This symposium seeks to engage photographers, curators, archivists, and researchers in a critical discussion about the ethical dimensions of photography.

Photography ethics is a topic which has gained momentum in recent years. From questions of consent, representation, and manipulation to the impacts of social media, artificial intelligence, and fake news, image-makers and image-users are facing complex challenges emerging from technological, environmental, and political change.  

This renewed attention to ethics has contributed to a growing polarisation within the photography industry. Firm lines are being drawn between those who are experimenting with AI, and those who shun it; those who engage in collaborative practice, and those who place higher value on the artist’s perspective; those who prioritize creative freedom, and those who prioritize social responsibility.

Rather than seeking to delineate any universal ethical truths, we are instead interested in exploring the messiness of ethical decision-making. How are photographers and other image-based practitioners are negotiating the ethical decisions they encounter? Who is implicated or involved in these decisions, and who or what is at stake?

We are interested hearing from speakers who can shed light on the situatedness and complexity of ethical decisions in photography from both theoretical and practice-based perspectives.