Art + Science

Writing at the Intersection of Art and Science

Photography and the Feelings of Others: From Mirroring Emotions to the Theory of Mind

Photography and the Feelings of Others: From Mirroring Emotions to the Theory of Mind

Our ability to identify with and imagine someone else’s point of view is deeply ingrained into the architecture of our brain. Photography plays a unique role in triggering the network of brain regions that underlie empathy. To understand how photographs activate the aforementioned brain network, it’s first necessary to deconstruct emotional processing into simpler components. In this article I’ll describe the brain regions that support one of the most fundamental social skills that humans have: that of imitation.

Read More
Instagram and Anxiety of the Photographer – Part III

Instagram and Anxiety of the Photographer – Part III

Over the past few years, iPhoneography has created a new form of photography that has and will continue to re-structure how we interface with technology, gather and generate data, and how we create narratives. iPhone (and similar smartphone) users employ mobile photography to disseminate mass amounts of information, to subvert cultural institutions, and for political rallying. These behaviors parallel the same strategies of the radical Avant-Garde art movements of the 20th century.

Read More