The article examines the role of the photographer (producer of visual representation) and the meanings photographers assign to migration and migrant photography in the process of visual migration governance. Referring to the principles of social constructivism and cultural sociology, the study seeks to answer the following questions: How do photographers understand the phenomena they communicate and represent visually? What role does that semantic framework play in producing visual representations of migration? And hence, What role do they play in the visual governance of migration? The article allows the identification of the fundamental contexts of visual migration governance and the role of the visual representation producer within this process. The analysis shows that the meanings attributed to the phenomena being photographed serve as an essential context for the production of images of migration and migrants, indirectly implying visual governance of migration. Accounting for the meanings ascribed to migration by image creators undoubtedly enhances our understanding of the early stages of image production and, by extension, the production dynamics involved.
Anna Fiń (Sat,) studied this question.