Exit Theory: Thinking Photography and Thinking History from One Crisis to Another

Abstract

The 1970s in Britain were a period of conflict and upheaval, now seen as marking the end of a long period of economic expansion and the break-up of the postwar social democratic consensus. For many who lived through them, however, these years seemed less of an ending than an opening to new social possibilities and new forms of struggle. A reemerging political radicalism, a second wave of feminist activism and an assertive anti-racist movement challenged ingrained ideas about the space of political action and set in motion new debates about cultural politics that turned on the political function of cultural representations.

Keywords

• Photography
• agency
• activism
• British art
• social movements
• representation
• identity
• politics