Visualising Ethnographic Practice

Back from the Field is an exhibition of ethnographic photographs taken by postgraduate anthropology students during the time of their fieldwork. It spans across several continents and touches on different aspects of anthropological research. The aim of this exhibit is twofold: to showcase current anthropological work to a wider public, and to explore visuality and art-making in the context of ethnography.

Photographs can bring the viewer into intimate contact with people and places they have never directly experienced, and this can happen instantaneously, in one frame. As such they are a powerful medium that can complement the largely written body of anthropological work.

Despite the widely different subject matter covered in these photographs, there is a shared ethos, a commonality of purpose: that of giving a glimpse into the worlds of the people that told us their stories and invited us into their lives.

The exhibition includes 26 photographers from the School of Archaeology and Anthropology and the College of Asia and Pacific.