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“Our Ancient Monuments”: Visualizing Documents in Stone
Author(s) -
Edwards Elizabeth
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
visual anthropology review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.346
H-Index - 18
eISSN - 1548-7458
pISSN - 1058-7187
DOI - 10.1111/var.12176
Subject(s) - ethos , legibility , rhetoric , interpretation (philosophy) , visibility , state (computer science) , visual arts , presentation (obstetrics) , period (music) , art , history , archaeology , aesthetics , geography , political science , law , philosophy , linguistics , computer science , medicine , algorithm , meteorology , radiology
This article explores the ways in which, during the interwar period, practices of state preservation of ancient monuments in Britain established a visual rhetoric of “monument as document.” This was expressed through photographic postcards and the visual presentation of monuments themselves. Informed by an entangled ethos of scientific archaeological understanding, public education, and discourses of public ownership, I argue that photographs established and projected patterns of visibility and legibility, which addressed these core values of preservation, educative interpretation, and public access, within the practices of the “techno‐state.”