What Her Camera Sees

Social Topography - the art of giving directions and finding our way

2011-04-25T01:00:00.000-07:00

In addition to the dresses that are still and always on my mind I've begun a new art project. A simple request for a map.

A map from you to me- to or of a place, it can be a real or made up place. The map can be described in words or pictures and lines, written/drawn in any medium on any surface (a bar napkin or a canvas). The map can be detailed or not, it can take 5 minutes or hours to draw/create.

During the early stages of my interest in Media Literacy I began thinking about how our culture has seemingly lost the ability and patients to describe places and directions in words or in pictures. Less and less people are inclined to ask for directions or seek out a local to provide beta on the best places to eat or visit - we simply consult a smart phone, avoid going out of our way and gravitate towards recognizable singage and convenience. I have thought about this project for many years and am now ready for it to take shape. I am requesting a map from each person who has affected change in, and moved my life in new directions.

If you find yourself with two extra minutes in life and an insey bit of inspiration please write it down - and send it my way.

I hope that this finds you with your feet upon a path worth navigating and may you be guided by something other than a smart-phone.

2011-02-14T01:41:00.000-08:00

Verisimilitude:the appearance or semblance of truth.

Alfred Stieglitz stated, "Photography is my passion, the search for truth, my obsession." By the end of his life Stieglitz had produced more than 2,500 mounted photographs, of those more than three hundred were of his lover and later, wife, Giorgia O’Keeffe. He photographed her in all states and over many years, claiming that one angle and one picture would never suffice as a portrait.

After his death O'Keefe began the monumental task of assembling all of Stieglitz's estate. He had more than 3,000 photographs of his own, 850 works of art mostly by artists he represented, 580 prints by other photographers, an enormous collection of books and writings, plus nearly 50,000 pieces of correspondence. She was given the sole authority over his belongings, and took three years to personally sort through every piece. She gave most of his works to major museums in the U.S and when asked where she had placed a portion of his ashes, her only reply, "I put him where he could hear the water."

I wonder if he found his truth, or if it was gifted to him?...

2010-11-02T19:16:00.000-07:00

"A Photograph is a secret about a secret, the more it tells you the less you know." -Diane Arbus

Not Afraid To Wear It

2010-10-17T14:43:00.000-07:00

She may be walking a fine line instead of the runway, along with a list of young women who are criticized for wearing too little, exposing too much and being bad role models. However in contrast to bearing it all, Lady Gaga spends a great deal of time adorned in magnificent sculptural textures that many wouldn't dare to be seen in. In tandem with self expression, she uses this attention getting platform to address several more serious issues besides what she will be wearing at the next big event. It just happens to be an added bonus that there isn't likely to be a duplicate of any of Lady Gaga's couture on the red carpet. Way to go Ga!

Jackson, the Royal way...

2010-10-09T00:16:00.001-07:00

Moving forward. One foot in-front of the other, over the frost covered ground. I continue to investigate my surroundings by culling out materials, objects and remnants that tell their own story about a place and lead me to new discoveries.

Physics

2009-11-29T17:15:00.001-08:00

The steam seeps, the water trickles. Both drawn to their own path- and though unmarked and subtle, there is a path for each...

2008-09-06T15:07:00.000-07:00

One Path Leads to Another...

2008-04-21T19:18:00.000-07:00

My recent work has introduced me to a character that I'm quite fond of, a character similar to Robert ParkeHarrison's "every man," she asks big questions of herself, the world around her and the limitations of photography. Through this character and her seemingly simple tasks I will continue my search for my own path and my own answers to larger questions. Stay tuned.

Outside the Frame

2008-02-24T18:31:00.002-08:00

Photographs By Kevin Irby

I have always been interested and concerned with the camera's ability to include or exclude. Alfred Stieglitz once spoke about a single photograph's inability to provide an accurate portrait of a person, insisting that this must be done over time and with multiple photographs.

It is easy to forget when viewing a single photograph that there was something happening, in real time, to the left and right of the frame, something that may dispel any myth created by that image.

In some instances this restrictive, controlled or manipulated nature can be the success, charm or strength of a photograph, leaving the viewer room to make up the rest of the story.

How the Truth Gets Framed by the Camera

American Photography: Digital Truth

No Words- Just Pictures

2007-10-14T19:29:00.001-07:00

"Find Your Own Path"

2007-10-01T13:11:00.002-07:00

As I contimplate new project ideas I'm reminded that nothing is new and yet somewhere in this mess of already done stuff I'm supposed to create something new, or at the very least I must "find my own path." At one moment it seems pointless to make something else to throw on "the pile." Something else that will take resources to make, breifly be passed around and then find its way to a resting spot to sit and collect dust. Furthermore the imagery I'm atracted to and find myself looking at could be seen as trendy, overdone narratives (with men in collared shirts with ties and women in white dresses). The list at the right are some of those artists that I've found myself admiring as of late and finding inspiration from, inspiration to move forward despite my knowing that it has all been done before...

Keeping all of the pictures...

2007-09-13T20:52:00.000-07:00

Gerald Slota
Untitled (Women in Purse), 2005
Unique gelatin silver print 10 x 8"

Why does Grandma insist on keeping photographs that are so badly printed you cannot even discern who or what they are of? And what would she say if she saw them now?

I once stood next to a man at the Eastman House who contemplated a group of images by this photographer- Gerald Slota. The man looked for a moment, shook his head and said "looks like somebody ruined some perfectly good photographs."

With rising interest in the "found", particularly that of the happened upon photograph, archives are at the forefront of contemporary art trends. Archives that perhaps would otherwise not have been examined and families that would have been forgotten, right along with the garage sale signs advertising their estate's sale that stayed stapled to the corner telephone post until weather finally took note of the long expired date and swept them away, are now in the halls of famous institutions.

Would the man contemplating the photographs of Gerald Slota have been as equally as disgusted if he knew that the photographs were found objects to begin with? Objects that someone's Grandmother cared about.

2007-09-13T20:11:00.000-07:00