ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with a review of the extant literature on the so-called ‘aesthetic turn’ in International Relations (IR). It situates scholars of ‘aesthetic politics’ as part of a wider post-positivist and reflexivist counter-movement which aims to widen the discipline of IR by exploring new and alternative actors and terrains of political power. The chapter identifies some of the ways that lessons drawn from this body of scholarship can help us to critically analyse and engage with the visual work of non-governmental organisations (NGOs). It highlights that whilst a turn towards ‘positive messaging’ demonstrates sectoral responsiveness, learning and development, the endeavour to modulate and mainstream ‘hope’ in fact presents rather similar challenges to that of modulating ‘sympathy’. The chapter also identifies an interesting and potentially more fruitful development in the turn to auto-documentation as practised by smaller and more localised NGOs, such as Lensational.
