This dissertation studies a quiet but enormous cultural phenomenon that arose in the Soviet Union during the difficult years following World War II: amateur family photography. In the wake of enormous trauma and deprivation, millions of Soviet citizens picked up cameras and began to create images of their lives and environments. In doing so, I argue, they participated in a global trend in a specifically Soviet way.
This project begins by establishing the rise of a domestic camera industry, which was the production base that allowed for the massive growth of Soviet amateur photography. Next, I examine how official cultural and economic institutions encouraged, discouraged, and reacted to the rising population of photographers. I then pivot to the work of amateur photographers themselves, exploring their self-representation through three vantage points. First, I trace some of the first mass Soviet amateur photographers: Red Army soldiers. Next, I examine family snapshot photography in Soviet Russia from 1945 to 1956. Finally, I focus on the personal photography of Russian and ex-Soviet displaced persons camps in Germany following the war. Through these three perspectives, I argue that Soviet and ex-Soviet amateur photographers created a new, unique visual language, interpreting their lives through their cameras.
This dissertation seeks to answer two main questions. First, why did the Soviet state, in the wake of World War II and amid widespread shortage and famine, consistently expand camera supply and fuel a boom in amateur photography? Second, what sorts of photos did Soviet amateur photographers take, and how can they deepen our understanding of post-war Soviet culture? I argue that the Soviet state invested in cameras initially as a military technology, with the camera evolving into a consumer good over the course of the war and its aftermath. With their new cameras in hand, amateur photographers took photographs much like their international counterparts, highlighting their private lives and using common visual cliches to stage and set individuals as the focus of their images.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:columbia.edu/oai:academiccommons.columbia.edu:10.7916/qz7x-sh85 |
| Date | January 2024 |
| Creators | Goetz, Jennifer Beth |
| Source Sets | Columbia University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Theses |
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