Natasha Chuk, Photo Obscura

BFA Visual & Critical Studies and the SVA Honors Program host Natasha Chuk for a discussion of her new book, Photo Obscura: The Photographic in Post-Photography.

As images become infinite and untethered from cameras, Natasha Chuk traces the evolving influence of photography in a world saturated with digital art. Photo Obscura brings a much-needed reflection on the radical transformations of photography in the digital age, where AI, computational media, and hybrid art practices challenge traditional definitions of the photographic image. Moving beyond nostalgia for analog or the simple embrace of digital, this book positions post-photography as a movement reshaping our visual culture. It is a movement in which images may no longer look like photographs but remain deeply influenced by photography’s logic and history.

Through discussions of key artworks and a variety of artists, the book explores themes including AI-generated imagery and the blurred line between representation and perception. Grounded in art history and media studies, Photo Obscura offers a new outlook on photography’s evolving role in contemporary art. Particularly suited for students, artists, and scholars of photography, digital arts, and visual culture, this work redefines what it means to see and believe in an era of infinite images.

Natasha Chuk a media theorist, researcher, and writer focused on the relationships between art, philosophy, and technologies. She holds a PhD in Philosophy, Art and Critical Thought, an MA in Media Studies, and a BA in Cinema Studies. Her first book, Vanishing Points: Articulations of Death, Fragmentation, and the Unexperienced Experience of Created Objects (Intellect Ltd., 2015), used a media studies and visual studies approach to examine the creative use of presence and absence to imagine and encounter inexpressible experiences across film, photography, video games, and interactive art. Her writing has been published in Flat Journal, Dissect Journal, First Person Scholar, Interartive, Journal of Pervasive Media (formerly Metaverse Creativity Journal), and others. She is a recipient of the Rhizome Microgrant for writing and the Keep NYS Creating Grant (provided by NYFA in partnership with NYSCA) for her Arcade Time Machine video game art research project. She was a researcher in residence at The Strong National Museum of Play (Rochester, NY) and Signal Culture (Owego, NY), and she teach courses in the areas of film, photography, video game studies, media art, art history, and media theory at the School of Visual Arts and Parsons in New York City.

Host or Publisher Art History, Visual & Critical Studies, Honors