Crystal Palace, Hyde Park, London. Image via the Art and Architecture website.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The Crystal Palace was a remarkable cast iron and glass structure, originally built in Hyde Park to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. Designed by Sir Joseph Paxton, it was initially intended as a temporary building. However, a very general desire on the part of the public to preserve the Crystal Palace led Paxton to propose alterations and extensions to the original building, with the intention of converting it into a winter garden and adapting it to other scientific purposes.<\/p>\n<p>The building was then taken down from its original site in Hyde Park and relocated to a site named Penge Place (now known as Crystal Palace) at the top of Sydenham Hill, between 1852 and 1854. The site at Sydenham attracted 2 million visitors a year and successfully hosted exhibitions, festivals, music concerts, football and cricket matches, and over one hundred thousand soldiers during the First World War.<\/p>\n<p>Despite this initial success, however, from around the 1860s, the Palace fell into financial ruin. Due to its sheer size, the Palace was impossible to maintain financially and thus declared bankrupt in 1911. In addition to this, the Palace continuously experienced severe damage shortly after its relocation \u2013 first due to strong winds in 1861, then due to a fire that broke out in the North End of the building in 1866, and finally in 1936 when a more severe fire damaged it beyond repair.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1139\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1139\" style=\"width: 451px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.courtauld.ac.uk\/digitalmedia\/files\/2021\/08\/Picture-2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1139 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.courtauld.ac.uk\/digitalmedia\/files\/2021\/08\/Picture-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"451\" height=\"331\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.courtauld.ac.uk\/digitalmedia\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/26\/2021\/08\/Picture-2.jpg 451w, https:\/\/sites.courtauld.ac.uk\/digitalmedia\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/26\/2021\/08\/Picture-2-300x220.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 451px) 100vw, 451px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1139\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Figure 2. The Crystal Palace fire, Sydenham, London. Image courtesy of the Science Museum Group collection.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>Conway\u2019s Documentary Intent<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.courtauld.ac.uk\/digitalmedia\/2020\/06\/30\/who-made-the-conway-library\/\">Martin Conway<\/a>, an avid collector of photographs of architecture as a record of buildings that might suffer damage, was quite naturally drawn to the Crystal Palace \u2013 both because of its significance in the public imagination and its undeniable architectural magnificence. Conway\u2019s intent to document the Crystal Palace and the trajectory of its life materially manifests in his collection in at least two ways.<\/p>\n<p>First, this is evident from the sheer diversity \u2013 in type, size, and source \u2013 of the images of both buildings. For example, the image of the Crystal Palace in Figure 3 shows \u201cThe Progress of the Building\u201d and is presumably a lithographic print on newsprint sourced from the <em>Illustrated London News<\/em>. Comparatively, the image of the building in Figure 4 is a watercolour and pencil drawing, signed and dated by the specialist in architectural views, Edmund Walker (1814\u20131882).<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1140\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1140\" style=\"width: 1672px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.courtauld.ac.uk\/digitalmedia\/files\/2021\/08\/Screenshot-2021-08-24-at-11.40.50.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1140\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.courtauld.ac.uk\/digitalmedia\/files\/2021\/08\/Screenshot-2021-08-24-at-11.40.50.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1672\" height=\"1082\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.courtauld.ac.uk\/digitalmedia\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/26\/2021\/08\/Screenshot-2021-08-24-at-11.40.50.png 1672w, https:\/\/sites.courtauld.ac.uk\/digitalmedia\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/26\/2021\/08\/Screenshot-2021-08-24-at-11.40.50-300x194.png 300w, https:\/\/sites.courtauld.ac.uk\/digitalmedia\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/26\/2021\/08\/Screenshot-2021-08-24-at-11.40.50-1024x663.png 1024w, https:\/\/sites.courtauld.ac.uk\/digitalmedia\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/26\/2021\/08\/Screenshot-2021-08-24-at-11.40.50-768x497.png 768w, https:\/\/sites.courtauld.ac.uk\/digitalmedia\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/26\/2021\/08\/Screenshot-2021-08-24-at-11.40.50-1536x994.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1672px) 100vw, 1672px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1140\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Figure 3. \u201cThe Progress of the Building&#8221; from Illustrated London News. CON_B04109_F001_008, CC-BY, The Courtauld.<br \/>Figure 4. Watercolour and pencil drawing, signed and dated by Edmund Walker. CON_B04109_F001_005, CC-BY, The Courtauld.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Second, Conway\u2019s documentary intent is evident from the \u201cset of visual cues\u201d (Bilson, 2020) that point to his specific process of archiving by gathering diverse visual material on the same subject, from a plethora of sources, and then mounting it onto card. For example, the crease of the paper and its shadow in Figure 5, clearly show that an image cut out from <em>The Weekly Times<\/em> has been stuck over another image. Similarly, Figure 7 shows that Conway seems to have used a larger version of the print in Figure 6 to provide a detailed perspective on the same event.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1142\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1142\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.courtauld.ac.uk\/digitalmedia\/files\/2021\/08\/Picture-4-scaled.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1142\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.courtauld.ac.uk\/digitalmedia\/files\/2021\/08\/Picture-4-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"765\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.courtauld.ac.uk\/digitalmedia\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/26\/2021\/08\/Picture-4-scaled.jpg 2008w, https:\/\/sites.courtauld.ac.uk\/digitalmedia\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/26\/2021\/08\/Picture-4-235x300.jpg 235w, https:\/\/sites.courtauld.ac.uk\/digitalmedia\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/26\/2021\/08\/Picture-4-803x1024.jpg 803w, https:\/\/sites.courtauld.ac.uk\/digitalmedia\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/26\/2021\/08\/Picture-4-768x979.jpg 768w, https:\/\/sites.courtauld.ac.uk\/digitalmedia\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/26\/2021\/08\/Picture-4-1205x1536.jpg 1205w, https:\/\/sites.courtauld.ac.uk\/digitalmedia\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/26\/2021\/08\/Picture-4-1607x2048.jpg 1607w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1142\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Figure 5. The crease of the paper and its shadow showing that the print from The Weekly Times has been stuck over another. CON_B04109_F001_006, CC-BY, The Courtauld.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1141\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1141\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.courtauld.ac.uk\/digitalmedia\/files\/2021\/08\/Screenshot-2021-08-24-at-11.42.16.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1141\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.courtauld.ac.uk\/digitalmedia\/files\/2021\/08\/Screenshot-2021-08-24-at-11.42.16.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"380\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.courtauld.ac.uk\/digitalmedia\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/26\/2021\/08\/Screenshot-2021-08-24-at-11.42.16.png 1692w, https:\/\/sites.courtauld.ac.uk\/digitalmedia\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/26\/2021\/08\/Screenshot-2021-08-24-at-11.42.16-300x190.png 300w, https:\/\/sites.courtauld.ac.uk\/digitalmedia\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/26\/2021\/08\/Screenshot-2021-08-24-at-11.42.16-1024x649.png 1024w, https:\/\/sites.courtauld.ac.uk\/digitalmedia\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/26\/2021\/08\/Screenshot-2021-08-24-at-11.42.16-768x487.png 768w, https:\/\/sites.courtauld.ac.uk\/digitalmedia\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/26\/2021\/08\/Screenshot-2021-08-24-at-11.42.16-1536x973.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1141\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Figure 6: The Peace F\u00eate at the Crystal Palace, Sydenham. CON_B04109_F002_019, CC-BY, the Courtauld.<br \/>Figure 7: A detailed view of The Peace F\u00eate at the Crystal Palace, Sydenham.\u00a0CON_B04109_F002_020, CC-BY, the Courtauld.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>This material evidence of intent thus signifies the extent to which the Crystal Palace had impressed itself upon Conway\u2019s and the wider public\u2019s imagination. They demonstrate that Conway clearly recognised the Palace\u2019s significance \u2013 both to the history of architecture and Britain \u2013 and therefore, dexterously included in his archive, images of the conception, construction, utilisation, renovation, relocation, and the destruction of the building. In doing so, and specifically by following his unique processes for archiving, Conway created a \u201csynthetic object\u201d (Edwards and Hart, 2004) \u2013 that is, a new intellectual and physical entity resulting from his attempt to impose sense, order, and his intentions upon a set of separate objects from separate sources leading separate lives.<\/p>\n<p>This new \u201csynthetic object\u201d therefore leads its constituent parts into an institutional framework of policies, strategies, and practices different to that from which they have been sourced. For example, a watercolour drawing (Figure 4) that originally would have been handled, framed, preserved, displayed, and interpreted in a manner more typical to art history, in the context of Conway\u2019s archive, is engaged as an important resource contributing to the documentation of a historical moment that in turn was intended to <em>inform<\/em> art history.<\/p>\n<p>By creating such \u201csynthetic objects\u201d therefore, Conway reinforced the view that the Crystal Palace was indeed an important moment in the history of architecture and Britain, and actively constructed this building as a canon worthy of preservation for posterity. When considered accordingly, the images of the Palace in Conway\u2019s archive thus emerge as more than simply what they depict. Rather than visual representations of the building and the events that occurred therein, these images emerge as constituents of a larger photographic object and project inscribed with the intentions of its maker.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Concluding Remarks<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In my reflection on the implications of considering the materiality of images for their interpretation, it emerged that the material aspects of an image \u2013 its physicality and presentation for instance \u2013 are of great importance as they provide clues to how the value of particular images changes over time due to interactions with them.<\/p>\n<p>In the example I considered, we noted that images from newspapers and artists were recontextualised as archival resources under the documentary intentions of the archivist who interacted with them. These insights could not have been as easily drawn, if indeed attention to the very material and physical evidence of the archivist\u2019s intentions had not been paid.<\/p>\n<p>Further research could examine how each layer of textual inscription (for e.g., stamps and handwriting) on more generally the cards in Conway\u2019s archive, inform the meaning of that which the images on the cards depict. To whom do these inscriptions belong? What were their intentions when marking the \u201csynthetic objects\u201d that Conway initially produced? How do these material traces of their intentions inform the meaning of the images constituting those objects, and the objects themselves? Further studies could also examine how the physicality of the cards onto which Conway mounted images (for example, colour and material) interacts with the meanings of said images. Knowledge of each of these aspects can significantly contribute to our understanding of images and more importantly of how they function as visual and material objects, deeply embedded in the social and cultural experience.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Aayushi Gupta<br \/>\nCourtauld Connects Digitisation Oxford Micro-Internship Participant<br \/>\nMPhil Candidate in Visual, Material, and Museum Anthropology, University of Oxford<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>References<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Bilson T (2019) <em>The Future of the Library \u2013 Architectural Information in a Post-Digital Era.<\/em> Presentation at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, November 21, 2019.<\/p>\n<p>Bilson T (2020) The Courtauld\u2019s Witt and Conway Photographic Libraries: Two approaches to digitisation. <em>Art Libraries Journal<\/em>, 45 (1): 35\u201342. Available at: <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1017\/alj.2019.38\">10.1017\/alj.2019.38<\/a> (accessed: 13 July 2021).<\/p>\n<p>Edwards E and Hart J (2004) (Eds) <em>Photographs Objects Histories: On the Materiality of Images<\/em>. London: Taylor &amp; Francis Group. Available at: <a href=\"https:\/\/ebookcentral.proquest.com\/lib\/oxford\/detail.action?docID=182226\">https:\/\/ebookcentral.proquest.com\/lib\/oxford\/detail.action?docID=182226#<\/a> (accessed: 13 July 2021).<\/p>\n<p>Edwards E and Hart J (2004) Mixed Box. In: <em>Photographs Objects Histories: On the Materiality of Images<\/em>. London: Routledge. Available at: <a href=\"http:\/\/ezproxy-prd.bodleian.ox.ac.uk:3167\/ehost\/detail\/detail?vid=0&amp;sid=f6ef041e-2d21-47cf-8dda-eb492bed21f4%40pdc-v-sessmgr02&amp;bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=110339&amp;db=nlebk\">http:\/\/ezproxy-prd.bodleian.ox.ac.uk:3167\/ehost\/detail\/detail?vid=0&amp;sid=f6ef041e-2d21-47cf-8dda-eb492bed21f4%40pdc-v-sessmgr02&amp;bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=110339&amp;db=nlebk<\/a> (accessed: 13 July 2021).<\/p>\n<p>Holland G (2008) <em>Crystal Palace: A History<\/em>. BBC London. Available at: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/london\/content\/articles\/2004\/07\/27\/history_feature.shtml\">https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/london\/content\/articles\/2004\/07\/27\/history_feature.shtml<\/a> (accessed: 13 July 2021).<\/p>\n<p>Peyton C (2019)\u00a0<em>Journey through Materiality \u2013 Communicating Familiarity and Distance &#8211; Digital Media<\/em>. Digital Media: The Courtauld Connects\u2019 Digitisation Project Blog. Available at: <a href=\"https:\/\/sites.courtauld.ac.uk\/digitalmedia\/2019\/07\/01\/peyton-cherry-journey-through-materiality-communicating-familiarity-and-distance\/\">https:\/\/sites.courtauld.ac.uk\/digitalmedia\/2019\/07\/01\/peyton-cherry-journey-through-materiality-communicating-familiarity-and-distance\/<\/a> (accessed: 13 July 2021).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Audio version Read by Christopher Williams Text version Introducing the material turn to the study of photography, visual and historical anthropologist Elizabeth Edwards (2004) encourages us to acknowledge the photograph as a three-dimensional object existing materially in the world \u2013 that is, spatially and temporally in the social and cultural experience. From Edward\u2019s perspective, photographs&hellip;<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/sites.courtauld.ac.uk\/digitalmedia\/2021\/08\/24\/aayushi-gupta-why-materiality-matters\/\" title=\"View &lsquo;Aayushi Gupta: Why Materiality Matters&rsquo;\">View <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":204,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[313,312,6],"tags":[618,616,615,619,617],"class_list":["post-1137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-micro-internship","category-placement","category-the-conway-library","tag-crystal-palace","tag-edmund-walker","tag-elizabeth-edwards","tag-martin-conway","tag-tom-bilson"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.9 - 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