25 Most Read Articles

Three years ago I wrote my first post for this blog. To celebrate this occasion – the third blogiversary as it is referred to by bloggers – I thought you might benefit from a list of the 25 most read articles. I have also installed this list on the sidebar if you wish to revisit it in the future.

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And here, three years in the making, is the list of the 25 most read articles:

1. Post-Mortem Photography is Alive
A brief historical overview of port-mortem photography and how it ostensibly relates to images of death encountered in various photographic genres such as art photography or photojournalism.

2. The Pornofication of the Female Pop Star
Despite only being published two weeks ago, this post has quickly become the second read most post of all time. The article investigates the emergence of a hyper sexualized image amongst female pop stars such as Miley Cyrus, Rihanna or Lady Gaga.

3. The Many Bodies of Yurie Nagashima
This article investigates the provocative photographic works of the Japanese artist Yurie Nagashima. Nagashima rose to fame in the mid-1990s with photographs that appear to subvert stereotypical representations of the female body in Japanese visual culture. This article is the follow-up post to The Family Photos of Yurie Nagashima which is at number six on this list.

4. Voyeurism and Appropriation in Kohei Yoshiyuki’s ‘The Park’
An article which considers the well-known photographic series ‘The Park’ by the Japanese photographer Kohei Yoshiyuki in relation to Japanese art of the 1970s and more recent appropriations in Western visual culture.

5. Breaking the Image of Mother and Child
An attempt to deconstruct the controversial TIME Magazine cover which depicts a woman breastfeeding her three-year old child.

6. The Family Photos of Yurie Nagashima
A closer look at the controversial photographs of the Japanese artist Yurie Nagashima and how they relate to the family photograph. In her works, Nagashima appears to question preconceived assumptions about the photograph as a medium which reinforces familial relationships. This post is associated with The Many Bodies of Yurie Nagashima which is at number three on tis list.

7. What is hipster photography?
Even though this post has been published in the last few days, it has already entered this lost of most read articles. The article seeks to define ‘hipster photography’ in relation to the rise of social media and the performance as well as construction of identities.

8. Laurel Nakadate’s Controlled Voyeurism
This post functions as an overview on the works of the American photographic artist Laurel Nakadate. In her works, Nakadate construct various scenarios (many of which with a sexual subtext) that interrogate the complex relationship between looking and being looked at.

9. Voyeurism, Fantasy and the Anonymous Subway Photographer
This article considers the British website tubecrush.net which allows anonymous users to submit photographs of handsome young men using the underground, or the Tube, in London. The article relates this highly voyeuristic photography to number of photographers who have produced works in similar settings.

10. The Perfume Ad Formula
A visual analysis of various celebrity endorsed perfume ads which appear to follow a very strict visual formula.

11. Deconstructing the Situation Room Photograph
A close reading of one of the most iconic images of recent times which shows Barack Obama and his advisors watching the capture of Osama bin Laden via videolink in the so-called Situation Room.

12. The Dust Lady of 9/11
A reading of the haunting image of a woman covered in dust and debris after the attacks on September 11th.

13. Photojournalism, Ethics and the Afterlife of a Photograph
The haunting story of an Iraqi boy who has survived an incident in which his parents were accidentally killed at US checkpoint. This article is the follow-up post to Photojournalism, Ethics and a Trail of Blood which looks at photographs by the late Chris Hondros who covered the original checkpoint incident.

14. Contortionism in the photographs of Satomi Shirai
A essay on the photographic works of the Japanese photographer Satomi Shirai.

15. Weegee, Vice and Voyeurism
A close reading of Weegee’s well-known photograph ‘Gold Painted Stripper’.

16. Banning the ‘Amateurish’ American Apparel Ads
This post considers American Apparel’s provocative advertising campaign and the recent phenomenon in which ads were banned because the photographs appeared too ‘amateurish’.

17. The Woman in the Red Dress
A close reading of the now iconic image of a young Turkish woman who is sprayed with pepper spray from close range at the recent protests in Istanbul.

18. The Perversity of Propaganda
This post considers a public relations disaster in which Vogue Magazine commissioned the well-regarded photojournalist James Nachtwey to depict Asma Assad, the wife of the Syrian dictator Bashar Assad, in a favourable light. Since the bloody civil war in Syria, these images have disappeared from the Vogue website.

19. So that others can be free
A visual analysis of the World Press Photo award winning photograph of 2011 produced by the Spanish photojournalist Samuel Aranda.

20. The Lost Camera in Ceausescu’s Final Speech
As pointed out above, this article is the very first post I wrote for this blog exactly three years ago. The article investigates Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu’s final speech and an impending visuality of crisis before he was executed on Christmas day in 1989.

21. Ten Japanese Photobooks
As part of the exhibition 10×10 Japanese Photobooks, I have been invited to select ten Japanese photobooks which were featured in an online space in the run-up to the exhibition.

22. Voyeurism in the photographs of Hisaji Hara
A close look at the photographic works by the Japanese artist Hisaji Hara and who they relate to notions of voyeurism and the paintings of French-Polish artist Balthus.

23. Google Street View and the Politics of Exploitation
This article considers the photographic project ‘No Man’s Land’ by Mishka Henner in relation to images appropriated from the internet and a discourse I have called the politics of exploitation.

24. Wooing the Spectator in Juergen Teller’s Photographs
An exhibition review of Juergen Teller’s provocative photographs on show at the ICA in London.

25. Photojournalism, Ethics and a Trail of Blood
A visual analysis of a haunting photograph produced by the late photojournalist Chris Hondros. This article was followed up by Photojournalism, Ethics and the Afterlife of a Photograph.

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