Women in Photography: Practitioners, Labourers, Entrepreneurs in a Global Perspective (1839–1939)

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE 

An International Conference to Rewrite the History of Women’s Role in Photography

The international conference Women in Photography: Practitioners, Labourers, Entrepreneurs in a Global Perspective (1839–1939) will take place on 20–21 November 2025 at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera in Milan. The event marks the conclusion of the PRIN 2022 PNRR NextGenerationEU project “Fotografiste: Women in Photography from Italian Archives, 1839–1939”, jointly promoted by the IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca and the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera.

The conference is coordinated by an international scientific committee composed of Linda Bertelli (IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca), Costanza Caraffa (Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz), Patrizia Di Bello (Birkbeck College, London), Malavika Karlekar (Centre for Women’s Development Studies, New Delhi), Nicoletta Leonardi (Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera, Milan), Kylie Thomas (University College Cork), and Akram Zaatari (artist and filmmaker). The international conference represents a moment of synthesis and renewal in a two-year research project aiming to shed light on the presence and work of women in the field of photography.

Why are there so few women in the history of photography?

Several studies have highlighted the obstacles that have limited women’s recognition and success in photography, as well as the ideological underpinnings of historiography that have often rendered them invisible within dominant narratives. Despite recent research, women’s roles in the history of photography remain underexplored—particularly during the period from the invention of the medium, around 1839, to the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939.

The conference aims to restore visibility to the work of women who, during the first century of photography, played a crucial role in its development. Its goal is to rediscover identities and trajectories through the lens of feminist studies, bringing to light forgotten or overlooked figures and reexamining historical narratives traditionally centered on male photographers and enterprises.

The initiative brings together scholars from universities and institutions around the world—including Birkbeck College, University of London, Princeton University, University of British Columbia, EHESS (Paris), University College Cork, Jawaharlal Nehru University, and many others—to reflect, from transnational, interdisciplinary, and gender perspectives, on women’s roles in photography, restoring visibility to shadowed figures and redefining the historical narrative in a global context.

Over two days, six thematic sessions will address the key issues of this emerging historiography. Discussions will explore women’s educational training and professional paths between the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, highlighting how they built careers despite the social constraints of their time. A significant portion of the program will focus on invisible labour and women’s participation in the photographic industry—often omitted from official credits, yet essential to the production and dissemination of photographic images. Other panels will delve into networks of collaboration, women-run studios, female participation in colonial and postcolonial contexts, and professional strategies developed across countries and continents. Special attention will also be given to archival sources and the use of digital humanities as tools to rediscover forgotten figures and uncover connections among photographic histories, places, and practices.

The program will also feature a poster session for early-career researchers, presenting original studies on archives, studios, and women photographers in Italy, Europe, Asia, and the Americas.

Alongside the academic sessions, the first day will conclude with a presentation on the activities and archive of the Libreria delle donne di Milano, followed by a social dinner at the same venue.

On the evening of 21 November, from 6:30 p.m. to 7:15 p.m., the conference will close with Things that Death Cannot Destroy (Part 11), a performance with magic lanterns and voice by artist Linda Fregni Nagler.

Linda Fregni Nagler’s work invites the audience on an encyclopedic journey into the past. The projection, conceived as a cadavre exquis, unfolds through unexpected visual associations, reactivating an archive of photographic images from diverse sources—from natural history to journalism, from anthropology to devotional imagery—revealing a vision of the world as represented by modernity. The sequence of glass slides, drawn from the artist’s own collection, spans from the late nineteenth to the early twentieth century. Using two original magic lanterns, the artist and performers will bring this vast visual repertoire to life through live readings of captions, archival notes, numbers, codes, and period copyrights, offering a re-staging and recontextualization of this extraordinary visual heritage.

Practical Information

Admission: Free, with prior registration at https://forms.gle/ZBWGeNmn47sUwqtu6

Performance with magic lanterns and voice:
Linda Fregni Nagler – Things that Death Cannot Destroy (Part 11)

Admission: Free, with prior registration at https://forms.gle/uyxiLvqN5xymGxaFA

The conference will be held in English and streamed live on the official channel of the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera. It will also be promoted through the social media of the participating institutions and the Fotografiste project.

Information: www.fotografiste.com
Email: comunicazione@fadbrera.edu.it | ufficiostampa@imtlucca.it