Construction Site Photography
Between document and art form, ‘photography is inherently ambivalent’, as art historians and photographers Soulages and Ferrere write. This duality is particularly evident in historical construction site photographs that have served diverse and sometimes conflicting agendas, from promoting innovative construction techniques to denouncing appalling labor and safety conditions. In addition, scholars have employed this medium as a lens for understanding the evolving construction practices and the often-chaotic daily conditions in which they occurred, all while acknowledging the inherent artistic qualities of some of these photographic works.
This special issue of Ædificare aims to (re)think the ambiguity of construction site photography as a valuable resource for understanding the multifaceted agendas at their inception, their subsequent (and sometimes unintended) use, as well as the novel research interpretations and methodologies they enable. We invite scholars from the field of construction history, as well as researchers from urban planning, colonial history, legal history, architectural history, economic history, anthropology, and related fields to reflect on construction site photography as a lens for analyzing construction sites and processes.
The Brussels Palace of Fine Arts, ca. 1923. © Horta Museum, St-Gilles.
Possible innovative readings and approaches can include:
Material culture studies: investigating the physical and material aspects captured in construction site photographs can help to understand historical building practices.
Technology and innovation: analyzing how techniques and technologies in these photographs reflect economic and industrial contexts.
Visual semiotics and iconography: applying visual semiotic analysis to decode the symbols, signs, and meanings embedded in construction site photographs.
Socio-spatial analysis: photographic evidence can give new insights into how space is utilized and managed on construction sites, in the segregation of labor roles and in the interaction between workers and their environment.
Forensic studies and visual jurisprudence: forensic techniques allow to analyze safety violations, labor exploitation, and regulatory non-compliance. Additionally, photographs were used in legal contexts and as visual documentation in regulatory frameworks.
Digital humanities and GIS mapping: Geographic Information Systems (GIS) can be used to overlay historical photographs onto modern maps to reveal changes in urban landscapes, spatial relationships and the spread of building technologies and practices.
Post-colonial perspectives: reinterpreting construction site photographs to explore how colonial power structures influenced construction practices, labor exploitation, and the representation of indigenous workers and materials.
Critical discourse analysis: textual elements within and accompanying construction site photographs, such as captions, advertisements, and articles can reveal the narratives that shaped (public) perception of construction projects and labor conditions.
Network analysis: studying the relationships and interactions between stakeholders in construction allows to highlight the social and economic networks that underpin construction activities.
Environmental history: photographs reveal how construction sites altered landscapes, affected local ecosystems, and contributed to urban environmental changes.
By embracing innovative approaches, this special issue aims to provide a comprehensive and nuanced understanding of the multifaceted nature of construction site photography. The goal is to reveal its potential to inform a wide range of academic inquiries and interpretations, offering new insights into historical and contemporary construction practices.
How to submit a proposal (abstract)
Proposals should include a title and a summary of around 2,500 characters, as well as the author’s contact details (name, position, institutional affiliation, email and postal address). Proposals must be sent to info@abch.be and to rcarvais@noos.fr, before 15 December 2024. Texts may be written in one of the following languages: French, Italian, English, Spanish, German or Portuguese.
In terms of length, the full articles may range from approximatively 30,000 to 50,000 characters. Proposals will be selected by the editors of the special issue, while articles will be evaluated by two referees appointed by the editorial board of Aedificare.
For the official call on the journal’s website: https://www.histoireconstruction.fr/construction-site-photography/.
Calendar:
15/12/2024: Deadline for proposals
15/01/2025: Notification of approval of the proposal
15/06/2025: Deadline for submission of the full article
1/08/2025: Comments by referees sent to the author
15/09/2025: Final version of the paper submitted
Early 2026: Publication of the issue