Beginning with a consideration of the abandonment of the social in recent photography, - a collective without content, or individual amidst the mass - this essay examines the representation of the anti-capitalist crowd by three...
moreBeginning with a consideration of the abandonment of the social in recent photography, - a collective without content, or individual amidst the mass - this essay examines the representation of the anti-capitalist crowd by three photographers: Joel Sternfeld, Allan Sekula and Chris Marker. Drawing on work in social history (EP Thompson, Christopher Hill, Paul Gilroy, Peter Linebaugh and Marcus Rediker) on the multitude and the commons the paper examines the demonisation of the crowd, by gentleman as many-headed monster from above as a monster. In contrast it also looks at alternative ideas of the multitude, or motley crew, figured from below. The essay is a contribution to debates on capitalism and the so-called primitive accumulation, from a cultural-materialist perspective.
Published in: Third Text, Vol. 23, Issue 4, July, 2009, 447–464
