12.06.2013

Relics, a group show featuring Kelsey Halliday Johnson (MFA '12) is opening Friday, Dec 6th at Vox Populi


Photographs have the ability to represent, even reanimate history. They serve as reminders of where one has been or what one has seen—artifacts through which historical events can be reconsidered, new associations made, and new meaning assigned to those events in ways that can bring the past to bear upon the present-day.

The digitization of images has begun to erode a sense of history from the photographic image. The immediate seduction and gratification of the digital on-screen image allows them to operate as portals to ahistorical fantasies. To memorialize an image through the act of printing is an increasingly rare act. Once a photograph becomes physical, the surface is pushed forward and the associative context thickens. Within a disposable image culture, Stephanie Bursese, Julianna Foster, and Kelsey Halliday Johnson are artists committed to working with the printed image and printed matter.

This exhibition evolved from a set of conversations between the three artists, each of whom works with the photographic image as their primary medium. Through the collection of photographs in books and the clustering of images on the wall, the work encourages viewers to read between images and draw connections within their constellation.

Opening: Friday, Dec 6th, 6-11ish
On View: Dec 6th - Dec 29th
Location: Vox Populi, 319 N 11th St, Philly, PA

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