Darkside Volume 2: Photographic Power and Photographed Violence, Disease and Death

Following Darkside I's survey of photographed sexuality and lust, Darkside 2 explores the other end of the spectrum, or the flipside of the coin--the intimate affinity between death and photography. Images of impairment, disease, degeneration, violence, death, pain, grief and loss have been among photography's subjects from its inception; the photographic recording of death was, along with war reporting, one of photography's earliest duties. Of course, such graphic images have their compelling aspect, giving rise in turn to issues of exploitation, complicity and power relationships, on either side of the camera and in the photo itself. Darkside 2 navigates the fascinations and excesses of this intertwined relationship with a vast sampling of both old and new photography.