"The treachery of images, the violence of narrative"

In this article I trace the recurrence of the trope of the photograph across the work of critic, novelist, poet, and documentarian, Dionne Brand. I argue that her layering of this trope is, in itself, a critical praxis that engages and critiques “systems of representation and specularization and . . . the power and impact of visual imagery/texts.” The Caribbean born, Canadian citizen, Brand was the Toronto Poet Laureate from September 2009 to November 2012 and she has won multiple literary and academic awards for her scholarship and creative works. This article appears in a special issue dedicated to this scholar.