Abstract

This essay considers human and nonhuman well-being, looking through a culturally-engaged visual analysis of three different groups of photographic images depicting planet earth seemingly in quarantine that were shared widely on social media during the lockdown imposed in many countries due to the Corona pandemic and that seemed to be in a (subconscious) dialogue with each other. They consist of 1. empty city spaces, 2. the proclaimed return of ‘wildlife’ (e.g., the fake images of dolphins in Venetian canals), and 3. satellite images of improved air and water quality. Drawing on Walter Benjamin’s Short History of Photography and Eugène Atget’s works in comparison to current photographs, it examines why certain images proliferate and what type of narratives, for example, of ‘healing’ the environmental crisis, they may propose.

摘要

这篇文章考虑了人类和非人类的福祉，通过对三组不同的摄影图像进行文化参与的视觉分析，这些图像描绘了地球似乎处于隔离状态，这些图像在许多国家因电晕大流行而实施的封锁期间在社交媒体上广泛分享这似乎是在彼此的（潜意识）对话中。它们包括 1. 空荡荡的城市空间，2. 宣称的“野生动物”回归（例如，威尼斯运河中海豚的假图像），以及 3. 空气和水质改善的卫星图像。借鉴沃尔特·本杰明的摄影简史 和 Eugène Atget 的作品与当前的照片相比，它研究了为什么某些图像会激增，以及他们可能提出什么样的叙事，例如“治愈”环境危机。