Author Description

"Martha Rosler traces the ways in which art draws its meaning from within its social and political frameworks. The book's two artworks and a related essay exemplify and investigate the social embeddedness of art. They suggest how changing times and changing circumstances affect not only the form and meaning of photography but also its effects on its audience ... The artwork, 'The restoration of high culture in chile' (1977) is a photo and text work that, in fictionalized form, examines the various degrees of political anaesthesia and moral corruption implied by a successful adaptation to unquestioned and abstract notions of high culture ... The photo-and-text work 'The Bowery in two inadequate descriptive systems' (1974-1975) throws into question the ability of contemporary urban photography to continue the historical potential of social documentary photography. Its accompanying work, 'In, around, and afterthoughts,' written especially for the first edition of 3 works, is a fully developed critical essay in which this question is explored more systematically"--Publisher's website, viewed on March 13, 2015.