Queer Methodology for Photography 1st Edition By Asa Johannesson

Queer Methodology for Photography by Asa Johannesson is an academic book that presents innovative approaches to photographic discourse from a queer perspective, focusing on artistic strategies for image-making beyond traditional representation. Book Summary and ThemesThe book offers a new methodology for photography that challenges binary categorizations of identity and existence by linking artistic practices with theoretical concepts from various fields, including photography theory, queer theory, critical theory, and philosophy. Johannesson introduces a "queer quality" to the photographic image, addressing its materiality (poetic and political) and its ability to voice queer concerns beyond simply representing a subject's identity. 

Key themes and conceptual perspectives explored in the book include: 

• Queer: Discusses what constitutes "queer photography" and explores the queer gaze and the right to represent.
• Representation: Examines the crisis of representation and the debate between capturing or staging a scene.
• Refigure: Explores how writing, particularly poetic writing and captioning, can "refigure" the photograph in a queer way.
• Skin: Reclaims formalism to discuss the material image, using examples like negative sandwiches and thermograms to explore the photograph's material production of knowledge.
• Measure: Investigates queer temporalities and the paradigms of exactitude in photography.
• Ground: Addresses medium specificity and dimensionality, including discussions on work by artists like Wolfgang Tillmans and Cassils. 

The book features work by 27 LGBTQ+ artists, including Catherine Opie, Zanele Muholi, and David Wojnarowicz, using their photographs as examples for discussion. Publication DetailsThe first edition of the book was published by Routledge.