Extinction studies in focus: Reflections on photography at a time of ecological decline
Through compositional inclusion or exclusion, the photograph can assert and communicate what belongs in a picture, in a landscape, in an ecosystem. It can illuminate what we deem conservation-worthy, or, on a larger scale, which extinctions are attention-worthy. Photographic practice helps to illumi...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Cambridge University Press
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Cambridge Prisms: Extinction |
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| Online Access: | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2755095824000160/type/journal_article |
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| author | Kate Simpson Sarah Oakes Aureja Stirbyte Katie Prosser Timothy M. Brown Jonathan David Roberts Amy J. Bartlett |
| author_facet | Kate Simpson Sarah Oakes Aureja Stirbyte Katie Prosser Timothy M. Brown Jonathan David Roberts Amy J. Bartlett |
| author_sort | Kate Simpson |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Through compositional inclusion or exclusion, the photograph can assert and communicate what belongs in a picture, in a landscape, in an ecosystem. It can illuminate what we deem conservation-worthy, or, on a larger scale, which extinctions are attention-worthy. Photographic practice helps to illuminate the active nature of extinction, and our choices as actors and witnesses within that process. Here, researchers from the University of Leeds’ Extinction Studies Doctoral Training Programme present individual reflections on interdisciplinary practice-led research in the Scottish Small Isles. We consider how photography, as a form of praxis, can generate new forms of knowledge surrounding extinction: its meanings, representations, and legacies, particularly through visual representation. We offer seven perspectives on contemporary image-making, from disciplines including philosophy, conservation biology, literature, sociology, geology, cultural anthropology, and palaeontology. Researchers gathered experiential, ethical, even biological meanings from considering what to include or exclude in images: from the micro to the macro, the visible to the invisible, the aesthetic to the ecological. We draw conclusions around meaning-making through the process of photography itself, and the tensions encountered through framing and decision-making in a time of mass ecological decline. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-01a750a0432c408989b9b4e3f08a2da1 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2755-0958 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Cambridge Prisms: Extinction |
| spelling | doaj-art-01a750a0432c408989b9b4e3f08a2da12025-02-12T07:44:43ZengCambridge University PressCambridge Prisms: Extinction2755-09582025-01-01310.1017/ext.2024.16Extinction studies in focus: Reflections on photography at a time of ecological declineKate Simpson0https://orcid.org/0009-0004-9414-9937Sarah Oakes1Aureja Stirbyte2Katie Prosser3https://orcid.org/0009-0008-8913-6268Timothy M. Brown4https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5508-7623Jonathan David Roberts5https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4092-1491Amy J. Bartlett6School of English, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds, UKSchool of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK School of Languages, Cultures & Societies, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK School of Sociology & Social Policy, University of Leeds, Leeds, UKSchool of Sociology & Social Policy, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK School of History, University of Leeds, Leeds, UKSchool of Philosophy, Religion, and History of Science, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK School of Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds, UKSchool of Philosophy, Religion, and History of Science, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK School of Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds, UKSchool of History, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK School of Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds, UKSchool of Languages, Cultures & Societies, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK School of History, University of Leeds, Leeds, UKThrough compositional inclusion or exclusion, the photograph can assert and communicate what belongs in a picture, in a landscape, in an ecosystem. It can illuminate what we deem conservation-worthy, or, on a larger scale, which extinctions are attention-worthy. Photographic practice helps to illuminate the active nature of extinction, and our choices as actors and witnesses within that process. Here, researchers from the University of Leeds’ Extinction Studies Doctoral Training Programme present individual reflections on interdisciplinary practice-led research in the Scottish Small Isles. We consider how photography, as a form of praxis, can generate new forms of knowledge surrounding extinction: its meanings, representations, and legacies, particularly through visual representation. We offer seven perspectives on contemporary image-making, from disciplines including philosophy, conservation biology, literature, sociology, geology, cultural anthropology, and palaeontology. Researchers gathered experiential, ethical, even biological meanings from considering what to include or exclude in images: from the micro to the macro, the visible to the invisible, the aesthetic to the ecological. We draw conclusions around meaning-making through the process of photography itself, and the tensions encountered through framing and decision-making in a time of mass ecological decline.https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2755095824000160/type/journal_articleEnvironmental photographydeclinespractice-led researchtaxonomic biascultural extinctioninterdisciplinarityconservationextinction aesthetics |
| spellingShingle | Kate Simpson Sarah Oakes Aureja Stirbyte Katie Prosser Timothy M. Brown Jonathan David Roberts Amy J. Bartlett Extinction studies in focus: Reflections on photography at a time of ecological decline Cambridge Prisms: Extinction Environmental photography declines practice-led research taxonomic bias cultural extinction interdisciplinarity conservation extinction aesthetics |
| title | Extinction studies in focus: Reflections on photography at a time of ecological decline |
| title_full | Extinction studies in focus: Reflections on photography at a time of ecological decline |
| title_fullStr | Extinction studies in focus: Reflections on photography at a time of ecological decline |
| title_full_unstemmed | Extinction studies in focus: Reflections on photography at a time of ecological decline |
| title_short | Extinction studies in focus: Reflections on photography at a time of ecological decline |
| title_sort | extinction studies in focus reflections on photography at a time of ecological decline |
| topic | Environmental photography declines practice-led research taxonomic bias cultural extinction interdisciplinarity conservation extinction aesthetics |
| url | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2755095824000160/type/journal_article |
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