The Image of Whiteness

The invention and continuance of the “white race” is not just a political, social and legal phenomenon – it is also visual. From the advent of early colonial photography in the 19th century to contemporary social media and photographic art, photography has always played, and continues to play, an integral role in the maintenance of the political and social hegemony of “whiteness”. The technology of the camera is not innocent, nor are the images it produces or the people who make them. The Image of Whiteness introduces readers to important extracts from the troubling story of whiteness, describing its falsehoods, its paradoxes and its oppressive nature, and highlights some of the crucial work contemporary photographic artists are doing to subvert and critique its image and its continuing power.