From Captions to Culture, Mira Xenia Schwerda Studies How Images Shape History

Growing up with two artists for parents, Mira Xenia Schwerda, assistant professor of Art, Art History & Visual Studies, rebelled by considering a career in diplomacy. Yet, soon, she found herself circling back to art, but with a twist: she became an art historian.  

Schwerda studies the intersections of photography, new media, modern Middle Eastern art and global print culture. Her research and teaching examine the global impact of photography, from its inception to the present day. 

In the past, the subject of photography has focused mainly on Europe and the United States, but Schwerda is trying to change that. Her work investigates photography as a transnational, interconnected phenomenon, and her current book project focuses on the impact and reception of photography and new media during the Iranian Constitutional Revolution (1905-1911). 

At the start of the 20th century, Iran’s political reform movement overlapped with the rise of photographic postcards. Thanks to new technology, portable picture postcards could be produced and circulated quickly, often with captions in multiple languages. These postcards became a powerful tool for spreading political images and ideas beyond the capital, connecting reformers with international audiences and helping politicians advocate for their causes.

“Usually when we talk about photography during this time period, we think about the colonial photographic lens,” said Schwerda. “But here we have Middle Eastern reformers using the camera themselves to initiate what could be called an early history of democracy in the Middle East.” 

Schwerda's initial interest was in Middle Eastern photography, particularly during the “long 19th century.” She found Iran especially compelling, as it was a site of major political developments. 

“During this time, there were many interesting changes taking place, but there was very little attention given to modern Iran in art historical scholarship,” she said. “I wondered why.”

At the beginning of her time as a graduate student, some senior academics attempted to discourage her from pursuing the topic, noting that the field of Islamic art history usually focused on the pre-modern period or that the photographic material Schwerda was interested in wasn’t considered “fine art” and didn’t fit traditional aesthetic frameworks in the history of photography — a stance Schwerda continues to question in her work. 

This year, Schwerda is teaching a seminar-style course on the history of photography, informed by her research. Her goal is to get students to look closely and critically at images, helping them dissect how interpretations change depending on captions, points of emphasis and framing, and materiality; and how these choices ultimately shape our understanding of what we’re seeing — may this be a cased Daguerreotype, a Polaroid peel-apart color print, or an AI-generated photorealistic synthetic image. 

She’ll also take students outside the classroom to view art collections across Duke’s campus in the Nasher Museum of Art, the Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library and the Center for Documentary Studies, so they can observe photographs in person. 

A creative and interdisciplinary approach to learning reflects Schwerda’s own journey as a scholar and what drew her to Duke and the department of Art, Art History & Visual Studies. 

She noted that, unlike most history of photography positions, this opportunity stood out for its blend of art history, visual arts practice, visual culture as well as digital and computational art history — an interdisciplinary mix that aligns closely with her own interests and research.

“This position really brings everything together for me,” Schwerda said. “It’s such a rare opportunity to combine my training as a photo and new media historian, my focus on the Middle East and my work in the Digital Humanities, as well as my love for archival research.”