Christa Olson, Author at Reading The Pictures

Christa Olson Photo May 4, 2016

There [Won’t] Be Blood: On the Newsweek Tampon Cover

Here’s the essential product, yes, but apparently even that reminder that most women bleed once a month is sufficiently risky.

Christa Olson Photo April 3, 2016

Abortion and Breastfeeding: Both Part of the Ordinary Life of Ordinary Women

Reviewing these photographs while feeding my own newborn, I am reminded that reproductive rights are a crucial part of women balancing work and family.

Christa Olson Photo February 3, 2016

Has Banksy Approach Run its Course? Future of Images as Tools for Public Argument

From one sad graffiti stencil to the political power and future of visual events.

Christa Olson Photo December 7, 2015

“Game Changing” Pirelli Calendar Still Exists to Sell Tires to Men

Photographed by Annie Leibovitz, the Pirelli calendar still leads with nakedness, privileges whiteness, and assumes that men are always, inevitably the primary viewers.

Media & Culture Photo November 5, 2015

Posing the Dead with their Vices: Media Fascination a Matter of Race?

These photographs quickly turn from mementos into scenes in which national audiences view the short, sordid lives of others.

Christa Olson Photo September 24, 2015

From D.C., and The Atlantic / Echosight Project: Mashing the American Dream

In this complex photograph, we see threads of American exceptionalism as well as reaching on the Washington Mall.

Christa Olson Photo June 23, 2015

I Wanted to Like that NYT Photo Essay About Growing up with Gay Parents

As a parent viewing the photo essay, I felt a rush of defensiveness and worry. As a visual scholar, I wanted to understand why.

Christa Olson Photo April 28, 2015

Volcanic Exceptionalism: Why America Treats Every Disturbance Abroad Like it’s Looking in a Mirror

People from the United States have been looking at South American volcanoes and seeing them as metaphors for what’s happening at home for at least one hundred and fifty years.