Exposed at SFMOMA
"Exposed: Voyeurism, Surveillance, and the Camera Since 1870" is unlike many other exhibits you're likely to see at a museum of art. It is light years from 2010's "Birth of Impressionism" at the DeYoung. Room after room is filled with disturbing images that beg the question- who is watching whom, and why?
"Exposed" is a thematically organized exhibit that gathers photos from as early as 1870—Civil War photographs are included, and we learn that the dead bodies were carefully arranged by the photographer before he took the picture—to the present. We witness photos by the Japanese photographer Shizuka Yokomizo, who sent letters to the residents of a certain neighborhood, asking them to appear at their windows so that she could take their picture. One of the arresting images in this series can be seen on the left.
Other disturbing images include photos of Jacqueline Onassis by the paparazzo Ron Galella, who pursued her relentlessly during the last decades of her life. We see pictures that capture the terror of the Civil Rights Movement, as water cannons are used to spray a crowd of protesters. The variety in time and place is incredible—passing from room to room, the common thread connecting the photos is the sense of trespassing on a moment that is private, or at the very least not intended for a wide audience. The exhibit is well curated, with historical photography equipment displayed along with the photos.
This exhibit is recommended for anyone who has marveled at how taking a picture of anyone or anything with a cell phone camera has changed the definition of photography.
Details:
"Exposed" at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Through April 17, 2011
151 Third St.
San Francisco CA 94103
(415) 357-4170
|
|
