Salon
The Reading the Pictures Salon: Looking at Key Images from Campaign 2024
On October 22, 2024, at the ICP Campus in New York City, leading experts gathered to decode an edit of powerful images from the historic 2024 presidential campaign. This salon examined how photography captured and shaped the unprecedented race between Vice President Harris and Donald Trump, exploring themes of democracy, gender, race, and truth in American politics.
In the closing weeks of this critical and grueling campaign season, Reading the Pictures convened some of the sharpest minds in visual analysis to examine select photographs that defined the electoral narrative. The panel illuminated the visual strategies, symbolic messaging, and cultural dynamics that characterized this momentous political contest.
Our distinguished panel brought together diverse expertise in visual culture, political communication, and photojournalism:
Moderator: Cara Finnegan, Professor of Communication at the University of Illinois, specializing in photography as a tool for public life. Karrin Vasby Anderson, Professor of Communication Studies at Colorado State University, with expertise in rhetoric and political and gender communication. Nicole Fleetwood, an art historian, a MacArthur Fellow, and the James Weldon Johnson Professor at NYU, focusing on art history and mass incarceration, Gail Fletcher, photo editor and producer at The Guardian, and Michael Shaw, a clinical psychologist and the founder and publisher of Reading the Pictures with over twenty years of experience studying, writing, and lecturing about visual politics and media literacy.
This Reading the Pictures Salon is sponsored by The International Center for Photography (ICP).
Highlight Clips
Salutes and Symbolism: Race, Gender, and Presidential Authority
Anchored by Dr. Karrin Anderson and Gail Fletcher, the discussion of the photo covers several key themes: the importance of appearing presidential for female candidates, the significance of military respect and protocol (exemplified by the salute), the visual representation of gender role disruption (particularly regarding Doug Emhoff's positioning), and the intersection of race and gender in political imagery. The conversation also emphasizes how the image adheres to traditional presidential photography conventions while challenging established norms through Harris's identity as a woman of color.
Watch NowPhoto: Erin SCHAFF / POOL / AFP via Getty Images
Caption: US Vice President Kamala Harris, with Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff (R, top), salutes as she descends from Air Force Two at Delaware National Air Guard base in New Castle, Delaware, on July 22, 2024. Harris is set to meet campaign staff in Wilmington the day after Joe Biden’s exit from the 2024 race.
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Cara Finnegan is a writer, photo historian, and professor of Communication at the University of Illinois. She has been affiliated with Reading The Pictures for nearly 15 years, most recently as co-host of Chatting The Pictures. Her most recent book is Photographic Presidents: Making History from Daguerreotype to Digital.
Professor of Communication Studies at Colorado State University, with expertise in rhetoric and political and gender communication.
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