Speaking the Unspeakable

I found the Randell reading to be incredibly well written and its approach well illustrated and interesting. In the beginning of the article, Randell discusses the “double start” used in the film “Fahrenheit 9/11,” and here she considers an interesting point: in this class we have mostly considered the meanings and reflections of photography and images, but here, we are led to think about how we respond not only to images, but to the absence of images. I feel that this is an interesting and important approach to consider in a study of photography. An example of the absence of images that was discussed in the article and in class is the reporting of the Gulf War.

In both the Randell and the Campany articles, it seems that the authors are writing about a shift in the role of photography from being representational, serving as a sort of direct connection to and image of an event, to now being a medium through which we are encouraged to create the story from our own memory. This shift is, I would argue, a part of the current state of “image overload.” With an event like 9/11 which has been and continues to be imaged over and over, an absence of images or the “late photograph” makes the event personal, involving the viewer, in a way implicating them, to really think about and remember the events.