Photography

1. André Bazin argues "Simultaneously a liberation and an accomplishment, [photography] has freed Western painting, once and for all, from its obsession with realism and allowed it to recover its aesthetic autonomy." How exactly does photography break from an obsession with realism?

Realism, as I have understood, is the way in which the product resembles the object depicted; that is, the degree of likeness. Modern art sought to redefine what our assumptions about art were. In a way, photography continues the trend of seeking to question and interrogate what constitutes art. In fact, philosophical intention and social commentary in the process of creating art is now more emphasized than previously such that the product itself can range from simple to elaborate. In short, it is valuing the process as much as (or possibly more than) the product.

2. What is the importance of memory and how has photography revolutionized how we conceptualize it?

Memory can give a person or a people a sense of connection to the past, a sense of identity and of the present as well as ownership of the direction the future can be led to. Memory can oftentimes give cohesion and order such that collective progress (if we are to assume it benefits groups of people) . Photography, then, is a new form of preserving memory, old forms of which include storytelling among other things. Moreover, photography arguably popularizes the preservation of memory and it also makes memory useful for other purposes as well..