#25 Multiplication

The word Multiplication instantly takes me back to school days, where hours were spent memorising how to add a number to itself repeatedly—a daunting task for a nine-year-old struggling to learn the logic of arithmetic. Math never came easily, and multiplication and division were incredibly challenging. Although years of studying art and the humanities eventually eased that stress and anxiety, it all resurfaced the moment I heard the word Multiplication again. Yet, what once brought anxiety in my childhood now opens  possibilities in my adulthood, especially in photography, where multiplication becomes more than a numbers game—it is a way to reshape perspectives.

Beyond its historical significance, photography functions as a machine to multiply realities. It extracts an initial image of the outside world through various mediums—emulsion, digital sensors, and more, and  then replicates that first impression identically. A small single sensitive surface is enough to strip away the aura of singularity, granting everyone access to everything, everywhere. Conversely, multiplication reflects more than mere repetition; it embodies a dynamic process of expansion, transformation, and reinterpretation. Through multiplying forms, themes, or digital interventions, artists reconsider familiar images and ideas, creating layered perspectives that question our understanding of contemporary life.

That’s why, as I sit at home flipping through a magazine or scrolling on my phone, I can instantly access and examine images of the pyramids in Egypt, observe Ali standing over Liston shouting, “Get up and fight sucker,” or witness the suffering of violence. All  with the smallest movement of my fingers. Though this experience is not tangible or firsthand, the image of that reality provides me with distant information—whether true or false, something  unimaginable before photography’s invention. This open access and the ability to create endless copies, beginning in photography’s earliest days, have grown more complex over time. Now, the exact replication of a photo is no longer the camera’s sole unique feature; instead, the multiplicity of these reproductions—and their overwhelming abundance, has  become a source of concern.

In this edition of Photography+  we explore projects that multiply elements within our digital lives and examine how these proliferations transform our perception and experience of digital reality. In Multiplication  we aimed to expand upon the latest issue of Photoworks Annual, the yearly magazine recently published under the title Multi Multi.

Including an introduction from our recently published Photoworks Annual 31, Multi Multi  Editor Diane Smyth discusses the origins and evolution of photography as a cultural and technological progression rather than as an invention by a single individual. Carolina Semprucci writes Marcel Top’s Sarah Hodges project, which features a non-existent, algorithm-generated American citizen that investigates mass surveillance in the United States. An essay by historian and curator Clément Chéroux explores the mystery of the twin images in Yael Eban’s and Matthew Gamber’s Dead Ringer photobook. Angelina Ruiz, Photoworks’ Writer in Residence, introduces German-born, UK-based photographer Alma Haser and her series Unlearning AI. The work explores the intersection of portraiture, imperfection, and digital technology, using mixed media and collage to recontextualise the human form. Rui Lan’s conversation with Diane Smyth explores how photography, film, technology, and games can encourage audiences to recognise social systems and search for their own perspectives as she crafts her universe using the system’s language to expose its absurdity and seek a new narrative for both herself and the system. Lastly, as part of our ritual for each issue, we invited the Photography+ community to submit photographs responding to the theme of Multiplication. The selected image, Trial Number 4  by YH Fong, is featured with an accompanying text.

Multiplication signifies a growing concern in our lives, and photography intensifies this concern by exposing the layers of meaning behind our experiences, urging us to question the boundaries between reality and perception/fabrication.

Diane Smyth and Amin Yousefi
Co-editors