The exhibit Photography Since the Millennium features work by Keith Auerbach, Priscilla Briggs, Carrie Burr, Tiffany Carbonneau, Mary Carothers, Debra Clem, Robert Ladislas Derr, Anita Douthat, Mitch Eckert, Julius Friedman, Dana Fritz, Laura Hartford, Celene Hawkins, Barbara Houghton, Brian H. Jones, Keith Kleespies, Cal Kowal, Tom LeGoff, Suzanne Mitchell, James Norton, C.J. Pressma (with David Harrity), Arturo Alonzo Sandoval, Jenée Rue Sastry, Mel Strawn, Alan Teller, Alex Traube, John Whitesell, Marilyn Whitesell, Jerri Zbiral, and Jenny Zeller.
About the exhibit, guest curator C.J. Pressma writes, “This collection showcases artwork that represents some of the growing diversification of photographic styles and form. While some of the artwork may not be recognized as photography in the traditional sense, we hope that viewers will see that photography is no longer strictly a medium for ‘fact-based’ imagery. Examples include traditional camera photographs, camera-less photographs, prints (etching, lithography, silkscreen), textiles, painting, sculpture, mixed media, collage, montage, assemblage, installation, and video/film.” Photography Since the Millennium is one of 60+ photography exhibits scheduled as part of the Louisville Photo Biennial, held September 25-November 7, 2015.
Pressma continues, “In recent years, and with dizzying speed, technological advances and new philosophies have ushered in an era of highly innovative and vastly different kinds of photographic expression. The medium’s early representational roots are, for several artists, all but gone – so much so that the very definition of ‘What is Photography?’ is being reconsidered. Many contemporary museum curators have begun to question if photography should even continue to be classified as an autonomous medium or instead be incorporated into a broader category of contemporary art…Regardless of how these debates unfold, the line between photography and other mediums is becoming less distinct…We hope that this exhibit will help expand the conversation around what photography can be.”
Carnegie Center curator Daniel Pfalzgraf adds, “Our guest curator, C.J. Pressma, is a local icon in photography, and I’ve been reminded of his vast experience throughout the process of organizing this exhibition. From 1970 when Pressma founded the Center for Photographic Studies in Louisville, through today, he has witnessed and participated first-hand in creative and alternative applications of the photographic medium that have stretched the boundaries of what we know photography to be beyond the four edges of a photograph. His depth of knowledge is inspiring, and one would be hard pressed to find a better-suited person to put together an exhibition of this caliber.”