Time to read: about 4 minutes Looking Back 1 by Lava Thomas. Courtesy the artist and Rena Bransten Gallery.
When printed photographs became available to the public in the mid-19th century, the phrase the camera never lies was coined, largely because the photograph was considered a faithful representation; a precise and infallible record of persons or events. We now know that the medium of photography is open to any number of manipulations and distortions. The current exhibition at the Palo Alto Art Center, The Black Index, seeks to, according to a press release, question our reliance on photography as a privileged source for documentary objectivity and understanding, especially as it pertains to Black subjects.
With The Black Index, Palo Alto Art Center explores representation paloaltoonline.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from paloaltoonline.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Time to read: about 4 minutes Looking Back 1 by Lava Thomas. Courtesy the artist and Rena Bransten Gallery.
When printed photographs became available to the public in the mid-19th century, the phrase the camera never lies was coined, largely because the photograph was considered a faithful representation; a precise and infallible record of persons or events. We now know that the medium of photography is open to any number of manipulations and distortions. The current exhibition at the Palo Alto Art Center, The Black Index, seeks to, according to a press release, question our reliance on photography as a privileged source for documentary objectivity and understanding, especially as it pertains to Black subjects.
Bridget R. Cooks. (Photo by Evelina Pentchev.)
This article is part of a series of conversations with scholars engaged with Black art for Black History Month. See also Folasade Ologundudu’s interviews with Richard J. Powell, Darby English, and Sarah Lewis.
In her much-discussed 2011 book,
Exhibiting Blackness: African Americans and the American Art Museum, Cooks looked at the ways that museums have perpetuated racial inequity through the presentation and curation of African American and African diaspora artists. Her account started with the very first show in America featuring African American artists, at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1927, and continued into the 21st century with the reception of figures including the Gee’s Bend quilters.