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Allan Sekula Quotes

Photographer

Allan Sekula (January 15, 1951 - August 10, 2013) was a renowned photographer known for his profound insights into labor, political, and social issues through his photography.

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All Photograph Photography Documentaries Social World Anarchy Art Artist Assertion Black

Famous Allan Sekula Quotes

“Black-and-white photos tell the truth. That's why insurance companies use them.”

Use Black White Company Telling The Truth Black And White Insurance Companies

Book:Fish story

Source: Fish story

“Photography promises an enhanced mastery of nature, but photography also threatens conflagration and anarchy.”

Promise Photography Anarchy Mastery

Author:Allan Sekula

“The photograph is an incomplete utterance, a message that depends on some external matrix of conditions and presuppositions for its readability.”

Conditions Depends Messages Photograph Incomplete Utterance

Book:Photography against the grain: essays and photo works, 1973-1983

Source: Photography against the grain: essays and photo works, 1973-1983

“The only objective truth that photographs offer is the assertion that somebody or something... was somewhere and took a picture.”

Offers Photograph Objectives Assertion Objective Truth

Book:Photography against the grain: essays and photo works, 1973-1983

Source: Photography against the grain: essays and photo works, 1973-1983

“The making of a human likeness on film is a political act.”

Humans Film Political

Book:Photography against the grain: essays and photo works, 1973-1983

Source: Photography against the grain: essays and photo works, 1973-1983

“Documentary photography has amassed mountains of evidence. And yet... the genre has simultaneously contributed much to spectacle, to retinal excitation, to voyeurism, to terror, envy and nostalgia, and only a little to the critical understanding of the social world.”

World Littles Social Understanding Mountain Photography Evidence Terror Critical Envy Nostalgia Genre Documentaries Documentary Photography

Book:Dismal science: photo works, 1972-1996

Source: Dismal science: photo works, 1972-1996

“Documentary is thought to be art when it transcends its reference to the world, when the work can be regarded, first and foremost, as an act of self-expression on the part of the artist.”

World Firsts Art Self Artist Expression Documentaries Self Expression

Book:Dismal science: photo works, 1972-1996

Source: Dismal science: photo works, 1972-1996

“How does photography serve to legitimate and normalize existing power relationships? ... How is historical and social memory preserved, transformed, restricted and obliterated by photographs?”

Doe Social Memories Photography Historical Photograph Transformed Power Relationships

Book:Fish story

Source: Fish story

About the Author

Born: January 15, 1951
Died: August 10, 2013
Known for: Photographer
Quotes: 8

Books & Sources

Photography against the grain: essays and photo works, 1973-1983Related source material

Dismal science: photo works, 1972-1996Related source material

Fish storyRelated source material

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