Aesthetics of Postcolonial Photography in the Projects of Candida Höfer and David Goldblatt (Illustrated by Documenta–11 and Documenta–12 projects)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.61993/2786-7285.2025.02.13Keywords:
Documenta-11, Documenta-12, photo project, Candida Höfer, Düsseldorf School of Photography, David Goldblatt, postcolonial photographyAbstract
The purpose of the article is to examine postcolonial photography as an important trend in shaping the repertoire of contemporary conceptual art, focusing on the projects of Candida Höfer and David Goldblatt, as exemplified by Documenta-11 and Documenta-12. The study employs historical-chronological and comparative methods, which make it possible to identify and interpret the Documenta photographic projects as an autonomous field of inquiry. For the analysis of specific projects and individual works, methods of figurative-stylistic, compositional, and semiotic analysis were applied. The research demonstrates that the aesthetics of postcolonial photography in the projects of Candida Höfer and David Goldblatt during the 2000s exhibits a distinctly authorial orientation. On the one hand, this feature is a direct consequence of the conceptual nature of the projects. On the other hand, the projects of Höfer and Goldblatt address sociocultural issues that cannot be explored without foregrounding a subjective perspective and articulating a personal artistic position. A defining feature of Documenta-11 and Documenta-12 was their focus on presenting diverse art schools, individual trends and phenomena in the development of contemporary art. The photographic projects of representatives of the Düsseldorf School of Photography at Documenta-11 (2002) – Bernd and Hilla Becher, as well as their student Candida Höfer – became an important element in the chain of retrospective narratives that shaped the curatorial concept of Documenta-11. Equally significant within the evolution of photographic art at Documenta were the postcolonial themes explored in David Goldblatt’s projects (Documenta-11 and 12). His work exemplifies the sociocultural mission of art as a communicative practice capable of reaching the most marginalized and isolated communities. Goldblatt’s projects brought issues of segregation and apartheid to the forefront, while Höfer’s participation expanded the possibilities for interdisciplinary collaboration between photography, sculpture, and installation. The results of the study can be used both in the educational and research fields.References
Tarasov, V., & Markhaichuk, N. (2024). Fotoproiekt yak prostir reprezentatsii: metodolohiia manipuliatyvnoho zvernennia u dyskursi suchasnoi fotohrafii (na prykladi proiektiv documenta 1950–1970-kh rokiv) [Photo project as a space of representation: methodology of manipulative appeal in the discourse of modern photography (on the example of Documenta projects of the 1950s–1970s)]. Theory and Practice of Design, 3(33), 246–253. [In Ukrainian].
Таrаsov, V., & Ostrous, S. (2025). Typolohichnyi instrumentarii v khudozhnii movi podruzhzhia Becheriv (Diusseldorfska shkola fotohrafii) [Typological methodology in the artistic language of Bernd and Hilla Becher (Düsseldorf School of Photography)]. Humanities science current issues, 3(84), 111–117. https://doi.org/10.24919/2308-4863/83-3-16 [In Ukrainian].
Tarasov, V. (2024). Formy reprezentatsii khudozhnoi movy fotohrafii u proiektі Alana Sekuly "Fish story" (1990–1995 rr.) [Forms of representation of the artistic language of photography in Alan Secula's project "Fish Story" (1990–1995)]. Humanities science current issues, 2(81), 138–144. https://doi.org/10.24919/2308-4863/81-2-18 [In Ukrainian].
Bester, R. (2008). Cities in Crisis: Cities, Photography and Research. In L. Farber (Ed.), Representation and spatial practices in urban South Africa (pp. 244–249). University of Johannesburg.
Bester, R. (2010). David Goldblatt’s making visible: Photographic strategies of rumination, orchestration and circulation. Social Dynamics, 36(1), 153–165. https://doi.org/10.1080/02533950903562393
Chen, L., Thompson, C., & Beller, T. (2018). Table Talk. The Threepenny Review, 154, 3–5.
Davidson, J. C., & Patel, A. (2021). Okwui Enwezor and the art of curating. Nka: Journal of Contemporary African Art, 48(1), 6–13. https://doi.org/10.1215/10757163-8971243
Enwezor, O. (2008). Archive fever: Photography between history and the monument. In O. Enwezor (Ed.), Archive Fever: Uses of the Document in Contemporary Art (pp. 11–51). International Center of Photography; Steidl.
Firstenberg, L. (2002). Representing the body archivally in South African photography. Art Journal, 61(1), 58–67.
Frohne, U. (2014). Display or Displacement? In G. U. Großmann & P. Krutisch (Eds.), The Challenge of the Object = Die Herausforderung des Objekts: Proceedings of the 33rd Congress of the International Committee of Art History, Nürnberg, 15–20 July 2012 (pp. 842–846). Nürnberg.
Frohne, U. (2014). Sculpture since the experience of photography: Crystallizations of sculptural and photographic thinking. In U. Frohne, B. Ecker, R. Kummer, F. Malsch, & H. Molderings (Eds.), Lens-based sculpture (pp. 72–99). Walther König.
Gaule, S. (2014). Mining photographs: David Goldblatt’s On the Mines. Social Dynamics, 40(1), 122–139. https://doi.org/10.1080/02533952.2014.884266
Gunti, C., & Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF). (2020). Digital image systems: photography and new technologies at the Düsseldorf School. transcript Verlag. https://doi.org/10.14361/9783839439029
Kaçel, E. (2021). Self-localization of migrants and photographers in cities via self-images. Candide: Journal for Architectural Knowledge, (12), 119–136.
Krantz, D. L. (2008). Politics and Photography in Apartheid South Africa. History of Photography, 32(4), 290–300. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03087290802334885
Lassman, L. (1985). Transcripts from a Conversation with David Goldblatt, January 1985. De Arte, 20(32), Р. 33-40. https://doi.org/10.1080/00043389.1985.11761017
McNeill, D. (2002). Documenta 11 takes on masters of the universe. Artlink Australia, 22(4), 28–31.
Petri, G. (2013). On the copyright hermeneutics of the original. In G. U. Großmann & P. Krutisch (Eds.), The Challenge of the Object = Die Herausforderung des Objekts: Proceedings of the 33rd Congress of the International Committee of the History of Art, Nürnberg, 15–20 July 2012 (pp. 166–170). Nürnberg.
Rinehart, C. (2013). An Ethnography of Institutional Culture in the Photography of Candida Höfer. Athanor, 31, 97–105.
Tatai, E. (2018). Is documenta a decolonising force. Journal of Historical Archaeology & Anthropological Sciences, 3(3), 367–374. https://doi.org/10.15406/jhaas.2018.03.00105
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Володимир Тарасов, Станіслав Остроус, Марина Конєва
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Abstract views: 123 / PDF downloads: 87
