History and “Prehistory”
History and “Prehistory”
Parts of what, around 1830, became, according to the classical photo-historical narrative, a photographic image—which is to say, a fixable, representational, and intentionally produced visual record—had already existed as an unintentional, non-mimetic, and ephemeral trace before that time. This chapter delves into the so-called “prehistory” of photography—those countless non-representational, ephemeral, or accidental figures that light inscribed upon sensitive materials for centuries long before anyone knew how to harness it for the purposeful production of images. It shows why the classical treatments on the invention and the origins of photography shunt these unintended formations off to the realm of a “prehistory” distinct from the history of “photography properly speaking”. It sketches an alternative genealogy that takes these evanescent and indeliberate traces into account as an less integral part of the body of photographic imagery.
Keywords: prehistory, invention, genealogy
Chicago Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.
To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs, and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us.
