Photojournalistic Icons and Their Restaging: Iconic Photograph

Essay Assignment #2 TOPIC: Photojournalistic Icons and Their Restaging Chapters 13 and 14 of your textbook introduce some of the iconic images of the golden age of photojournalism and the photo-stories that reported on the political events and historical happenings (including the wars) of that era. Many of these images were made by photographers who worked for the American publication, Life Magazine. You are to select one of the following four images and to assess the circumstances of its making in its original socio-historical context by considering the following lines of inquiry: • Why was this image made and what was the original context of its publication and distribution? Why is this photographer significant to photography history? • How do you explain why this photo has become so iconic in the history of photography? What is it about this image that enables it to somehow transcend the limits of time and place? (We started to talk about this point with Migrant Mother in Chapter 12). • On the other hand, what is it that keeps it firmly planted in time and place? The four images are: 1) Alfred Eisenstaedt. V.J. Day, 1945. (in Hirsch) 2) Henri Cartier-Bresson, Accused Gestapo Informer, Dessau, Germany, 1945. (in Hirsch) 3) Margaret Bourke-White, Gandhi at His Spinning Wheel, 1946. (not in Hirsch) 4) Eddie Adams. Saigon, 1968. (in Hirsch) In 2006-2010, the contemporary Japanese photographer-performance artist Yasumasa Morimura decided to reenact and restage these images (among others) in his photo-series Requiem for the Twentieth Century: Twilight of the Turbulent Gods (2006-2010). Compare your chosen iconic photograph with Morimura’s restaging of it and consider these questions: • What is the purpose of this restaging and why do think Morimura chose this particular image to imitate? • What types of differences stand out from the original in terms of Morimura’s subject position and in terms of other details? • Karl Marx once wrote: “History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce.” How can you apply this maxim to your Morimura Requiem photograph and the aims of his project in general? How does humor play a role here?

Essay Length: 1500 words (for the body of the essay excluding notes, captions, and bibliography)
Criteria and Expectations
The essay will be judged according to such criteria as the quality, organization, and clarity of your argument (including the quality of your answers in addressing the questions posed above), your understanding of the socio-historical contexts involved, your visual analysis and comparative analysis of the images that you have selected, your critical analysis and application of the Marx quotation, your use and interpretation of other relevant source materials which must be properly cited and noted using the Chicago Manual of Style, and basic stylistic and grammatical considerations.
Please include the images that you select for your visual analysis (and any others that you discuss in detail) as an Appendix and number them (“Figure 1”, etc.). Under each image, include a caption with the Photographer’s name, title, date, technique, collection (if known), and the source where you found the image.
You are expected to conduct original research (i.e., beyond Wikipedia entries) for the particular image that you have selected as well as for Morimura’s Requiem project. This will translate into the proper use and citation of at least four critical and/or historical sources (preferably from scholarly books and articles) and these will be included in your Bibliography. UTM Library has resources both on-line and in print and do not hesitate to ask the Librarians for help with your research.