photographic codes that was advocated by Barthes.
Sekula aims not merely to pay close attention to the
relationship between the signifier and the signified
but to make it problematic.
Problematising is the collective aim of work
assembled in his first bookPhotography against the
Grain(1984), which also takes its cue from Walter
Benjamin: the notion that mechanically reproduced
and therefore mass-circulated images are a form of
currency. As currency they are so commonplace that
their role in the reinforcement of capitalism that
sustains monopolies in education, politics, and other
realms, is overlooked. Although it is not possible to
photograph ideology, Sekula argues that any pho-
tograph can be decoded to reveal an encoded ideol-
ogy. Sekula cites Martha Rosler, Philip Steinmetz,
Fred Lonidier, and Chauncey Hare as photographers
and artists he admires for their ideologically self-con-
scious handling of image and text.
Anticipating the labelling of such work as joy-
less, he rails against the ‘‘fun police,’’ for there is
work to be done, and there is pleasure to be had
from it. It is a matter for debate whether this stance
acquires piquancy or loses credibility by virtue of
being presented in the display modes of the art
world—exhibitions, catalogues, art books. That
world, as Sekula argues, is a construct of modern-
ity, and stems, like modernity itself, from a divide
between ‘‘mental’’ and ‘‘manual’’ labor, the funda-
mental socialist political-economic analysis to
which Sekula remains committed.
Sketch for a Geography Lesson(1983),Geography
Lesson: Canadian Notes(1986), andFish Story(1995)
constitute a trilogy in which texts and images consider
actual and imaginary geographies in a world where
both have been determined by advanced capitalism.
Sekula aims to make his reader seethe truth of
this assertion. His pictures make correspondences
between nickel mining in Sudbury, the architecture
of the Bank of Canada, derelict shipyards from Cali-
fornia to Clydeside, and international container ship-
ping. These things all play a role in the global
undermining or perversion of relationships among
natural resources, manufactured goods, labor, and
profit. Sekula’s anthologyDismal Science: Photo
Works 1972–1996(1999) reconfigured earlier projects
with the more recent ones, all characterized by the
same stern eye, critical acumen, wit, and empathy for
the oppressed and under-represented. These themes
are continued inDeep Six/Passer au bleu(2001): the
global movement of commodities fostering the illu-
sion of production without labor, the traces of capit-
alism’s advance left on ordinary lives and places.
CharlotteTownsend-GaultSeealso:Barthes, Roland; Burgin, Victor; Conceptual
Photography; Modernism; Photographic ‘‘Truth’’;
Postmodernism; Rosler, Martha; SemioticsBiography
Born in Erie, Pennsylvania, 1951. Attended University of
California, San Diego, B.A. and M.F.A., 1968–1974.
Taught at New York University, 1980–1981; Ohio
State University, 1981–1984; Cal Arts, 1985–present;
Visiting Professor, University of California in Los
Angeles, 1988. National Endowment for the Art, Art
Critic’s Fellowship, 1977; National Endowment for the
Arts, Artist’s Fellowship, 1978; National Endowment
for the Arts, Art Critic’s Fellowship, 1980; Ohio Arts
Council, Art Critic’s Fellowship, 1982; Ohio Arts Coun-
cil, Photographer’s Fellowship, 1984; Fellow, John
Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, 1986; Visit-
ing Senior Fellow, Center for Advanced Studies in
Visual Arts, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.
C., 1986; Getty Scholar, Getty Institute for the History
of Art and the Humanities, 1993; Deutscher Akade-
mischer Austausdient (DAAD), Berlin, 1997; Getty
Scholar, Getty Institute for the History of Art and the
Humanities, 1997; Getty Lecturer, University of South-
ern California, 1997; Calder Studio Residence, Sache,
France, 1998. Living in Los Angeles.Individual Exhibitions
1974 Brand Library Art Center; Glendale, California
1984 Photography Against the Grain; Folkwang Museum;
Essen, Germany (traveled to Werkstatt fu ̈r Photografie,
Berlin, Germany; fotoforum im Kunstlerhaus, Stuttgart,
Germany; Hochschule fu ̈r Bildende Kunst, Hamburg,
Germany)
1985 San Francisco Camerawork; San Francisco, California
1987 Forum Stadtpark; Graz, Austria
1989 Geography Lesson: Canadian Notes; Institute of Con-
temporary Art; Boston, Massachusetts (traveled to Los
Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, Los Angeles, Cali-
fornia; A Space, Toronto, Ontario; P.S. 1, Long Island
City, New York; Amelie Wallace Gallery, State Univer-
sity of New York, Old Westbury, New York; Washing-
ton Project for the Arts, Washington, D.C.; Mendel Art
Gallery, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan; Art Gallery of
Windsor, Windsor, Ontario; Western Front and Van-
couver Art Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia)
1991 Vancouver Art Gallery; Vancouver, British Columbia
1993 University Art Museum; Berkeley, California
1995 Aerospace Folktales and Canadian Notes; Vancouver
Art Gallery; Vancouver, British Columbia
1996 Museum Boijmans-van Beuningen; Rotterdam, The
Netherlands
Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art; Rotter-
dam, The Netherlands; (traveled to Moderna Museet,
Stockholm, Sweden; Tramway, Glasgow, Scotland; Le
Channel and Musee ́ des Beaux-Arts, Calais, France;
Santa Monica Museum of Art, Santa Monica, California)
1998 Dismal Science: Photo Works 1972–1996; University
Galleries; Illinois State University, Normal, Illinois (trav-
eled to Palmer Museum, Pennsylvania State University,
State College, Pennsylvania; daadgalerie, Berlin, Germany;
Camerawork, London, England; Nederlands Foto Insti-SEKULA, ALLAN