Lunchtime Lectures: The Ambiguous Image- Why Contemporary Artists Make Photographs

This lecture explains how artists are changing photography from factual documentation towards a more enquiring and challenging medium. From the origins of art photography to the conceptual and performative work of artists working today, the talk illustrates how our understanding of photography has been deliberately disrupted. Contemporary artists are questioning what once offered certainty in order to suggest the complexity and creative potential of the photograph.

Joshua White is an art historian, lecturer and writer. He has taught the history and ideas of modern and contemporary art at Christie’s Education for twenty years and has also been the director of a commercial photography gallery. Joshua is a presenter of exhibition films on The Art Channel.