Engagement

`Although photography may appear to be a distinctive object of the contemplative life (vita contemplativa), a moment in which all movements have been eliminated, it is actually deeply embedded in the active life (vita activa); it attests to action and continues to take part in it, always engaged in an ongoing present that challenges the very distinction between contemplation and action. The photograph always includes a supplement that makes it possible to show that what “was there” wasn’t there necessarily in that way.’ - Ariella Azoulay, The Civil Contract of Photography, p. 90)