SHUTTER BUTTON AND TRIGGER: ART OF PHOTOGRAPHY AND DEATH

In this article, relationship between art of photography and the concept of death is investigated and the role of this relationship in the art history is discussed. This aspect of the art of photography is investigated through the concepts of shutter button and trigger, as metaphor. Shutter button represents the invention of the art of photography and modern art. As is known, after the invention of the photography, the progress of modern art has changed. Shutter button is considered as an explanatory concept when the impacts of the art of photography in modern art are concerned. The concept of trigger represents death and destruction, war, development of weapons and mechanization in modern era. From this point forth, the trigger is considered as a symbol of destructive aspects of the modernist developments. On the other hand, trigger and shutter button are used as a conceptualization which represents fragmentation of the image in modern art, generally in text. The subject is discussed in a way that reveals the relationship between the art of photography and death, from the invention of the camera to today. In the article, relationship between art and death is explained with the ideas of thinkers such as Vilem Flusser, Roland Barthes and WalterBenjamin.