Act/Natural: Photography

Exhibition Closed August 2013

Act/Natural presents approximately forty photographs from the permanent collection that explore the ways in which photographers utilize both candid and staged compositions to create portraits of individuals, pairs, and groups. The works in the exhibition, many of which are new acquisitions never before exhibited at the museum, range from images from the 1930s and 40s by Helen Levitt, Walker Evans, and Robert Doisneau to more recent portraits by artists including Philip-Lorca diCorcia, Carrie Mae Weems, Nan Goldin, and others. Photography, particularly contemporary photography, has been an area of significant growth for the collection of Telfair Museums in recent years, and Act/Natural showcases this growing strength.

The staged photographs in the exhibition invite the viewer to consider how the subjects wish to present themselves to camera, as well as how the photographers utilize the medium to reinforce or subvert the subjects’ self-image. Meanwhile, the candid images in the exhibition capture unstudied snippets of everyday life, revealing the interconnectedness or, in some cases, the isolation of their subjects.

(Clockwise from top left):

Larry Fink; Count and Kelly, Martins Creek, Pa. from the portfolio Making Out, 1977; Printed 1980 Gelatin silver print; Gift of the Estrin Family, 2011.19.2.10

Carrie Mae Weems; Untitled, 1994; Black & white photograph Gift of Joel Dictrow, 2012.12.2

Philip-Lorca diCorcia; Eric Hutsell, 27 years old, Southern California, $20, 1994; Cibachrome print on paper; Gift of Joel Dictrow, 2012.12.8