It is commonly perceived that photographs can provide an objective window on reality. This exhibition asks: in what ways is the captured image of a photograph constructed? Can an image that is both captured and crafted expose truth? These photographs, all recent gifts to the Block Museum, were produced by artists from around the world from the mid-twentieth century to the present. The diverse selection of works assembled in Exposure invite viewers to consider the complexities of photographic “truth” in relation to their use in the media, the politics of representation, and the subjectivity inherent in the making and consumption of a photograph.
Exhibitions in the Katz Gallery are part of an ongoing series in which student curators are invited to bring new perspectives to Northwestern collections. Exposure: Recent Gifts of Photography has been organized by 2014-15 curatorial intern Claire Kissinger (Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences ’15) and was made possible by gifts of art from Hayes Ferguson, Melih and Zeynep Keyman, Sari and James A. Klein, and Lynn Hauser and Neil Ross. This exhibition has been generously supported by Ellen Philips Katz and Howard C. Katz and the Norton S. Walbridge Fund.