Ordinary and Extraordinary Images: Making Visible the Operations of Stock Photography in Posters Against the Repeal of the 8th Amendment

Ann Curran

doi:10.20897/femenc/11751

Abstract

The operations of stock photographs, as utilised by the Irish anti-abortion lobby, have not been examined before. Many of the ‘Vote No’ posters in the 2018 Irish referendum campaign on the 8th amendment maintained a visual and textual focus on foetal personhood: asking the Irish electorate to ‘love both,’ while deploying a range of stock photographs. In this article, I trace specific stock images used on anti-abortion posters against Repeal back to their online image bank sources. I make visible the role of generic or stereotypical photographs in anti-abortion messaging, in the knowledge that stock photographs often function best when masking their ideologies as ‘natural’ systems of belief. As global anti-abortion campaigns increasingly co-opt the arguments and look of ‘progressive’ campaigns, using ordinary rather than extraordinary photographs, global image banks seek new markets by producing feminist and gender rights-oriented stock photographs. Meanwhile, versions of the ‘classical’ images in the visual repertoire long-favoured by anti-abortion campaigns continue to be remediated. Image banks also function as de facto online archives of editorial photographs of both pro-choice and pro-life activism - yet another facet of the role of stock photography in the visual economy of abortion.

Highlights

These images are ubiquitous, they are so unexceptional that our encounters with them have no duration, and are not marked off as noteworthy events or experiences (Frosh, 2003: 1).The role of stock photography 1 in anti-abortion messaging by the ‘Vote No’ side during the 2018 Irish referendum campaign on the 8th amendment is, I would argue, noteworthy
Paul Frosh asks if it is possible to move beyond the standard critique of stock photography as a ‘malign cultural power,’ to pay closer attention to the images themselves, our habituation to them and how they signify in terms of publicness, visibility and engagement (Frosh, 2020: 7)
What can we learn about the role of photography in anti-abortion discourses by tracing the stock photographs on ‘Vote No’ posters during the Irish referendum back to their ‘origins’ on image banks? And can we speculate about the impact of such often undervalued generic images more broadly in relation to the issue of abortion, while image banks and stock photography corporations simultaneously co-opt feminist discourses on gender and women’s rights for greater financial gain?

Summary

INTRODUCTION

These images are ubiquitous, they are so unexceptional that our encounters with them have no duration, and are not marked off as noteworthy events or experiences (Frosh, 2003: 1). The role of stock photography 1 in anti-abortion messaging by the ‘Vote No’ side during the 2018 Irish referendum campaign on the 8th amendment is, I would argue, noteworthy. An updated and more expansive approach to using stock photography by anti-abortion organisations in Ireland was notable in the 2012 to 2013 multi-sited poster and billboard campaign mounted by pro-life organisation Youth Defence. Lorna O’Hara argues that one can interpret the Irish struggle for reproductive rights as ‘a battle over access to public space,’ given that until recently ‘pro-life groups completely dominated public spaces with their posters and advertisements, attempting to control public discourse about abortion’ (O’Hara, 2020: 166) Posters had both symbolic and cultural value for Yes and No sides in the 2018 campaign. What can we learn about the role of photography in anti-abortion discourses by tracing the stock photographs on ‘Vote No’ posters during the Irish referendum back to their ‘origins’ on image banks? What can we learn about the role of photography in anti-abortion discourses by tracing the stock photographs on ‘Vote No’ posters during the Irish referendum back to their ‘origins’ on image banks? And can we speculate about the impact of such often undervalued generic images more broadly in relation to the issue of abortion, while image banks and stock photography corporations simultaneously co-opt feminist discourses on gender and women’s rights for greater financial gain?

A BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO IRISH ABORTION POLITICS

CONCLUSION