Misinformation

 Lindsay Murphy, [winner of the Miss Victoria competition] : H38849/5559

We often think of photographs as truthful records or evidence of moments in time. But ever since photography was invented, it has tricked the eye, influenced perceptions and even changed the way we understand history. Today, with rapidly advancing technology, AI-generated images, filtered photos and deepfakes blur the line between fantasy and reality even further.  

Use the links below to further explore the increasingly complex relationship between photography, beauty and truth.

Find out more about the objects:

View our Collection discovery page to find a selection of digitised items from the exhibition. (all State Library Victoria photographs used in this case study are available to view online)

 [Two women, whole-length, seated on the floor, wearing Chinese clothing, Chinese banners on the wall in the background] H2002.196/74

Items from the collection on display:

Photographs from the Library were sourced from these collections:

• Arthur William Purnell collection - photographs of bound feet
• Essendon Historical Society collection - Portrait of two women wearing Chinese clothing
• Herald & Weekly Times Limited portrait collection - Beauty contestants
• Thelma Raye collection - images of Thelma Raye
• W. G. Alma conjuring collection. Photographs  - various magicians and acrobats

Dig deeper into the issues:

 [Chung Ling Soo] [picture] Ca. 1918,  PC125/B

Chung Ling Soo was not the magician he seemed - find out more on our Images tab

Visit the Library to access books from our collection. Articles and eBooks from subscription databases are available to anyone onsite or to Victorian residents from home with Library Membership. Resources available from external sources are noted, these don't require membership to view.

Books

• Farid, H. Photo forensics
• Fineman, M. Faking it : manipulated photography before Photoshop
• Roozenbeek, J. & van der Linden, S. The psychology of misinformation (eBook)
• Scheirer, W,.J. A history of fake things on the Internet (eBook)
• Thomas D, Fowler S, & Johnson, V. The Silence of the Archive (also available as an eBook)
• Various.  Inclusive cataloging : histories, context, and reparative approaches / edited by Amber Billey, Elizabeth Nelson, and Rebecca Uhl ; in collaboration with CORE.

Articles

• McMuster, S.R. (2017) Truth in Photography: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Press the Shutter The international journal of the image, Vol.8 (2), 77-98
• Nightinggale, S.J. & Wade K.A. (2022) Identifying and minimising the impact of fake visual media: Current and future directions Memory, mind & media Vol. 1
•  Whittaker, N. (2018)   Arrangement and description in two dissenting archives Artifacts, 2018 No.2, 65-71
• Yellowlees Douglas, J (2003).  Doing what comes generatively: Three eras of representation Bucknell review, 46(2), 58

Websites

• A Brief history of photography and truth: part 1 (part 2) - Two part essay by Catlin Langford from 2021 for PHOTO Australia
• Equity analysis: a tool for reparative cataloguing - Nina Whittaker talks about equity analysis on the CIVICA site - public sector software creator
• Fakes, Lies, and Forgeries: Rare Books and Manuscripts from the Arthur and Janet Freeman Bibliotheca Fictiva Collection - online exhibition put on by John Hopkins University in Balitmore
• Let's Get Reo: the role of cataloguing in creating equitable access Auckland Museum piece with Nina Whittaker and Geraldine Warren in conversation with Leone Samu and Te Whai Mātauranga Smith about decolonising the systems used to catalogue items, broadening access

Born in Hong-Kong and based in Melbourne, Scotty So draws on the Library’s pictures collection to create an installation that playfully examines how photography shapes the reliability of historical archives.

Learn more about the contributors on the Make Believe: Encounters with Misinformation webpage.

• Scotty So - Artists webpage

RSS Feed - recent journal articles available from State Library Victoria

Look at some of the most recent articles on the topic of misinformation and images. If you are a Victorian resident (with a free library membership) you can browse journal articles on this topic from home. Any visitor can view this content onsite in the library.