Rose Butler presents at the International Conference of Photography and Theory 2024

International Conference of Photography and Theory (ICPT 2024) Nicosia, Cyprus, 7-9^th November

Photography has been associated with death since its inception. The invention of photography influenced dramatically how people remember and mourn the dead. The technological advances of photography have also influenced – and are still influencing – how war, conflict, accidents, and atrocities are being documented, circulated and received. Following the vast amount of images of wounded and dead bodies that are photographically documented and circulated through the media over the past few decades, questions relevant to the construction of landscapes of death emerge with great force and relevance.

The 7th International Conference of Photography and Theory (ICPT2024) wishes to directly engage with what seems to be a contemporary field of crises and conflict that affects us all and brings forward significant questions that not only are historically relevant and longstanding but seem to resurface today demanding further study and debate. The idea of ‘deathscape’ does not necessarily and merely reflect the representation of death in the photograph, nor is it limited to above mentioned landscapes of death. It also, and more importantly, aims to open the discussion to diverse perspectives and across varied disciplines – photography, art history, sociology, geography, anthropology, archaeology, film – to offer insights into varied cultural and social landscapes of mourning, remembrance, memorialization, as well as the shifting symbolic meanings inscribed in rituals, aesthetics, technologies, and places.