Photography is inseparable from our perception of reality. Although we are savvy to the tricks and tall tales a camera is capable of, our immediate response is to recognize a photograph as transparent depiction of the real world. Thus, photography becomes a powerful tool for conveying facts, and especially useful in inspiring public reaction and response.

The survey of images presented in this third installation of the What We’re Collecting Now exhibition series underscores the sense of urgency in contemporary photographs to address critical issues. The photographs exemplify a number of reasons for affecting the viewer, achieved through different approaches to an intangible subject. Artfully merging journalism, voyeurism, and a fine-art sensibility, the featured photographers illustrate a range of tendencies within contemporary socially conscious image-making. Grouping this politically charged imagery, the exhibition illustrates the informative and transformative power of the photographic medium.

Each of the featured photographers produces a powerful visual statement, which is intended to inform and influence. Alex Webb’s photographic documentation of the US/Mexican border and Thorne Anderson’s report from Iraq visually relay tense divisions on the international arena. Martin Parr’s Cruise Memories portfolio and Steve Simon’s study of the 2004 Republican convention expose specific cultural flaws, while Fen’s images of the Chinese cities of Guangzhou and Haikou express our collective anxiety about globalization. Photographers can also use their images to raise our awareness: Frank Rothe’s series considers myths of the violence inherent in generations of post-war Germans, while Danny Lyon reveals the conditions and lifestyle within American prisons. Successfully used, photographs can empower our awareness into action:

Katharina Mouratidi’s human-scale placards of women affected by breast cancer were displayed in subway stations and carried in demonstrations across Berlin. Finally, photographs can commemorate shared experiences and aid in healing, as in Paula Luttringer’s response to incarceration under an Argentinian dictatorship, Johaness Hepp’s ostensibly emotionless panorama of a terrorist attack site, and Wyatt Gallery’s still, empty scene of a flood-worn school room, remaining in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The selection seen here is culled from the recent additions to the museum’s much broader collections of Photographs, Technology, Library and Motion Picture materials. Whether acquired through direct purchase, private or corporate grants, or as a gift, the inclusion of any object into the museum’s collections is conditional on the acquisition committee’s decisions. Meeting four times annually, the committee works to cultivate the collections by continuously expanding holdings of contemporary work, and strengthening any weaknesses in the already substantial historical holdings. This careful planning assures the world-class collections of George Eastman House will continue to illustrate and inform the history of photography and film.

This annual exhibit was curated by Ola Dlugosz and Stefanie Petrilli, students in the Photographic Preservation and Collections Management MA program, offered by George Eastman House in conjunction with Ryerson University in Toronto, Ontario. With the assistance of the staff, the students select work, assist in cataloguing, and prepare label copy for the exhibition. Back

—Stefanie Petrilli
    & Ola Dlugosz