This second issue of the Writing with Light Magazine continues our exploration of a single theme through the shared fascinations and frustrations of photography, ethnography, and design. The View From Above began in 2018 at a workshop funded by the Wenner Gren Foundation, held in Austin, Texas. At that time collective member, Mark R. Westmoreland presented work that he and a Ghanaian collaborator, Nii Obodai, had undertaken with kite aerial photography. Mark spoke eloquently about the project and demonstrated a savvy approach to the ways in which the kite/camera assemblage broke conventions of photographic framing. Returning to those themes in this issue, we reached out to the anthropologist Alexandrine Boudreault-Fournier, who had just published her 2021 book, Aerial Imagination in Cuba: Stories from Above the Rooftops. Alexandrine offered us our second photo essay – a collaboration with Cuban poet Demián Rabileiro.

We began with the idea of focusing on landscape photography for our second issue. Over time we shifted toward aerial photography and the captivating set of relations and concepts animated by the so-called ‘vertical gaze.’ Our theme is still interested in landscapes and how the horizon line may or may not come into that equation, but by shifting to ‘the view from above’ we’ve tried to open up a space—materially and figuratively—to think more about the limits and politics of verticality and the associated ways in which perspectives and relations can be assembled and reassembled through the still image.

The two longer photo essays in this issue are complemented by an extended section of the magazine that we’ve dubbed Dynamic Range. It brings together a set of creative and critical works that offer variations on the View from Above; experimenting with the forms a photo essay might take, these interventions activate the zones where sequence, design, and analysis intersect. The spreads provide an introduction to the work of various photographers, anthropologists, and artists. Rather than aiming for exhaustive coverage, these distinct viewpoints share fascination with the undisciplined representational potential of aerial images.

The map insert at the center of the issue constitutes its own section. The affordance of an unstapled magazine inspired us to create what we have playfully referred to as our ‘centerfold.’ The folding in this case does not fold out but rather features a landscape that folds inwards and onto itself. One side of the centerfold is a hand drawn map by members of the Institute of Cartopology. The other side features instructions to turn the centerfold into a single-sheet zine by Mark R. Westmoreland. This intervention—at once graphic and material—embodies the very spirit of Writing with Light Magazine, where we celebrate experimentations in form and design that make it possible to re-imagine and re-invent the photo essay at a time when we need more spaces for critical, innovative image-driven scholarship that allows us to think about what it is that images do in a changing world.

Writing with Light Magazine, Issue no.2 The View From Above, is published both digitally and as a limited-run print edition. Our digital edition is published in partnership with the Institute for Community Engaged Research (ICER) Press.

Click here to download a free PDF version of the Magazine.

To order a print edition of the magazine, send a request by email or by using the postal system. The cost of the print magazine is $20 USD plus shipping. We accept cheque, cash, or Venmo payment made out to Craig Campbell. Our magazine is printed in high-quality digital color on 80gsm bright recycled paper stock. The images are crisp and true.

Send email requests to: craig.campbell@utexas.edu.

Send mail requests to:

Craig Campbell
Department of Anthropology
University of Texas at Austin
2201 Speedway Stop C3200
Austin TX 78712