Readers: #1 Documentary & Women Photographers from the AmberSide Collection

Readers is a new reading group engaging with photographic theory and contemporary writings on photography organised by Mayanne Soret.
About this Event
Readers will aim to provide a critical reading space to re-think the canon and engage with a large breadth of work from lesser known writers, contemporary references, or non-academic contributions.

The first group will focus on the thematic of documentary, specifically in relation to Stills' current exhibition Women Photographers from The AmberSide Collection.

Readers is open to all regardless of academic background, and seeks to provide an engaging and stimulating space for discussion on reading, theorising, and looking at photography, as well as a space to challenge the way we already read and understand it.

The group will run for around an hour: we will start with an introduction of the text, its writer and context, and develop on a few points made by the author. We will then look at photographic works in relation to the text - participants are encouraged to bring in their own references to discuss.

Our first text will be Who Is Speaking Thus: Some Questions About Documentary Photography, pp. 169 to pp. 183, Photography at the Dock: Essays on Photographic History, Institutions, and Practices, Abigail Solomon-Godeau, 1997. We will look at this essay in parallel with the current exhibition Women Photographers from the AmberSide Collection, so please make sure you have seen the exhibition beforehand as well.

Please get in touch with Stills at info@stills.org to request a copy of the text. Printed copies are also available in the Stills' Library.

This group is open to all; practitioners, writers, readers, and anyone with an interest in photography. While all texts will require critical thinking and a willingness to engage with theory, it is not restricted to a certain academic background or level. You will need to have read as much of the text as possible - it is preferred that you have read the whole text, but it is not a detriment if you have not have time to finish it or have struggled with some of it, as we will all look at it together during the group meeting.

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Mayanne Soret is a digital content creator and occasional writer based in Edinburgh. Her interests span photography, art history, and digital culture. She co-ran the platform TabloidArtHistory until its close in 2019 and co-edited its two zines TAH VOL.1 and TAH VOL. 2. She has been volunteering at Stills since 2017, and she has led several tours and co-chaired the series of events ON/OFF exploring the art discourse in the digital age.

Image ‘Youth Unemployment’ by Tish Murtha © Ella Murtha, All rights reserved.