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The Incandescence of Photography: On Abjection, Fulguration, and the Corpse

2019; State University of New York; Volume: 9; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/phi.2019.0021

2155-0891

Mariana Ortega,

Literature, Film, and Journalism Analysis

Inspired by the Kristevan notion of abjection and her view of the corpse as the "most sickening of wastes," I propose a notion of photographic incandescence—the affective and carnal possibility of a photograph to undo the self. I first discuss the notion of abjection and its relation to incandescence and explore how this incandescence is connected to Kristeva's view of the corpse. Second, I discuss the notion of photographic incandescence in light of an analysis of Susan Meiselas's photograph, Cuesta del Plomo, and Roland Barthes's notions of piercing and fulguration. Finally, I engage Gloria Anzaldúa's practice of putting Coyolxauhqui together in its attempt to "re-member" the self through the act of creativity, an experience not without pain or the possibility of failure and unreconcilable carnal excess.