Redistributing the sensible: exploring aesthetic practices in a photography course
Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: In Western industrialised contexts, ecological problems such as climate change are sensed and come largely to be known through media representations. In this article, we consider aesthetic practices as a concept for understanding the ways in which the visual sensible world relating to climate change is continuously distributed. Furthermore, we study photography as a pedagogical means to redistribute the sensible. Our data are gathered from a photography course in which participants explored four alternative aesthetic practices: revealing connectedness, recognising agency, compromising the attractions of consumerism, and illuminating alternatives. Through their photographic explorations, participants were encouraged to intervene in two problematic consensual frameworks: human-centredness and consumption-centredness. We found that exploring aesthetic practices through photography helped redistribute the sensible in two significant ways: participants recognised visible traces of the consensual frameworks and shifted the emphasis of perception beyond their personal viewpoints.
Source: Environmental Education Research
Authors: Jenni Niemelä-Nyrhinen, Niina Uusitalo
Institutions: Tampere University, University of Tampere
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $4,545
Funders: Academy of Finland, Koneen Säätiö
OpenAlex ID: W4405769100