Redux Contemporary Art Center announced the opening of PHOTO | OBJECT, an exhibition of photographs that are also presented as objects, from February 2nd to March 16th. Curated by Charleston multi-media artist Kirsten Hoving, the display will feature twelve artists from around the country who have been internationally recognized for their photo object work: Anne Berry, Addison Brown, Kirsten Hoving, Sal Taylor Kydd, Tobia Makover, Hirona Matsuda, Dale Niles, Emma Powell, Dawn Surratt, J.P. Terlizzi, and Lori Vrba. The public is invited to the opening reception from 5 pm to 8 pm at Redux Art Center, 1056 King Street on 2/2/24. Music will be provided by Grace McNally.
In the early years of photography, by their very nature photographs were objects. Unique photographs on metal were protected with brass preservers and mounted into folding leather or paper packages for ease of display and transport. They were intended for individual viewing in intimate settings, to be held a lap or placed on a mantel.
Once photography evolved into a medium of multiples on paper, this object quality was lost as photographs were hung in frames and placed in albums and on walls of homes, galleries, and museums. Today, that loss of the photograph as object is even more pronounced, as images are reduced to pixels in phones or on computer screens.
In recent years, some photographers have pushed back against the digital revolution by recreating photographs that are one-of-a-kind, three-dimensional, cross-media constructions. The PHOTO | OBJECT exhibition will explore this approach with contemporary work by photographers who create photo-based objects that straddle the divide between photography and sculpture.
Some of the artists included in the exhibition turn photographs into book objects, with images paired with text or embedded in actual books, while others reference the history of photography with contemporary stereographs and a hand-made mutoscope with moving images. Assemblage plays an important role for other photographers, who pair their photos with found or created objects as inventive assemblages.
A curator’s gallery talk and a workshop will also be offered. The gallery hours are Tuesday - Friday 11am – 5pm, Saturday noon – 3pm, and by appointment. Please visit www.reduxstudios.org for more information.