Placial

Membrana – Journal of Photography Theory and Visual Culture, vol. 10

Abstract

The adjective “placial” signals our connection as well as our preoccupation with places. Like “spatial,” which refers to the characteristics of space, “placial” encompasses place-bound qualities and place-based experiences. It underscores how we make places and how places, in turn, make us; it marks our individual relationality and collective positionality in place-worlds. However, due to the lack of sources that define placial properties, this notion has rarely been discussed in relation to visual culture and photography. By surveying primarily geographical debates about the concept of place, the article puts forward six specific placial features in this paper, namely materiality, sociality, affectivity, temporality, eventementality and perpetuity. In doing so, the article pursues three aims: first, to clarify the adjective “placial” through a geographical exploration of the concept of place; second, to outline the potentials of the six placial qualities for photography; and, third, to foreground the questions and challenges the term poses for visual culture at large.

Authors 1

1. Ali Shobeiri corresponding Aachen

   Leiden University

   Affiliation as printed

   Leiden University, Netherlands