The last two years have been marked by the global Covid-19 pandemic and responses to it around the world, including confinement, new forms of sociality, and a period of greater public discourse, visibility and proximity to death than previously what might be said to be ‘normal.’ As with other aspects of our lives this period accelerated a whole range of new digital practices, so for these reasons we were pleased to be approached for a special issue dealing with the relation between digital photography and mourning.
This special issue ‘Everyday Photography and Mourning in the 21st Century’ was guest edited by Theopisti Stylianou-Lambert, editorial advisory board member, and Lorenz Widmaier. It is dedicated to the role of the ‘digital networked image’ in mourning practices and examines the intersections between everyday photography, mourning, and technology. They introduce the special issue articles under two categories: mourning with everyday photographs and mourning with post-mortem photographs. They then discuss how digital technologies, and the novel mourning practices addressed in the articles that follow contribute to challenging societal conventions and to propelling specific political claims to the forefront; claims related to visibility and justice.
We would like to thank our guest editors for their work in circulating a call for papers and generally fostering the development of this special issue.