Photo/Memory: Recovering Memory and Identity through Photographs in Post-1945 Art and Literature
Citation:
Kerstina Mortensen, 'Photo/Memory: Recovering Memory and Identity through Photographs in Post-1945 Art and Literature', Graduate Students’ Union of the University of Dublin, Trinity College, Journal of Postgraduate Research;14, 2015Download Item:
JPR_2015_set_digital_mortenson.pdf (PDF) 1.043Mb
Abstract:
The use of the photograph is particularly prevalent among artists of the first post-war
generation, born shortly before or after Stunde Null (Zero Hour), 1945. These artists
become the inheritors of the horrors perpetrated by their parents’ generation, and
it is through the photograph that they are united in the struggle to comprehend the
past. The present paper explores the integration of photographs in both painting and
literature as a means of expressing memory and identity in the aftermath of World
War II trauma, with regard to works by the writer W. G. Sebald (1944-2001; Austerlitz,
2001) and artists Anselm Kiefer (b. 1945; Heroische Sinnbilder, 1969) and Hughie
O’Donoghue (b. 1953; Anabasis, 2003). Their links to the Individual contribute to the
collective experience of recollecting the Nazi era.
The extent to which a photograph can be considered evidence of history is examined,
with reference to the image’s context, its original narrative and the narrative imposed
on photographs by these artists. Anabasis, Austerlitz and Heroische Sinnbilder are all
presented in book format and contain a similar genre of photograph. By evaluating
what constitutes the essence and the atmosphere of a photograph, it is possible to
describe the photographs used in all three works as visual metaphors which either
facilitate or obstruct the retrieval of memory and the recovery of the past. Individual
photographs are discussed in terms of their artistic manipulation within these visual
and literary artworks, with a theoretical approach taken to analysing their function
as triggers of memory.
Author: Mortensen, Kerstina
Publisher:
Graduate Students’ Union of the University of Dublin, Trinity CollegeType of material:
Journal ArticleCollections:
Series/Report no:
Journal of Postgraduate Research;14Availability:
Full text availableKeywords:
trauma, post-1945, identity, memory, photographyISSN:
2009-4787Licences: