Ordinary and Extraordinary Images: Making Visible the Operations of Stock Photography in Posters Against the Repeal of the 8th Amendment

The operations of stock photographs, as utilised by the Irish anti-abortion lobby, have not been examined before. Many of the ‘Vote No’ posters in the 2018 Irish referendum campaign on the 8th amendment maintained a visual and textual focus on foetal personhood: asking the Irish electorate to ‘love...

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Main Author: Ann Curran
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Lectito Journals 2022-03-01
Series:Feminist Encounters: A Journal of Critical Studies in Culture and Politics
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.lectitopublishing.nl/download/ordinary-and-extraordinary-images-making-visible-the-operations-of-stock-photography-in-posters-11751.pdf
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author Ann Curran
author_facet Ann Curran
author_sort Ann Curran
collection DOAJ
description The operations of stock photographs, as utilised by the Irish anti-abortion lobby, have not been examined before. Many of the ‘Vote No’ posters in the 2018 Irish referendum campaign on the 8th amendment maintained a visual and textual focus on foetal personhood: asking the Irish electorate to ‘love both,’ while deploying a range of stock photographs. In this article, I trace specific stock images used on anti-abortion posters against Repeal back to their online image bank sources. I make visible the role of generic or stereotypical photographs in anti-abortion messaging, in the knowledge that stock photographs often function best when masking their ideologies as ‘natural’ systems of belief. As global anti-abortion campaigns increasingly co-opt the arguments and look of ‘progressive’ campaigns, using ordinary rather than extraordinary photographs, global image banks seek new markets by producing feminist and gender rights-oriented stock photographs. Meanwhile, versions of the ‘classical’ images in the visual repertoire long-favoured by anti-abortion campaigns continue to be remediated. Image banks also function as de facto online archives of editorial photographs of both pro-choice and pro-life activism - yet another facet of the role of stock photography in the visual economy of abortion.
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spelling doaj.art-5b9e49b5c43948ab998ae2f19194207c2023-12-26T20:56:51ZengLectito JournalsFeminist Encounters: A Journal of Critical Studies in Culture and Politics2468-44142022-03-01610710.20897/femenc/11751Ordinary and Extraordinary Images: Making Visible the Operations of Stock Photography in Posters Against the Repeal of the 8th AmendmentAnn Curran0Technological University Dublin, IRELANDThe operations of stock photographs, as utilised by the Irish anti-abortion lobby, have not been examined before. Many of the ‘Vote No’ posters in the 2018 Irish referendum campaign on the 8th amendment maintained a visual and textual focus on foetal personhood: asking the Irish electorate to ‘love both,’ while deploying a range of stock photographs. In this article, I trace specific stock images used on anti-abortion posters against Repeal back to their online image bank sources. I make visible the role of generic or stereotypical photographs in anti-abortion messaging, in the knowledge that stock photographs often function best when masking their ideologies as ‘natural’ systems of belief. As global anti-abortion campaigns increasingly co-opt the arguments and look of ‘progressive’ campaigns, using ordinary rather than extraordinary photographs, global image banks seek new markets by producing feminist and gender rights-oriented stock photographs. Meanwhile, versions of the ‘classical’ images in the visual repertoire long-favoured by anti-abortion campaigns continue to be remediated. Image banks also function as de facto online archives of editorial photographs of both pro-choice and pro-life activism - yet another facet of the role of stock photography in the visual economy of abortion.https://www.lectitopublishing.nl/download/ordinary-and-extraordinary-images-making-visible-the-operations-of-stock-photography-in-posters-11751.pdfstock photographyIrelandanti-abortion messagingpostersimage banks
spellingShingle Ann Curran
Ordinary and Extraordinary Images: Making Visible the Operations of Stock Photography in Posters Against the Repeal of the 8th Amendment
Feminist Encounters: A Journal of Critical Studies in Culture and Politics
stock photography
Ireland
anti-abortion messaging
posters
image banks
title Ordinary and Extraordinary Images: Making Visible the Operations of Stock Photography in Posters Against the Repeal of the 8th Amendment
title_full Ordinary and Extraordinary Images: Making Visible the Operations of Stock Photography in Posters Against the Repeal of the 8th Amendment
title_fullStr Ordinary and Extraordinary Images: Making Visible the Operations of Stock Photography in Posters Against the Repeal of the 8th Amendment
title_full_unstemmed Ordinary and Extraordinary Images: Making Visible the Operations of Stock Photography in Posters Against the Repeal of the 8th Amendment
title_short Ordinary and Extraordinary Images: Making Visible the Operations of Stock Photography in Posters Against the Repeal of the 8th Amendment
title_sort ordinary and extraordinary images making visible the operations of stock photography in posters against the repeal of the 8th amendment
topic stock photography
Ireland
anti-abortion messaging
posters
image banks
url https://www.lectitopublishing.nl/download/ordinary-and-extraordinary-images-making-visible-the-operations-of-stock-photography-in-posters-11751.pdf
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