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The Aura of Materiality: Digital Surrogacy and the Preservation of Photographic Archives

Through a discussion of the materiality of photographic documents and the inherent qualities of digital objects, this article examines the viability of digitization as a method of archival photographic preservation. By exploring notions of surrogacy, originality, and aura, the author presents and deconstructs the popular argument that digital versions of material photographs preserve a representation of the object’s content rather than a reproduction of its material form. The process of digitization therefore brings forth a wholly new object into existence. The author’s argument against this common perception is that, rather than eliminating the material evidence of the object’s existence, the digitization of these materials and the subsequent dissemination of photographic surrogates enhances those material qualities that are not inherently represented in the digital object.