Visualized nation : an analysis of photographs in National Day supplements, 1966-1996.

• Main Author: Kwek, Ivan Eng Tai.
• Other Authors: Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information
• Format: Theses and Dissertations
• Language: English
• Published: 2011
• Subjects: DRNTU::Social sciences::Journalism::Photojournalism
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/42596
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

There is no such thing as photography. Rather, there are photographies. These statements are a response to an old debate that still goes on in some circles about the nature of art: is it art or not art? The answer does not matter. The point here is to draw attention to a conception of photography as a set of diverse material practices in which photographic texts are produced, circulated and deployed. Applied to the National Day Supplements, this conception opens up a space to examine how its photographic texts have been used to articulate the nation. How do specific photographs resonate with particular visions of the nation? And, how have they changed over the past 32 years? This thesis compares the use of photographs in different issues of the National Day Supplements, relating them to their particular historical, social and political contexts and finds, as a tentative conclusion, a shift towards a 'personalized' visualization of the nation.