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Camera AtomicaStock informationGeneral Fields
Special Fields
DescriptionWherever there have been nuclear weapons and nuclear fission, there have also been cameras. Camera Atomica explores the intimate relationship between photography and nuclear events, to uncover how the camera lens has shaped public perceptions of the atomic age and its anxieties. Photographs have a crucial place in the representation of the atomic age and its anxieties. Published in collaboration with the Art Gallery of Ontario to coincide with a major exhibition there in 2014. Camera Atomica examines narratives beyond the "technological sublime" that dominates much nuclear photography, suppressing representations of the human form in favour of representations of B-52 bombers and mushroom clouds. The book proposes that the body is the site where the social environment interacts with the so-called "atomic road": uranium mining and processing, radiation research, nuclear reactor construction and operation, and weapons testing. Cameras have both recorded and - in certain instances - provided motivation for the production of nuclear events. Their histories and technological development are intimately intertwined. Author descriptionJohn O'Brian is a curator, art historian and writer who has published more than a dozen books. He has taught art history at the University of British Columbia since 1987. During his tenure as the Brenda & David McLean Chair in Canadian Studies, UBC from 2008 to 2011, he explored the engagement of photography with the atomic era in Canada. |