PUBLIC LECTURE: Talking Allowed: Seeing Allowed?

Over the last two years and with the rise of the citizen photographer, there have been radical changes in how we respond to photographs and images, particularly those that reveal unimaginable suffering. Whether it is a photograph of the lifeless body of Aylan Kurdi washed ashore near the Turkish resort of Bodrum, the images of Dylan Voller spit-hooded and shackled to a restraint chair, or the photograph of the Muslim woman amidst the carnage on Westminster Bridge, images appear to have acquired a new status in their capacity to prompt indignation and action. Which images can we say have changed the course of history? And what makes an image powerful at a particular moment? In her talk ‘Seeing Allowed?’, Professor Jane Lydon (Wesfarmers Chair of Australian History) will speak to a number of issues that surround images of suffering. While it would seem that in 2017 photographs and images are becoming central to socio-political and ideological tensions, Professor Lydon will explore whether or not real change can be wrought by harrowing images of suffering.