Both photography and cartography have naturalised themselves as ‘mirrors’ to reality under the auspice of their representational realism. Yet, behind the temporally static, spatially delimited and two-dimensional image, there is a gaze involved in its inception that alludes to a presentness of ongoing social and cultural reconfigurations. Drawing on theories of politics and aesthetics, I explore the power at play within this gaze. In doing so I question the extent to which it may be reconceived as a doubly performative act (performed first by the ‘author’ and then ‘viewer’) that creates the potential for political agency rather than a dynamic that seemingly renders one party (the viewer) as passive.

Simone Hancox is a PhD student in the Department of Drama at Queen Mary, University of London.  Her research interests include performance  and the city, walking as an aesthetic practice, urban interventions and live art.