Faculty Colleagues Colloquium: Carol Magee

Home is where the heart is and absence makes the heart grow fonder: Evocations of Lagos in photographs of Berlin

Associate Professor Carol Magee

This paper examines the piece “Lost in Transit” by photographer Abraham Oghobase, considering the intersecting complexities of home and place might be expressed photographically. I explore how both the individual photographs that comprise this piece collectively communicate a sense of place. At the same time, I demonstrate how representations of a specific location engage with notions of home and place that extend beyond the actual photographic locale and argue that depictions of one site can actually be speaking about an entirely different place (such as home). The adages in the title of this paper underscore the philosophical understandings of place and belonging that inform this investigation, as well as draw attention to the mobility that is a central concern of both the photographic series considered here and the urban theory that underpins my analysis of it.

Coffee, water and cookies will be offered at the lecture.

The Art Department Faculty Colleagues Colloquium is a series intended to share new or in-progress work by departmental faculty and their colleagues at nearby institutions, furthering the conversation and facilitating collaboration.