Spatial Stories: Photographic Practices and Urban Belonging

Photographs can reflect the excitement, calm, vitality, decay, alienation, and intimacy of urban environments, yet they not only record the city, they create it. To demonstrate this point, I analyze photographs by Alioune Bâ, a Malian, and Zwelethu Mthethwa, a South African. These images, though void of human beings, address the urban realities of movement, migration, and labor. I frame this analysis with the spatial theorizing of Michel de Certeau, who posited that individuals' everyday practices (such as photographing) are significant for understanding the invention of spaces (such as cities and the meanings they embody). Ultimately, I argue, the city as the content of these photographs intersects with the city as a context for them, creating a sense of place and engendering a discourse of belonging.