On Friday, during lectures we were able to develop an ethical understanding of using photography in exhibitions. Photographs are heavily nostalgic items that evoke a myriad of reactions and memories that help develop the museums narrative and open up new avenues of study. However, to ensure ethical use of photographs in exhibitions, the idea of ownership needs to be explored.
What does ownership mean in relation to photographs either collected or donated to the museum? What obligations do museums as institutions have to previous owners of the photographs or the people who appear in them?
The entry of photographs and objects into the museum space usually involves a documented process that outlines the museum’s obligations to the care and respect of the object. This process also authorises the museum to display the object within the public space of galleries.
Moving the photograph from the personal private space of an individual’s house to the public space of the museum creates a shift in meaning. This shift in meaning is also heightened under the contextual information and the wider collection on display. The combined didactics, artefacts and media build a narrative that creates a different memory surrounding the object than that of the memory of the original owner.
This new meaning assigned to the photograph within the context of the museum may then acquire a new narrative due to photographic reproduction of original photographs. This can occur when visitors take photographs of the photographs themselves as an act of a personalised souvenir from their time at the museum or when the museum reproduces the photographs for commercial sale. The effect of this moves the photograph further away from its original context.
In the context of our field school, the Hoa Lo Prison Museum in HaNoi exhibited some very politically charged and culturally sensitive photographs of United States fighter jet pilots who were captured during the American - Vietnam War. The highly selective group of photographs on display ensured to follow a national narrative of peace and forgiveness during conflict. Not only was this national narrative displayed throughout the Hoa Lo Prison Museum, but also the museum shop sold various objects and post cards with reproductions of the original photographs to encourage visitors to take home part of the national narrative. However, visitors who purchased the reproductions would of course add their own personal memories to the photographs.
This in essence creates an object biography surrounding the photograph. How does the photograph’s biography add more depth to the narrative? So far three areas of memory have been added to object biography: one, the memory of the photograph to the original owner; two, the memory of the photograph within the museum space;three, the memory of the photograph to the museum visitors both whilst they visit the museum and the photographic reproductions they take home with them.
This third category leads into the rights of photographic reproductions within museums. In this process of photographic reproductions, by any means, whether that be from the visitor or sold within the museum gift shop, what is gained and lost? Who does the museum need to get authorisation from to reproduce photographs?
I myself am a guilty party to this process of taking and purchasing souvenir photographs. Admittedly, my own personal souvenir photographs that I take have a very different memory then what the images originally signified. For instance, photographs of images from museums may not necessarily make me remember thedetails of the museum visit, but might provide a cue for remembering a memory.
One of my memories of my visit to Hoa Lo Prison Museum was being presented with a packet of post cards that pictured the images of the United States pilots. These images used as visitor souvenirs provide an example of how photographs can be manipulated to form narratives both within the museum space and the memory that visitors take home with them.
By Natalie Bottema
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