ABSTRACT
Chapter 4, ‘Image, Knowledge, and Argument’, establishes the potential of photography for presenting complex political issues, moving away from picturing ‘things’ and towards making visual argument. It considers the nature of visual knowledge, and how the image and its figurative properties are adjusted in the light of ideas relating to non-human vision, non-representational theory, and a post-truth era. Examples of work by the Syrian-born photographer Yazan Khalili identify assumptions made about using imagery in the twenty-first century, and establish new paradigms for thinking about photography that accommodate digital processes: references include Joanna Zylinska and Hito Steyerl, and works by Trevor Paglen and Rosa Menkmann. The chapter presents a contrast of approaches with regard to the instrumental use of visual information. Discussing Bruno Latour's philosophy advocating the advantages of interdisciplinary enquiry, the chapter features installations that assemble visual material from diverse perspectives. Works by Forensic Architecture introduce the development of investigation as a strategy that uses photographic evidence as a counter-reportage to mainstream media, or in order to assert human rights.
