Repeat Photography, Rephotography and the Redesign of the Riverscape

Abstract

This article focuses on the ways in which the environment is pictured in an industrial archive in Sweden, and how the use of photography is implicated in the industrialization of rivers. The fluid nature of landscapes, the role of landscape and colonialism connected to photography in Sweden is considered through a selection of archival photographs from log driving industry. The article centers around the case example of photographs from the Ljusnan log-driving archive. Rephotographic tendencies surface, and this article argues that repeat photography is used in the documentation of and redesign of the landscape. The terms repeat photography and rephotography are discussed and clarified. This research acknowledges rephotography for industrial purposes in contrast to environmental goals, suggesting that industrial photographic archives can provide a starting point for new narratives of places of environmental change and extractive industry.