2025 SPE Annual Conference: Adaptations
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print this pageThe Hereditary Estate: Domestic Trauma and Vernacular Photography
Daniel Coburn
Friday, October 03 - 1:30PM to 2:30PM
STU 221
In 1856 The Eastman Kodak Company democratized the medium of photography by
introducing the snapshot camera under the slogan "You push the button and we do the rest."
A few decades later, through a series of well-orchestrated advertising campaigns, Kodak was
telling the American public what type of camera to buy and providing the archetype for the
ideal family photo. My research traces the lineage of the family photograph back to early visual
culture through an in-depth examination of corporate propaganda.
Pierre Bordieu points out that like painters, many amateur photographers force their models
into composed and laborious poses and postures. It is because, here as elsewhere, the
"natural" is a cultural ideal which must be created before it can be captured."
In the name of capitalism, the archetype of the white, nuclear, hetero-normative family became
the paradigm for the ideal. Families adhere to this visual trope, and attempt to mimic the
archetype presented in popular media. As a result, many family albums become almost
interchangeable, presenting a series of identical visual clich's.
My family history is littered with instances of substance abuse, domestic violence, suicide and
mental illness. Frustrated by the lack of images that document this history, I set out to create a
new archive, a potent supplement to the broken family album that exists in the collection of
many families.
Using my own photographs made over the last decade, and altered, amateur photographs, I weave a
family narrative that is simultaneously beautiful and terrifying. The careful sequencing of these
images creates a powerful psychological dialogue designed to inspire an emotional and
visceral response from the viewer. The international distribution of this book completes an
essential conceptual component of this work, placing this supplementary album into family
collections in countries all over the world.
My lecture will elaborate upon the details of my work and research practice as it relates to the
role of photography employed as the infrastructure of a false American utopia.
speaker
Daniel Coburn
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