Reimagining War Photography: Intimate and Gendered Perspectives (Online)

This seminar challenges dominant narratives of conflict photography by shifting focus away from the frontline and toward intimate, everyday experiences shaped by war. Traditionally, conflict photography has centered on spectacle, violence, and crisis, often through a male gaze. This course foregrounds the work of women photographers while also engaging a broader range of practitioners who document domestic spaces, personal histories, and gendered experiences of conflict. Through case studies from the Middle East, Latin America, East Africa, and Asia, the course examines how photographers reframe conflict through themes such as home, memory, care, displacement, and survival. Particular attention is given to how these artists navigate visibility, ethics, and representation, offering alternative ways of seeing and understanding war beyond immediate violence. Building on my previous course at ICP on contemporary photography from the Middle East, this seminar expands the conversation globally while maintaining a critical and regionally grounded perspective. My own background—growing up across Yemen, Iraq, and Libya—deeply informs this approach, shaping an understanding of conflict not only as an event, but as a lived, ongoing condition that exists within the everyday. In addition, my work as the publisher of Makan offers a perspective that connects photographic practice with the circulation and life of images through books. The seminar will incorporate photobooks—both historical and contemporary, including titles available in the ICP library—as key materials for study. By examining works produced decades ago alongside more recent publications, students will consider how images of conflict evolve over time, how narratives are shaped through sequencing and design, and how certain visual approaches continue to resonate or shift in meaning. The course will be structured around weekly discussions, visual analysis, and photobook studies, with an emphasis on close reading of images and sequencing. Students will engage with a range of practices that challenge dominant visual tropes and consider how photography can function as a space for nuance, care, and resistance. ** Detailed Syllabus available upon request.

Course Level / Prerequisite: Open to all skill levels. Students ranging from beginner to experienced will be successful in classes that are Open to All Skill Levels.

Courses are subject to minimum enrollment. Please register early, within five days of the start-date, to reduce the likelihood of course cancellation and to ensure you receive all course-related materials in time to prepare for class.

Fee Breakdown