Sip & Learn -Visualizing the Unseen: Occult Photography

Photography is often treated as something that captures reality as it is. But from its earliest days, it has also been used to show things that were never there at all.

In this lecture, we explore the history of occult photography, where images of spirits, UFOs, and unseen forces were created and presented as proof. Moving from the late 19th century to today, the lecture follows three case studies that show how photography has been shaped by debates around realism and illusion.

You’ll be introduced to examples of spirit photography, séance images, and UFO sightings, and see how these photographs were made, why people believed them, and what they reveal about the limits of photographic truth.

Madalyn K. Shaw is a PhD student in Art History at the University of Toronto whose research focuses on occult photography and visual culture, including work on UFO imagery and mid-twentieth century photographic practices.

Sip & Learn is a lecture series hosted in bars across Toronto where people come to have a drink, learn something new, and engage with ideas outside what they do for work every day.

Agenda
5:30 PM – Doors open. Seating is first come, first served
7:00 PM – Lecture begins, followed by Q&A
8:15 PM – One on one time with the speaker and wrap up

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Host or Publisher Sip and Learn Toronto