Visual digital politics: imag(in)ing political activities and identities online

This chapter presents a mapping of the field of visual digital politics, tracing both the older and newer concerns about political aesthetics. It also considers how methods have evolved to better capture the ways in which new technologies shape political encounters, and how studies in political image-making are now abundant. Parry examines visual imagery from both official and unofficial political realms, and how those boundaries are becoming blurred. Journalists remain key players in the mediation of politics, but there is a diversification of image and knowledge producers in the contemporary mediascape, with increasing concerns over visual misinformation and unverifiable or uncredited images. The chapter draws upon studies and cases from around the world to illustrate how the evidential power of the visual continues to offer a unique communicative force in politics, despite widespread knowledge of manipulation practices.