Limits of Photography Review - Lucy

The Limits of Photography show at the MOCP was a very current concept for a photography show. Because of the vernacular nature of the photographic medium and constant overload of photographs in contemporary society; contemporary photographers are constantly trying to set themselves apart from the average photographing public. Various techniques are used to accomplish this (size of prints, large and medium format film, photographic manipulations, inaccessible subject matter, complex tableau). In this show the photographs confront the nature of the medium itself and it’s apparent limits as a way to converse with photography and it’s hard fought place in the art world.

Some of the work appeared to be easy answers to the question of “What is photography? Or more specifically what is not traditional photography?” Collage seemed to be the answer. Hojnacki, Shand, Hayes and Stapleton all used collage in various forms be it digital or on the page. These artists used more than just collage but also use the tools of collage to both hide and reveal meaning through layering. Collage is hard to do well. Stapleton is the most successful in my opinion but that could also be because we have similar backgrounds. Stapleton uses college in a semi surrealist manner. He uses parts to create a whole, that whole references real form, art history and the fantastical. Yet their strength lies in their references to the actual. The collages’ ability to seem “real”, and at the same time to reference the fantastical makes Stapleton’s images stand out from the other collage artists.

The two most thought provoking pieces in the show were the Brill and Mann works. Brill utilizes the idea of science and psychological trickery to create artistic inkblot tests whose interpretations reveal perhaps more about their viewer than the maker. The fact that the images can be read as tricks or science makes them in conflict with their own subject matter (like much early “scientific” photography). The viewer does not know if they should trust what they see in the photograph and that speaks s more possible fallacy in photographs.

Mann on the other hand uses the photographic process to test the limits of the medium or perhaps of people’s understanding of the medium and the dying art of making color dark room prints. Mann’s work contemplates how photography reveals and obscures information. He does this by folding and bleaching photographic paper. After it had been exposed via color dark room processes.

The two films in the show were perhaps the two most on point works in the show. Murphy used panning to show what is outside of the photographic frame. While Naka dealt with the way that we interact with photography via technology and it’s relationship to the corpus. His film dealt with this relationship through tactile zoom. Technology is known as a force that both connects us and disconnects us from authentic human experience but Naka put that humanity back into viewing photographs while also engaging the frame and zoom.

In conclusion the Limits of Photography show at the MOCP was a very apropos theme for a show, as it dealt with the changing nature of artists relationship to the medium of photography in contemporary art. Some of the artist’s hit the nail on the head with their works, most notably the film pieces. Raising an interesting question, is film the best medium to discuss the limits of photography?