What is it about?
Artists Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin have used hundreds of photographs from the Archive of Modern Conflict in their publication of a complete Bible (MACK, 2013), bringing its visionary trauma narrative into the twenty-first century. It's a popular assumption about the Bible that it is preoccupied with divine punishment and impending apocalypse. I explore their work for what it says about being between, or beyond, words and images, especially when literal/photographic realism is in overdrive. I defend their approach to reading and imaging Scripture in this repetitive, conversational way too, arguing that it gives back to and extends the text's own explosive, expanding language.
Featured Image
Photo by Jens Johnsson on Unsplash
Why is it important?
Artists such as Broomberg & Chanarin create open, indeterminate readings of the Bible, and in so doing they revitalise an area of hermeneutics more commonly shaped by institutionally-controlled readings. Religious studies and visual culture are mutually enriched by such an act: the Bible is engaged conversationally in culture, and theological aspects of our world are visually explored.
Perspectives
In the words of the artists: 'It struck us that the Bible fits so well with photography. Since its beginning the camera has had a biblical reach; it has tried to describe and witness everything'.
Dr Sheona Beaumont
King's College London
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Engaging with the Bible in Visual Culture, Religion and the Arts, October 2019, Brill,
DOI: 10.1163/15685292-02304004.
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