Photobiography
Encyclopedia
Photobiography is a "person's biography
as revealed through photographs". This is a neologism that was used for the first time in the French language
in Manifeste photobiographique (1983), written by Gilles Mora and co-written with Claude Nori.
Generally, the photobiography illustrate and tell the facts of life
of famous people, such as Abraham Lincoln
, Martin Luther King, Albert Einstein
, or Eleanor Roosevelt
. Although photobiographical publications have been used for commercial
purposes, several academics researches in France
and in the United States
"have been trying to redefine it since the end of the 1990's". Generally, photobiography tend to show more pictures than text, although some writers have combined these two practices in a same work, as Denis Roche, which is also a photographer. In contrast with both techniques, there has been discussion of how photography can affect an autobiographical discourse. Roland Barthes
, for example, in his Camera Lucida
, suggests how photographs can fascinate the reader like no other images when he describes photography as a "pure deictic language".
Biography
A biography is a detailed description or account of someone's life. More than a list of basic facts , biography also portrays the subject's experience of those events...
as revealed through photographs". This is a neologism that was used for the first time in the French language
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
in Manifeste photobiographique (1983), written by Gilles Mora and co-written with Claude Nori.
Generally, the photobiography illustrate and tell the facts of life
Life
Life is a characteristic that distinguishes objects that have signaling and self-sustaining processes from those that do not, either because such functions have ceased , or else because they lack such functions and are classified as inanimate...
of famous people, such as Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
, Martin Luther King, Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of general relativity, effecting a revolution in physics. For this achievement, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics and one of the most prolific intellects in human history...
, or Eleanor Roosevelt
Eleanor Roosevelt
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt was the First Lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945. She supported the New Deal policies of her husband, distant cousin Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and became an advocate for civil rights. After her husband's death in 1945, Roosevelt continued to be an international...
. Although photobiographical publications have been used for commercial
Commercialism
Commercialism, in its original meaning, is the practices, methods, aims, and spirit of commerce or business. Today, however, it primarily refers to the tendency within open-market capitalism to turn everything into objects, images, and services sold for the purpose of generating profit...
purposes, several academics researches in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
"have been trying to redefine it since the end of the 1990's". Generally, photobiography tend to show more pictures than text, although some writers have combined these two practices in a same work, as Denis Roche, which is also a photographer. In contrast with both techniques, there has been discussion of how photography can affect an autobiographical discourse. Roland Barthes
Roland Barthes
Roland Gérard Barthes was a French literary theorist, philosopher, critic, and semiotician. Barthes' ideas explored a diverse range of fields and he influenced the development of schools of theory including structuralism, semiotics, existentialism, social theory, Marxism, anthropology and...
, for example, in his Camera Lucida
Camera Lucida
Camera Lucida is a short book published in 1980 by the French literary theorist and philosopher Roland Barthes. It is simultaneously an inquiry into the nature and essence of photography and a eulogy to Barthes' late mother...
, suggests how photographs can fascinate the reader like no other images when he describes photography as a "pure deictic language".
Further reading
- Alex Hughes, Andrea Noble, Phototextualities: intersections of photography and narrative (UNM Press, 2003), ISBN 0826328253, ISBN 9780826328250
- Eakin, Paul John, Touching the World. Reference in Autobiography. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992).
- Thélot, Jérôme, Les Inventions litéraires de la photographie (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, Perspectives littéraires, 2003).