The internet does not adhere to the inherent, necessary asymmetry of high-versus-low-art categorizations that we use in the cultural sector: in a banal sense, all photographs on the Web are orphans ready to be claimed.
Charlotte CottonPhotography is, and has been since its conception, a fabulously broad church. Contemporary practice demonstrates that the medium can be a prompt, a process, a vehicle, a collective pursuit, and not just the physical end product of solitary artists' endeavors.
Charlotte CottonPhotography's relationship with pornography is as old as photography. That kind of unholy relationship is formed from the very beginning, and there's a reason why: it's thoroughly enjoyable to be that voyeuristic. Voyeurism is a very old modality, and most of the history of photography is in some way related voyeurism.
Charlotte CottonI think that the role of curating an exhibition is to reanimate history and make it relevant to a contemporary viewer.
Charlotte CottonI love bells, clocks, watches - and I recall that at first photographic implements were related to techniques of cabinetmaking and the machinery of precision: cameras, in short, were clocks for seeing.
Charlotte CottonWe are not only a civilization of amateur photographers; we are amateur curators, editors, and publishers.
Charlotte CottonIn an era where digital or virtual is the default, the actual coming together into a physical space has to be an experience that you don't want to miss.
Charlotte CottonThere's something quite magical that can happen when a secret is no longer a secret - or is a shared secret or a common secret. By allowing those boundaries to be porous, certain forms of oppression may be lifted.
Charlotte CottonMore platform-sensitive generations will make distinctions between online and in-person intimacy, whereas fourteen-year-olds have very nuanced online selves and might embody their virtual identity in the physical, analogue version of themselves. They have a much more pluralistic understanding of the self. I don't think we'd be here now in this amazing sexual and gender revolution without the online space where young people can see and share other versions of identity and sexuality.
Charlotte CottonThe limitation of the vlog format is that it may seem to give people enough, when they actually have no real autonomy.
Charlotte CottonI have to admit to you, I am the person who's done probably the least analysis on the selfie, because it's a bit like pornography for me. It's this masturbatory, repetitive act that I'd rather wasn't part of my routine.
Charlotte Cotton