Call: “Photographic Portrait: Convergences, Divergences, Reflections and Thoughts” issue of Vista

Call for Papers:

Photographic Portrait: Convergences, Divergences, Reflections and Thoughts (No. 16)
For the journal Vista
https://revistavista.pt/index.php/vista/announcement/view/89

Thematic Editors: Helena Pires (University of Minho, Portugal), Eduardo Camilo (University of Beira Interior, Portugal) and Florin Grigoraş (National University of Art „George Enescu”, Romania)

Deadline for submissions: May 2, 2025

The call for papers “Photographic Portrait: Convergences, Divergences, Reflections and Thoughts” aims to bring together works that explore the multifaceted theme of photographic portraiture. We invite proposals from a wide range of domains, including, but not limited to, history of photography, philosophy of art and photography, visual culture and photographic studies, analysis of visual discourse and photography, semiotics of photography, photographic technologies, ethnography and visual anthropology, sociology of photography and visual communication, technologies of photographic image production and rhetoric of the (photographic) image.

Thematic lines include:

(a) theories and philosophical issues of photographic portraiture — for example, the concept of photogenic qualities;

(b) the art of photographic portraiture — references, influences, aesthetic currents;

(c) uses and effects of photographic portraiture;

(d) technologies of photographic portraiture production — analogue, digital and smartphone photography;

(e) practices of photographic portraiture — including studio portraiture, family and holiday portraiture, snapshot photography, self-portrait;

(f) cognitive psychology and theories of perception — exploring how viewers perceive and interpret photographic portraiture;

(g) gender and queer studies — examining the role of photographic portraiture in the construction and deconstruction of gender identities;

(h) postcolonial studies — exploring the intersection between photographic portraiture and issues of identity, power and representation in postcolonial contexts;

(i) media studies — analyzing the role of photographic portraiture in digital media and online platforms; (j) memory studies — understanding the meaning of photographic portraits in personal and collective memory;

(k) ethics and theories of representation — discussing ethical considerations in the creation and exhibition of photographic portraits;

(l) digital humanities — studying how computational tools and methods can analyze photographic portraits;

(m) marketing and advertising studies — analyzing the use of photographic portraits in the creation of brands and identities;

(n) legal studies — addressing issues of copyright, privacy and intellectual property in photographic portraits;

(o) critical race theories — exploring how photographic portraits relate to and represent racial identities and power structures;

(p) portfolios — presenting photographic experiences and works; and

(q) other angles of analysis — as long as they are restricted to this object of study: photographic portraits.

In light of the above, we propose the following topics for reflection:

  • To what extent can photographic portraiture be considered a genre with a singularity distinct from pictorial portraiture?
  • What specific characteristics do photographic portraits present in contemporary times? What changes have photographic portraits undergone when they were produced by capture technologies directly linked to social networks (smartphones)?
  • What founding principles can be identified in photographic portraits? Is there an “aesthetic” based on their primordial pictorial connection (Oscar Rejlander, Lady Awerden, Nadar)? A commercial basis, arising from the “photographic industrialization” evident in the studio portrait and the historical carte de visite (Disderi)? A ritualistic function of celebration and remembrance, similar to the portraits in photo albums? A social foundation linked to practices of identity, identification and social conformity? Or even an autobiographical foundation reflected in the everyday practices of subjective representation and publication on social networks (selfies)?
  • What can be inferred about the status of the photographic portrait in the consumer, leisure and travel (holiday) society?
  • Is it possible to identify photographers whose portrait production is (still) original, critical and reflective, like the work of artists such as Ralph Eugene Martyard or Cindy Sherman?

IMPORTANT DATES

Submission period for proposals (full texts): from January 31st to May 2nd, 2025

Publication period: continuous edition (July to December 2025)

LANGUAGE

Articles may be submitted in English or Portuguese. Articles selected for publication will be translated into Portuguese or English, respectively, and must be published in full in both languages.

EDITING AND SUBMISSION

Vista   is an open access academic journal, operating according to demanding peer review standards, operating a double-blind review process. Each submitted paper will be sent to two reviewers previously invited to evaluate it, according to its academic quality, originality and relevance to the objectives and scope of the journal.

Originals should be submitted through the journal’s website (https://revistavista.pt/). If you are accessing Vista for the first time, you must register in order to submit your article (instructions for registering here).

The guide for authors can be found here.

For more information, contact: vista@ics.uminho.pt

No payment from the authors will be required

ABOUT THE JOURNAL

Vista (e-ISSN 2184-1284) is a scientific journal of visual culture and digital arts whose director is a full member of the Communication and Society Research Centre (CECS). Its associate director is a member of the Visual Culture Working Group of the Portuguese Association of Communication Sciences (Sopcom). Firstly published in 2017, this open-access journal has a rigorous scientific peer-review system (double-blind review). The journal is biannual (January-June and July-December) but follows the continuous publication model, and it is fully published in Portuguese and English. Vista was created in 2015 by Sopcom’s Visual Culture Working Group. It has been edited by CECS, Institute of Social Sciences, from the University of Minho since the second half of 2020. Vista‘s editorial board members are renowned specialists in visual culture and digital arts worldwide. Vista is supported by national funds through Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia.


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