I found Buchloh's article about Gerhard Richter's atlas very interesting.  Buchloh talks about photography's ability to oscillate between serving as a mnemonic device and also being able to destroy mnemonic experience.  He talks about the rise of mass media images and how this affects the formation of identity both individually and culturally.  This became apparent in the post-war era of Richter's atlas, but is even more so today.  He mentions on pg. 97 that the "public identity [is formed through] media culture [and] the construction of private identity [is formed] through the family photograph."  When thinking about society and culture today, this seems even more prevalent... the external pressures to look like what we see (on tv, magazines), and internally battling genetics, our own histories, etc.