Dag Alveng: Photographs from Telemark

Atlanta native Tyler Mitchell (born 1995) ascended to global prominence when he photographed Beyoncé for the September 2018 issue of Vogue — the first Black artist to shoot the cover in the magazine’s history. This summer, the High will present a major exhibition featuring his seamless blend of fine art and fashion photography, along with a new photo-sculptural artwork. In his practice, he centers Black self-determination and empowerment with affirmative images of people who are often shown enjoying the freedom of leisure, play, and recreation. This homecoming exhibition will feature more than thirty photographs considering his examination of themes such as masculinity, motherhood, domesticity, rest, and the natural world. The playfully theatrical, expressive works explore style, beauty, and identity and delve into the profound themes of family and connection, capturing not just moments but the essence of relationships, as they weave a narrative of love, intimacy, and shared experiences. Image: Ancestors, 2021, archival pigment print, courtesy of the artist © Tyler Mitchell.

In the 21st century, with the ubiquity of digital imaging, the omnipresence of the internet as a means of exchange, and the rise of artificial intelligence, we face a new era where the camera is now an active participant in the role of seeing. Imagery and photography are being significantly used to control our lives. Yet, this massive ideological paradigm shift in image-making and interpretation remains invisible to most. My work investigates the various ways in which visual technology transforms, commodifies, and regulates our lives – with specific attention devoted to the notion of privacy. The average person is largely unaware of the ways in which image-based technology is invading their private sphere; actively dismantling any reasonable expectation of privacy. If these systems remain unseen than how will this average citizen begin to understand how they are affected? These invisible technological systems are turned visible through my work for the viewer so they can understand the constraints placed on their lives. My work uses image- making in a performative way to interact with these technological tools of control to make the viewer aware of the convoluted architecture and infrastructure of machine vision and the authority embedded within. I intentionally misuse, re-imagine, and repurpose a variety of surveillance technology to create my photographic work. I actively subvert the original intention of this technology through my art as an act of protest. Algorithms, neural networks, and the language of the computer are transformed into artwork that relies on pictorial traditions for the viewer to more easily grasp the information they are receiving. My work turns the abstract and intangible into something material for the viewer to recognize and interpret. This process of transformation is central for the viewer to understand the politics entrenched in this technological battleground. Ultimately, at the core of my work is an interrogation of the reliance on this visual technology as a mechanism of power and what this means for our future as we rely on automated computer programming. There are irreparable consequences surveillance technology has on us as a global society and the 21st century requires a new form of visual literacy to understand what is at stake.

Larry Fink’s Social Graces series contrasts two social worlds that seem a world apart: those of Manhattan high society and Pennsylvania farm country. In the city, coiffed and bejeweled patrons of the arts dance and drink at gallery openings, benefits, and the famed Studio 54 nightclub; in Martin’s Creek, Pennsylvania, a farming family and their circle celebrate birthdays and graduations, gathering at the roller rink and the Legion. The dress and comportment of Fink’s subjects, and the environments in which they exist, diverge as one might expect. What they share is a desire to be seen—to be photographed. “People like to have their pictures taken,” Fink wrote. “It is a profound aspect of our culture, this compulsion for proof. It allows me to wade into a party.” Fink was born in 1941 into a politically radical Brooklyn household, and his images in this series dramatize the class divide that long fascinated and troubled him. When he began photographing Manhattan galas in the mid-1970s, he was driven by curiosity about and anger at the rich, and his images of the people he winkingly called his “political enemies” are often unflattering. But so too are those he made in Martin’s Creek, to where he moved from New York City around 1980. Ultimately, the series is a highly subjective view of the actions and interactions of people Fink observed as an outsider, and a monument to his ability, with his cameras and flash, to make a theater of everyday life. Social Graces was first exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City in 1979 and published as a book in 1984, establishing Fink as one of his generation’s great photographers of people. It remains his best-known series. Larry Fink died at his home in Martin’s Creek in November 2023. The photographs on view were gifts to the permanent collection from Gary Davis, Class of 1976. This exhibition was curated by Kate Addleman-Frankel, the Gary and Ellen Davis Curator of Photography, and supported in part by the Appel and Ames Exhibition Endowments.

The Bronx Documentary Center’s exhibition, El Salvador: Legacy of Violence, pairs two important and historic photographic projects done three decades apart–one by American Robert Nickelsberg, the other by Salvadoran photographer Fred Ramos–bodies of work that mirror, inform and resonate, each with the other. The two projects define El Salvador's troubled Cold War history, document today's political evolution and focus on US complicity and negligence in the small Central American country's troubled past and present. Ramos, born in 1986, and a World Press Photo Award winner, shows us the current land of unfortunate extremes–in the past decade, El Salvador has gone from being one of the most violent countries in the world, largely controlled by heavily armed gangs, to today being the country with the highest incarceration rate on the planet. Ramos’ photos document, as well, some of the millions of Salvadorans who have made a dangerous trek north to seek refuge in the United States, and the brutal, autocratic and wildly popular crackdown by President Najib Bukele. Upon viewing Ramos’ troubling photos, the obvious question is, “How did this small, stunningly beautiful country of six million get to this point?” Veteran photojournalist Robert Nickelsberg answers this question with more than three dozen black-and-white photos taken shortly before Ramos’ was born. Nickelsberg, who covered most of the world’s conflicts and cultural and political revolutions for 30 years as a Time Magazine contract photographer, spent years documenting El Salvador’s brutal civil war during the early 1980s. His photos show us everyday life in the Salvadoran countryside, set off by jarring, violent images of combat and death as American advisors and Latin American leftists turned El Salvador into a Cold War pawn littered with tortured bodies, primarily those of civilians. Together, Ramos’ and Nickelsberg’s photos reflect on this often ignored history, triggering questions about US foreign policy and the legacy of the Cold War. Their work also looks at issues of dictatorship versus democracy at the ground level, as Salvadoran’s struggle to live daily lives filled with dignity and peace. Image: Guerrillas from the Ejército Revolucionario del Pueblo, ERP, speak with local residents of San Agustín, Usulután department, July 5, 1983. © Robert Nickelsberg

Using a camera or my smartphone to record the events I attend, I capture images of the people around me. Photography these days is so ubiquitous, who even notices? Software then extracts the faces for me, and connects them to a location, date and time, which is used as a title. I manipulate the images, crop and enlarge the faces, and create a layer of digital glitches and errors to exaggerate the degradation of image I often see in surveillance photos on the news. I also add a custom facial recognition grid. All of this plays with perception and identification. Under the digital noise there is still a person, but reality has been altered on a screen. Size also matters, and these faces are more recognizable when small, so I enlarge the final images for print. (If you can’t see the face in the photograph, try looking at it on your cellphone) Sometimes my subjects don’t even recognize themselves. My work shifts back and forth between highly manipulated, computer-enhanced imagery and recognizable documentary-style photographs. I know how easily technology can be used to transcend truth, distort reality and produce unintended consequences. Facial recognition seems inescapable, but it is not always accurate, especially with women and people of color. The misuse of these tools is all too possible. Image: © Sheri Lynn Behr

All About Photo proudly presents an exclusive online exhibition featuring the work of the Chinese photographer Chris Yan. On view throughout October 2024, this captivating showcase includes twenty street photographs from his acclaimed series ‘Beijing Story’ Beijing Story Beijing is a city full of contradictions. It is incredibly ancient, with a history spanning more than 3,000 years, and is one of the cities with the most cultural heritage in the world. Yet, it is also highly modern, serving as the capital of China with a population of over 20 million. As you walk through this city, you often witness the collision between tradition and modernity, creating the illusion of traveling through both history and the future at once. Beijing is home not only to its native residents but also to a migrant population of 8 million. People arrive and depart daily. This city has a unique culture, customs, and lifestyle. Many things here have remained unchanged for hundreds of years, while others are evolving every day. I was born, raised, married, and had a child here. Before I turned forty, I had never been interested in this city, and I had never photographed it because I was too familiar with it. There was no sense of novelty or impulse for me to pick up a camera. But two years ago, my family made the decision to immigrate. In three or four years, we will leave the country and move to the United States. At that point, I suddenly felt reluctant to say goodbye. Fortunately, this is a long farewell. I still have three or four years left, and I decided to capture as much of this city and the stories that happen here as possible. I spend two or three days each week photographing the city—from streets to neighborhoods, from alleys to business districts, from parks to temples, and through the changing seasons from spring to winter. I've discovered that so many interesting and moving stories are unfolding here. So far, I’ve taken thousands of photos, with more than a hundred of them being my favorites. I hope these photos can be published in the future, and the book title might be called "The Long Goodbye."

Inspired by the timeless back-to-school essay prompt, “How I Spent My Summer Vacation…” celebrates the joys of a carefree summer through the lens of nostalgic reflection. “How I Spent My Summer Vacation” shares the vividness of summer memories, capturing the glow of endless sunlit days and warm summer nights. This exhibition features 23 photographs by twelve photographers—each image a poignant answer to the classic essay question. From sun-drenched afternoons and family road trips, to tranquil moments of summer solitude, these images tell personal stories that resonate with a universal sense of summer nostalgia. Image: © Matthew Cosby

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History will open a second complete rotation of 20 extraordinary Richard Avedon portraits spanning two decades and curated from the museum’s extensive photo history collection. The new iteration of the “(re)Framing Conversations: Photographs by Richard Avedon, 1946–1965” exhibition will launch Wednesday, Nov. 22, and is scheduled to run through 2024. In November 1962, the National Museum of American History hosted Avedon’s very first one-man exhibition that included a range of photographic materials, including photographs, proof prints, contact sheets, a printing plate and more. Avedon gifted the whole of that show to the museum followed shortly by two additional donations of his work including photographs and negatives. It is from those gifts that “(re)Framing Conversations: Photographs by Richard Avedon 1946–1965” are drawn. Presented in conjunction with Avedon’s Centennial year, the exhibit offers both beauty and stark realism from a time when photographic film dominated. Internationally recognized as one of the 20th century’s most influential photographers, Avedon's photography captured depth and dimension, embracing the emotions, psychology and aging of his subjects. Though high fashion brought him his initial fame, his passion for social and political issues became evident as his popularity rose. The exhibition’s themes of politics, personal decision making, and identity are explored in six sections with questions around music, marriage, women and politics, who decides what’s sexy, can we change our minds, and who do you stand with. Included in the exhibit is a living room with a rotation of magazines from the 1940s through the 1960s for visitors to peruse, as well as interactive tabletops about portraiture, encouraging visitors to sit, pause, reflect and engage. Visitors can use their phone to access visual descriptions with QR codes located throughout the exhibition. “As a history museum holding a vast and exceptional collection of photography, we are pleased to reveal how fine art provides a key lens to understand and explore the nation’s complicated history,” said Anthea M. Hartig, the museum’s Elizabeth MacMillan Director. “The visual impact of Avedon’s photographs capture some of the cultural and social tensions of the era through the mass media platform of magazines which he used masterfully as one of the nation’s culturemakers.” “Photographs embody social, cultural, and political messages that we quickly absorb, whether we know it or not,” said Shannon Perich, curator of the photographic history collection. “Revisiting these historical photographs we can contemplate people of the past whose actions continue to resonate today, and point to our contemporary ability to continue to impact American culture by what music we listen to, how we engage with issues that matter to us, and who we vote for. Avedon’s portraits humanize people that have been elevated through history reminding us that we are all people who have power. We just have to decide how we are going to employ it.” The last opportunity to see the initial rotation of 20 portraits featured in “(re) Framing Conversations” which includes portraits of Charlie Chaplin, Malcolm X, Judy Garland and others, will be Nov. 5. Image: Marilyn Monroe and Arthur Miller, 1958. Photograph by Richard Avedon, courtesy of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History© Richard Avedon

Featuring work by: Trent Davis Bailey, Matt Black, Edward Burtynsky, Tamas Dezsö, Chris Dorley-Brown, Steve Fitch, Adam Katseff, Josef Koudelka, Michael Wolf, and others. The Robert Koch Gallery is pleased to present Divergent Landscapes, a group exhibition on view September 16 to November 1, 2024. Moving beyond traditional portrayals of landscapes, this exhibition explores the psychological terrains we construct and inhabit. Featuring the work of photographers Trent Davis Bailey, Matt Black, Edward Burtynsky, Tamas Dezsö, Chris Dorley-Brown, Steve Fitch, Adam Katseff, Josef Koudelka, Michael Wolf, and others, Divergent Landscapes reflects on the intricate relationship between personal experience and external environments. The exhibition invites viewers to explore how various forces shape our understanding of place. Through images that blend the natural and built worlds, it reveals moments where these boundaries dissolve, reflecting both the tangible and the fleeting aspects of our surroundings. Divergent Landscapes challenges viewers to engage with the spaces we often overlook, encouraging a deeper reflection on the subtle forces shaping our interactions with the world around us. These photographs reveal how landscapes—whether natural or constructed—reside not just outside of us, but within our minds, shaping our perception and understanding of our place in the world.

The Robert Koch Gallery is pleased to present Elliott Erwitt: Dogs, an exhibition that explores the whimsical and touching world of man's best friend as captured by iconic American photographer Elliott Erwitt (1928–2023). On view September 16 through November 1, 2024, the exhibition features a selection of Erwitt's iconic black-and-white images that highlight the unique bond between humans and dogs, captured with the photographer’s instantly recognizable style and signature wit. Spanning decades, the exhibition reflects Erwitt's deep affection for canine companionship and his ability to capture their personalities in a way that is both humorous and disarmingly poignant. From playful puppies to stately hounds, his photographs offer a glimpse into the diverse and endearing world of man’s best friend, seen through Erwitt's unique vantage point. Elliott Erwitt: Dogs serves as a testament to Erwitt's enduring legacy as a master of street photography. His ability to find the extraordinary in the ordinary and to capture fleeting moments of connection between animals and their human counterparts is consistently evident throughout his work. This exhibition not only honors the memory of the beloved photographer but also highlights the universal themes of canine companionship and the simple joys of life and humor that his work so eloquently conveys.

CLAMP is pleased to announce Doris Mitsch’s solo show, “Locked Down Looking Up”—the artist’s fourth inclusion in an exhibition at the gallery. “Locked Down Looking Up” started as a series of images made over time from a fixed point—outside the artist’s front door—during the San Francisco Bay Area’s lockdown to slow the spread of Covid-19. Multiple shots were combined to show the flight trails of birds, insects, and bats. While most everything in Doris Mitsch’s life had come to a standstill, up in the air, there was still a lot going on. Later, when she started to be able to move around a little more, she began to explore other locations. The photos of flight trails (birds, bees, etc.) are not time-lapse images, but composite digital photographs combining hundreds and sometimes thousands of shots taken over the course of a few seconds or a couple of minutes, showing the same animals in different positions in space over time. The artist discusses the work at length in her TED talk from April 2023, which is accessible online, where they describe the project as follows: Artist Doris Mitsch invites us to revel in the wonders of nature through her dazzling photography: stacked images of starlings in flight, hawks surfing thermal updrafts, bats echolocating through the night sky and more. Revealing the hidden trails created by creatures in flight, her work offers unique insight into the intelligence behind nature’s invisible rhythms. The artist comments: “We humans have invented whole digital worlds, but sometimes we still need to be reminded that there’s more in this heaven and Earth than is dreamt of in our philosophy; and that there are endless ways to look at familiar sights, like a bird in flight, with fresh eyes—to expand our shared experience in a way that connects us with the rest of the living world; to feel both kinship with our fellow creatures and respect and even reverence for their otherness.” Image: Lockdown Gulls (Sea Ranch), 2021 © Doris Mitsch

Solas Gallery is proud to present Jason Hendardy’s This Is A Test. This Is A Test reflects on a family’s shifting identity as they assimilate into a new culture, and a child’s view of that process. Building on childhood experiences of documenting family moments with a Hi8 camera, Hendardy interrogates the role of media, the camera, and the screen in shaping and controlling society. Through the use of vintage and contemporary images, some translated through the Hi8 camera, This Is A Test explores how different generations experience the same process of assimilation into American society, the relationship between documentation and memory, and questions our idealized concepts of the American Dream. The title refers to the Emergency Broadcast System messages that aired on American televisions from 1963 to 1997, a system intended as a public safety measure that also cultivated a sense a danger and threat. Jason Hendardy is a photographic artist born in the San Francisco Bay Area to Indonesian immigrants, currently residing in Seattle, WA. His visual work is characterized as existential and subjective documentary, featuring layered narratives that often delve into themes of assimilation and Foucault’s disciplinary society. He studied photography and media arts at the California College of the Arts and is currently pursuing an M.F.A. in photography at the University of Hartford. The book, This Is A Test, will be released in late 2024 with independent publisher Gnomic Book. Image: Untitled (2022) from This Is A Test (2024), Jason Hendardy