Rebecca Goddard in Conversation with Michelle Henning at Bookhaus Bristol: A Dirty History of Photography

On Wednesday 1 April, VAMP member Rebecca Goddard will be in conversation with Michelle Henning (Chair in Photography and Media at the University of Liverpool) at Bookhaus Bristol. They will discuss Michelle’s work A Dirty History of Photography.

Dependent on the extractive practices of fossil-fueled industrial capitalism, chemical photography’s emulsions and films were highly sensitive to polluted atmospheres, and photographic companies had to work hard to control this sensitivity. Drawing on histories of empire, coal, and chemistry and from the archives of British photographic manufacturer Ilford Limited, in her book Michelle exposes the ways photography shaped how we see and understand the atmosphere while leaving its toxic residues in the air, soil, and water.
 
Structured as thirty-six short chapters and with over seventy illustrations, the book begins in interwar London, follows the supply of Ilford products to photographers on the West African coast, and considers photography as a military technology linked to the development of chemical warfare. Combining close readings of photographs with discussions of low-light, tropical, and aerial photography, Henning examines the extraction and development of photographic materials, their role in the current environmental crisis, and how they have shaped experiences of time and the environment.

For tickets and to find out more about the event, click here.

For more information about VAMP member, Rebecca Goddard, click here.