The Rustling Image by Meir Wigoder

The Rustling Image by Meir Wigoder

The Rustling Image discusses the aesthetic, philosophical, and political resonances of low-resolution digital images in connection to the popular and wider use of mobile phone cameras through the case study of citizen journalists and political activists during the Syrian civil war.

This book describes the witnessing techniques of low-resolution mobile phone images, focusing on the way in which citizen journalists, activists, and film collectives found alternative means by which to document the Syrian civil war during a special period in media history – that of the western media being mostly unable to obtain access to Syria. Such blurry and pixilated images, which often fail to verify what they are meant to prove, are not simply the result of technological limitations. Rather, they have been embraced as an aesthetic of resistance that seeks to distinguish itself from the clearer and sharper HD and 4K sensibility that characterizes the western hegemonic media corporations’ coverage of news events. This book highlights that the role of blurry and underexposed images is to make us aware that there is a category of witnessing whose purpose is to reveal the significance of what is not visible; and to make us understand the sense of uncertainty that we feel towards our own inability to comprehend events that have been spiraling out of control in our post-truth world.

This deeply considered, lucidly written study of mobile phone imaging of the Syrian revolution is substantively and methodologically original with several moments of real brillianceWigoder's rich, sensitive analyses of low-resolution images carefully attend to the situatedness of videographers and their subjects, while remaining aware of his own position. He also shows how, in a digital age, local crises conditions can generate images that are both political and personal, but also may enter the global media stream to be appropriated for other purposes and contexts. Furthermore, Wigoder's intertwined technical, formal, and political considerations are informed by, and intervene in, media theory and philosophy. Overall, the book is an important contribution to understandings of contemporary documentation and digital witnessing.

Meir Wigoder is a photographer and photography theorist based in Israel. Retired from teaching, his work addresses witnessing, representations of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and media aesthetics. His articles have appeared in Public Culture, Critical Inquiry, Third Text, and History of Photography, as well as in other journals and edited volumes.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9798765118597
Title	The Rustling Image
Author	Meir Wigoder
Series	Thinking Media
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Year published	2027-02-18
Number of pages	336
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.