Belief in photography’s indexicality has haunted the medium since its inception. Once understood to offer proof of something real, the idea that we might trust a photograph to relay anything genuine now feels absurd. Looking to shifting discourses regarding photography’s relationship with objectivity, authenticity, and fact, this course examines the origins and evolution of our understanding of the medium’s duplicity. Over the course of the semester, we will trace the historically erratic belief in photography’s ability to document and attempt to think critically about the medium’s capacity to create, reveal, and critique the real.
