Exposing the Nation: Histories of Photography in Chile, 1860-1960
Is photography a Eurocentric practice that others its subjects? In Exposing the Nation, Matthias Pfaller makes the case with a review of a national historiography of photography and images produced in Chile over the course of a century. There are multiple photographies, and they have a variety of uses: science, politics, tourism, family traditions, ethnology, art. They appear in a diverse array of media: government albums, family albums, mass-produced postcards, exhibition prints, scientific records, and published books. Pfaller demonstrates the versatility of photography on the one hand, and the ways in which the national paradigm and modern historiography influenced the production and reception of photographic images on the other. It becomes clear that “national photography” is not a genre of its own, manifest solely in specific discourses. Rather, the nation, photography, and history are meta-discourses that pervade the very idea of Chile as represented through photography and the photographic image.
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Exposing the Nation: Histories of Photography in Chile, 1860-1960
Is photography a Eurocentric practice that others its subjects? In Exposing the Nation, Matthias Pfaller makes the case with a review of a national historiography of photography and images produced in Chile over the course of a century. There are multiple photographies, and they have a variety of uses: science, politics, tourism, family traditions, ethnology, art. They appear in a diverse array of media: government albums, family albums, mass-produced postcards, exhibition prints, scientific records, and published books. Pfaller demonstrates the versatility of photography on the one hand, and the ways in which the national paradigm and modern historiography influenced the production and reception of photographic images on the other. It becomes clear that “national photography” is not a genre of its own, manifest solely in specific discourses. Rather, the nation, photography, and history are meta-discourses that pervade the very idea of Chile as represented through photography and the photographic image.
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Exposing the Nation: Histories of Photography in Chile, 1860-1960

Exposing the Nation: Histories of Photography in Chile, 1860-1960

by Matthias Pfaller
Exposing the Nation: Histories of Photography in Chile, 1860-1960

Exposing the Nation: Histories of Photography in Chile, 1860-1960

by Matthias Pfaller

eBook

$40.00 
Available for Pre-Order. This item will be released on January 20, 2026

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Overview

Is photography a Eurocentric practice that others its subjects? In Exposing the Nation, Matthias Pfaller makes the case with a review of a national historiography of photography and images produced in Chile over the course of a century. There are multiple photographies, and they have a variety of uses: science, politics, tourism, family traditions, ethnology, art. They appear in a diverse array of media: government albums, family albums, mass-produced postcards, exhibition prints, scientific records, and published books. Pfaller demonstrates the versatility of photography on the one hand, and the ways in which the national paradigm and modern historiography influenced the production and reception of photographic images on the other. It becomes clear that “national photography” is not a genre of its own, manifest solely in specific discourses. Rather, the nation, photography, and history are meta-discourses that pervade the very idea of Chile as represented through photography and the photographic image.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780822992103
Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press
Publication date: 01/20/2026
Series: Illuminations
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook

About the Author

Matthias Pfaller is assistant curator of photographs at the Musée National d’Art Moderne de Paris, Centre Georges Pompidou.
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