Suspended Conversations
The Afterlife of Memory in Photographic Albums
- Publisher
- McGill-Queen's University Press
- Initial publish date
- Jun 2001
- Category
- Criticism, General
-
eBook
- ISBN
- 9780773569133
- Publish Date
- Jun 2001
- List Price
- $45.95
-
Paperback / softback
- ISBN
- 9780773533929
- Publish Date
- Apr 2008
- List Price
- $44.95
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Description
Albums are treasured by families, collected as illustrations of the past by museums of social history, and examined by scholars for what they can reveal about attitudes and sensibilities. Most agree that albums are stories that come to life in the retelling - but when no one is left to tell the tale, the intrigue of the album becomes a puzzle, a suspended conversation. Langford argues that oral consciousness provides the missing key. By correlating photography and orality she shows how albums were designed to work as performances and how we can unlock their mysteries.
About the author
Martha Langford is research chair and director of the Gail and Stephen A. Jarislowsky Institute for Studies in Canadian Art at Concordia University and author of Suspended Conversations: The Afterlife of Memory in Photographic Albums.