“Picturing War: Canadian Nurses’ First World War Photography.” Journal of War and Culture Studies 11:4
Previous studies of First World War photography focus on soldiers’ experiences and professional photographers’ work, with little attention paid to women’s ‘amateur’ war photography. Canadian trained nurses’ photo albums and scrapbooks provide a rich, layered, and gendered resource for understanding how these professional women commemorated their overseas war experiences. This study examines nurses’ visual interpretations of their wars, studying narrative arc, sequencing, page design, and patterns to show how nurses visually validated their work, protected patients yet demonstrated their successful healing, dealt with ongoing emotional trauma and displacement, and envisioned the war in their lifetime experiences. Through nurses’ eyes and through their visions, we see the specific and gendered interpretations they gave to their wars.
Year of Publication: 2018Publisher website
Author: Andrea McKenzie