Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
POLITICAL SPACE AND SOCIAL TIME: DIGITALIZATION OF POWER / ПОЛИТИЧЕСКОЕ ПРОСТРАНСТВО И СОЦИАЛЬНОЕ ВРЕМЯ: ЦИФРОВИЗАЦИЯ ВЛАСТИ И ВЫЗОВЫ ВИРТУАЛЬНОЙ ПОВСЕДНЕВНОСТИAND THE CHALLENGES OF VIRTUAL EVERYDAY LIFE, Sivastopol, Rusya, 12 - 15 Kasım 2025, ss.38-41, (Tam Metin Bildiri)
Photography albums belonging to royal and
noble families became widespread in Europe from the 19th century onwards and
gradually spread to other countries around the world. Compared to visual
representations and paintings from earlier periods, the introduction of photography
into our lives is known to have brought about a significant change in terms of
the reproduction, dissemination and dynamism of images. Royal families and
noble families created their own family albums and circulated these images
among themselves and a wider audience in order to establish social legitimacy.
Thus, the members of royal families and the upper classes, their family life,
daily duties and activities became visible to the wider public, their
lifestyles were imitated, starting with the upper classes, and invented
traditions were established. Equally important, by reflecting their lifestyles,
behaviors, and dress codes, they aimed to legitimize their existence in
bourgeois society and among the masses by giving meaning to their own existence
through human and everyday habits.
My work focuses specifically on how social
memory was formed and disseminated through photographs during a particular
period in Crete. This specific period corresponds to the transition period,
historically speaking, when the island of Crete separated from Ottoman rule and
united with the Kingdom of Greece. The study focuses on the social memory
created by specific photographers between 1898 and 1906, when Prince George was
appointed High Commissioner to the island and held this position.
Prince George wished to document his
official visits and daily activities during his early years on the island. This
period was primarily recorded by his official photographer, Perikles
Diamantopulos, and the photographs taken were compiled into an album. This
valuable documentation, which bears witness to the years when the island was
undergoing a period of political transition, constitutes a historical record.
On the other hand, in the context of
Prince George's album, I believe it would be useful to compare the political
and symbolic function of royal family albums, their forms of creation, and the
dissemination of these images with other, more well-known examples. One of the
main theses that this study seeks to demonstrate through this case study
concerns the importance, from the perspective of historians, political
scientists and memory studies, of what visual materials tell us, show us and
conceal in terms of visual culture and politics.