176 Eva Castringius
was there, proceed radiations which ultimately touch me, who am here; the
duration of the transmission is insignificant; the photograph of the missing
being […] will touch me like the delayed rays of a star.” 4 In his observations,
he traces the appearance of his mother back to an “emanation” revealed in the
photograph. Barthes employs the metaphor of the light ray that reproduces
the “missing being” of his mother. The image of his mother in his memory is
updated and represents a bridge from the past to the present. 5
Much like Roland Barthes, in their reflections on the theory of the photograph, various authors have described the photographic image as the result
of the imprint of the object and thus immediately connect the trace to the
photographic process. 6 They advocate the view that the material relationship
of object and support clarifies the essence of photography. The production of
traces is regarded as the true photographic process.
Clearly, the photographic traces described leave something enduring
behind, which becomes the indicator or index. The media theorist Marry
Anne Doane sums it up accordingly: “The footprint, the weathercock, the
photographic image—all testify to the fact that the referent was present and
left its legible trace directly in the representation.” 7
Especially in the context of radioactive radiation, this trace paradigm takes
on new weight. The author and artist Susan Schuppli underscores the film
material’s testimony by means of the radioactive ray contracting the film negative. She uses the term “material witness” and says of it: “the violence out of
which the image emerges is directly encoded in the image as the very means
by which it comes into the world.” 8 Elsewhere, in connection with the history of the nuclear era, she writes: “the radiological contact print is immanent to and continuous with the event.” 9 For Schuppli, the images of the first
test of an atomic bomb in the New Mexico desert on July 16, 1945, already
contain later international tests of atomic bombs as well as nuclear accidents
such as Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima.
Testimonies to the Material
These so-called indexical 10 properties of photography as a medium of the
imprint or trace are well suited to the manifestation of the electromagnetic
tradition in general and radioactive radiation in particular. Early discourses
on photography already show the close connection between the photographic
image and its materiality. In the case of William Henry Fox Talbot, in his
Pencil of Nature of 1844, it is the sun that is depicted on the photographic
plate. In the case of the physicist Henri Becquerel in 1897, it is uranium salts
inscribing their radioactivity. 11
Unlike the light ray, radioactive radiation is invisible to the naked eye. It
is manifested in the photographic negative as overexposure, 12 and depending
on the photographic technique, it depicts itself. The chemical emulsion of
the film of the negative reacts to the radioactive radiation, making its presence visible. In documentary photography, which depicts social, cultural, and
was there, proceed radiations which ultimately touch me, who am here; the
duration of the transmission is insignificant; the photograph of the missing
being […] will touch me like the delayed rays of a star.” 4 In his observations,
he traces the appearance of his mother back to an “emanation” revealed in the
photograph. Barthes employs the metaphor of the light ray that reproduces
the “missing being” of his mother. The image of his mother in his memory is
updated and represents a bridge from the past to the present. 5
Much like Roland Barthes, in their reflections on the theory of the photograph, various authors have described the photographic image as the result
of the imprint of the object and thus immediately connect the trace to the
photographic process. 6 They advocate the view that the material relationship
of object and support clarifies the essence of photography. The production of
traces is regarded as the true photographic process.
Clearly, the photographic traces described leave something enduring
behind, which becomes the indicator or index. The media theorist Marry
Anne Doane sums it up accordingly: “The footprint, the weathercock, the
photographic image—all testify to the fact that the referent was present and
left its legible trace directly in the representation.” 7
Especially in the context of radioactive radiation, this trace paradigm takes
on new weight. The author and artist Susan Schuppli underscores the film
material’s testimony by means of the radioactive ray contracting the film negative. She uses the term “material witness” and says of it: “the violence out of
which the image emerges is directly encoded in the image as the very means
by which it comes into the world.” 8 Elsewhere, in connection with the history of the nuclear era, she writes: “the radiological contact print is immanent to and continuous with the event.” 9 For Schuppli, the images of the first
test of an atomic bomb in the New Mexico desert on July 16, 1945, already
contain later international tests of atomic bombs as well as nuclear accidents
such as Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima.
Testimonies to the Material
These so-called indexical 10 properties of photography as a medium of the
imprint or trace are well suited to the manifestation of the electromagnetic
tradition in general and radioactive radiation in particular. Early discourses
on photography already show the close connection between the photographic
image and its materiality. In the case of William Henry Fox Talbot, in his
Pencil of Nature of 1844, it is the sun that is depicted on the photographic
plate. In the case of the physicist Henri Becquerel in 1897, it is uranium salts
inscribing their radioactivity. 11
Unlike the light ray, radioactive radiation is invisible to the naked eye. It
is manifested in the photographic negative as overexposure, 12 and depending
on the photographic technique, it depicts itself. The chemical emulsion of
the film of the negative reacts to the radioactive radiation, making its presence visible. In documentary photography, which depicts social, cultural, and