Recently in Power of Place Category

My favorite piece was the collection of pornographic pictures that Justine Stewart put together. It was so cool how you can change the purpose of a piece from what was originally secretive material, to a work in a gallery. The people that originally owned this material probably don't know that their trash is now attracting a university's attention. The way the cyan photographs are damaged makes the figures blurry and indistinguishable. The beautiful colors make up for this. The rich blues, reds, and yellows make an abstract watercolor that causes the figure to be a faint outline. I also loved how interactive this piece is. Flipping through these photographs was much more personal than having them laid out on a white wall.

I didn't like the series of photographs of old projector films with notes. The images were so static and I could even read the notes. It was very boring and I got no feeling from it and made no collection. I felt like it was a simple photograph to take they didn't invoke anything.

If I could ask the artist anything:

Justin, how did you come across the images? Did you randomly come across them? Or did you do research and seek them out? Was it a trip to the reservation that led you to these or did someone bring them to you?

The least interesting photograph was James Henkel's MINNESOTA. It is a picture of a Gettysburg battlefield memorial. It is supposed to be a "visual echo". The photo is a close-up view of text on granite. You can only read fragments: 'FIRST REGIMENT', 'NESOTA INFANTR', THE FIELD OF HO'. A common phrase is "a picture is worth a thousand words", and with that in mind, Henkel's photo is only about 15 complete words. To me, it's an uninteresting way to portray an uninteresting subject.

The most interesting photograph is Erin Hernsberger's Untitled 3 (all flesh is grass). This is the only photo that made me want to see more of the subject. It is so ambiguous; I keep looking at it trying to figure out what it looks outside the frame. It has such visual texture, I want to feel it even if it is mold. Out of all the pictures, I most want to be on the location of Erin's subject to examine it more.
Question for the artist: Why did you choose this(What exactly is this?) subject and how does it relate to the meaning of Place?