Posthuman Alternatives in the Ontological Understanding of Photography

Photographic materiality refers to a way of conceiving photographic artifacts as concrete material arrangements. Gelatin, silver, and different organic and inorganic compounds, such as baryte, as well as vegetal fibers and plastics that are part of printing supports, constitute the material configuration of these objects. This article argues that attention to the material dimension of photographs allows for the formulation of a posthuman understanding of these artifacts that challenges well-known indexical and socio-cultural ontologies of the medium. From this perspective, photographic materialism constitutes a theory of the “between,” considering photographic objects as constituted by a relational ontological category. Focusing on the more-than-human agencies in photography actively challenges humanistic and anthropocentric considerations in photographic theory.