On Colour Photography in an Extra-Moral Sense
AbstractThis article looks closely at the critical and curatorial discourse concerning colour in the work of two contemporary photographers, David Goldblatt (Intersections, ‘In the time of AIDS’, South Africa, 1999–2005) and Richard Mosse (Infra, Democratic Republic of Congo, 2010–2011). Specifically, the article explores ideas regarding colour's moral and political effects and how they may – or may not – be changing in the contemporary moment, when documentary images are subject to heightened critical scrutiny. Readings of Goldblatt's and Mosse's images are framed by ideas drawn from political philosophy as well as from other critical and theoretical treatments of documentary photography, in an effort to pinpoint whether, and how, digital photography is changing the stakes of longstanding arguments over the relationship between aesthetics and politics.