The Traffic in Photographs
Citation
Sekula, Allan. “The Traffic in Photographs.” Art Journal 41, no. 1 (Spring 1981): 15–25.
Relevance
The foundational Marxist-materialist critique of photography as an ideological vehicle. Sekula argues that photographs carry meanings structured by the institutions that produce and circulate them, rather than by any inherent documentary truth. His analysis of mid-century humanist exhibitions — including The Family of Man — challenges the universalism that the exhibition claimed and that Steichen promoted. This essay is, along with Barthes 1957 and Sontag 1977, one of the three most-cited counter-readings in the critical reception literature on The Family of Man.
Named in CREDIBILITY.md as part of “Allan Sekula’s essays on photographic meaning” at Tier 2. Named in research/mindmap.md as “NOT in repo, named only as pointer” prior to this entry.
Key excerpts / pages
- Journal, volume, issue, page range (Art Journal 41:1, pp. 15–25): carried from the citation as it appears in secondary literature, including the task brief for issue #82. Not independently verified against a fetched copy of the article this round. JSTOR URL
https://www.jstor.org/stable/776303was attempted (2026-04-29) and returned HTTP 403; full text not retrieved. - Verbatim passages and specific page-level arguments not available in this round: JSTOR returned 403; no open-access alternative located in this session.
Notes
- Access status (2026-04-29): JSTOR URL attempted; returned 403. No alternative open-access URL located. Marked
verified: false. The journal, volume, issue, and page range (41:1, pp. 15–25) are carried from secondary citation and have not been verified against the article itself in this session. - The essay is frequently reprinted. It appears in Sekula’s collected essays Photography Against the Grain (Halifax: Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, 1984), cited in secondary literature but NOT consulted in this round.
- Cross-reference to
src-sandeen-1995: Sandeen’s study engages with Sekula’s ideological reading as a counterpoint to the exhibition’s humanist self-presentation. Cross-reference tosrc-sontag-1977(companion critical text, see 1970s entry). - Cross-reference to companion essay
src-sekula-1986(see 1980s entry): “Reading an Archive: Photography between Labour and Capital,” Block 10 (1986): 4–7, extends the same theoretical framework. - Perspective: Marxist / materialist critique. Widely cited in the reception literature alongside Barthes 1957 as a foundational ideological counter-reading to the exhibition’s universalism (assessment of relative weight not independently verified this round).
- Sandeen 1995 is the anchor for contextualizing this critique within the specific reception history of The Family of Man.