Description
For this assignment, you will read Walter Benjamin’s “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction,” which is one the most influential texts about photography. You will then write about Benjamin’s concept of aura and relate it to the photographs of the Depression era generated by the photographers who worked for the W.P.A. Finally, you will choose an object that you consider has an aura and explain why. You will provide a photograph of such object.
This assignment will require you to do a close reading of an important text and to apply your recently acquired information by relating both concepts and by identifying an object with an aura. You will also employ critical thinking in both parts of this assignment.
This assignment consists of three parts:
First, in Part 1 you will read Walter Benjamin’s “The Work of Art in the Age of Its Technological Reproducibility” (attached PDF) looking closely at Benjamin’s concept of “aura.”
In Part 2 you will explain with your own words what “aura” means according to the text. You will then choose an object (it does not have to be a work of art) that in your opinion has an aura—as defined and explained in the article. You will write the reasons why you consider this object has an aura. This written part should be 150 words long. You will also provide a photograph of such object.
Lastly, in Part 3 you will explain how Benjamin’s concept of “aura” relate to the photographs of the depression era created by the photographers hired by the Resettlement Administration, later named the Farm Security Administration under the New Deal. Iconic photographs created by Dorothea Lange, Walker Evans, Arthur Rothstein, and other photographers were meant to be published in the media to make them available to the American public. How does the reproducibility of such photographs relate to their “aura,” as defined by Benjamin? This part should be around 100 words long.
