In, Around, and Afterthoughts

In this article, Martha Rosler critiques pieces tracing the ways in which photography's aesthetic social practices fail or succeed in generating collectively meaningful work. She believes that Documentary photography does not necessarily exist yet and what does exist is set up scenes generated to be what people want to see, and what photographers can sell. In her opinion work that not only takes into account the political conditions within which it was produced and assumes social and political responsibility but also activates the viewer. She describes work in which existing urban photography's ability to continue documentary photography's historical work is questioned, and in, around, and afterthoughts. She believes that when photography can make change, that is when Documentary photography can truly be acknowledged.