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Paper short abstract:

The paper focuses on the consultation and analysis of digital photographic archives to identify iconographic trends related to the subject representation of African migration towards Europe in contemporary migration photography.

Paper long abstract:

Documentary photography has been regarded as an accurate medium for representing key historical social events of 20th and 21st century visual culture. The ethnographic missions that took place in Africa during the 19th-20th century generated a substantial photographic archival body that depicted local communities at the time of colonial expansion. These images, together with the travel journals from the missionaries involved, generate a complex archival that provides an insight into how Europe sought to create a position of supremacy based on racial differences. Nowadays, as migration photography occupies the frontpages of European media outlets, questions surrounding the subject representation of African migrants arises. As the precarity of migration becomes the core element behind the imagery, colonial iconographic patterns associated with deindividualization and dehistoricization emerge as part of the photograph's meaning. Consequently, this paper focuses on the use of digital photographic archives related to 19th century ethnographic missions in Africa to identify iconographic patterns that remain prevalent in contemporary migration archives. Through the analysis of two digital archival projects, Antislavery Usable Past and Harraga, it is possible to identify representation trends related to the dehistoricization and deindividualization of African populations. These patterns highlight the prevalence of an anonymous corporeality, where the precarity shown on camera is meant to become a standardized source of evidence for European governments and humanitarian agencies to provide or withhold aid.