More-than photography and sculpture: a diffractive reading

Abstract

In historical and theoretical writings on photography and sculpture, the two media are mostly addressed separately, with some points of overlap. The aim of this article is to examine artworks by contemporary artists Rachel de Joode and artist duo Nerhol from the hypothesis that they are not either photography or sculpture, but both and even more. They occupy new spaces, both material/physical and conceptual, reaching dimensions that are more-than: more than photography and more than sculpture. I aim for a renewed understanding of these media through diffractive reading, an approach with roots in feminist and new materialist discourse. Diffractive reading is about understanding things through each other, rather than finding meaning through preconceived static oppositions. As the artworks analyzed are understood as material-discursive practices, the theoretical and historical backgrounds of both photography and sculpture become increasingly relevant. How can and how should photography and sculpture be theorized as expanding fields? How do their ways of making meaning differ from each other and how do they converge? Through diffractive reading, photography and sculpture are not understood as two separate strands of practice coming together, but rather as manifestations of hybrid identities within the same artwork.

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