»Working to Transform the Image.« Postkoloniale Bildkritik, Bildpolitik und die zeitgenössische Queer-of-Color-Fotografie

In: Zeitschrift für Medienwissenschaft (ZfM), 15, 2023, Heft 2, S. 124–134. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.25969/mediarep/20052.

Abstract

This article problematizes historical and contemporary regimes of representation in photographic images of Black people and people of color (BPOC). Photographs have been a tool for the colonial invention and visual stereotyping of ‹races›. In the article, this is exemplified by the Agassiz-Zealy daguerreotypes and the U.S. lynching postcards. The contemporary queer of color photography furthermore realizes postcolonial image politics that make BPOC visible in their intersectional diversity. This is evident in the photographic works of Eric Gyamfi and Paul Mpagi Sepuya discussed. The article aims to show that the critique and transformation of images provide new political agency for marginalized subjects.