From the introduction text:

"This conference, convened by Michael Godby, UCT, and Patricia Davison, SA Museum, was held in Cape Town at the South African Museum from 14 to 17 July 1999. It aimed to encourage debate on the photographic image, past and present. Issues under discussion included: politics of representation in photography; extending and theorizing the photographic archive; aesthetics and power in photographic representation; curatorship and current practice. Within the broad theme of the conference, papers focused more specifically on Colonial, Aesthetic, Commercial, Documentary, Curatorial, and Current Encounters. Some 30 papers were presented during three days of intense exposure to photographic imagery and discussion. At the time of the conference only the keynote papers were circulated, but many requests for copies of the other papers were received. This unedited volume brings together most of the papers presented at the conference. However, visual presentations that did not have written papers are not included. For a number of reasons, including those of copyright, photographs are not reproduced in this volume..."