Growth takes part in Foto Week DC 2011 at the Corcoran

*photo slide is currently down

 

The photography exhibits at the Corcoran Gallery from November fifth until the twelfth mostly revolve around industrial, social and racial growth.

 

 

Growth, in all its forms, presents one of the great conundrums facing humanity in the early decades of the twenty-first century. 'Growth' incorporates the improvement of living standards around the world, as well as the catastrophic, environmental threats that take part in the expansion of cities, industries, and the demands that play a role in said processes.

 

With ideas of consumerism and human impact, Chris Jordan’s series Midway: Message from the Gyre takes part in the Growth exhibit. Jordan is a corporate lawyer turned photographic artist based in Seattle. His work explores the consumption and discarding by people around the world, in this case gruesomely displaying the aftermath of pollution and its effects on albatross chicks in the North Pacific. Check out photos part of the Midway Series in the photo slide and the documentary of how the photographs came about in the video to the left of this article.

 

Yeondoo Jung is also part of this exhibit. Known greatly for his 2005 project, Wonderland, Jung recreated children’s drawings in photographic form. In the case of 2001’s Evergreen Tower (some photographs can be seen in the photo slide), Jung photographed thirty-two families in one building, where the portraits emphasize the contrast between the individual lives of nuclear families in mass-produced homes in Seoul City.

 

Starting in 2003, Mitch Epstein began a project that lasted five years, involving twenty-five states. This project, American Power (some photographs can be seen in the photo slide), exemplifies growth at its best. Exposing photographs of rural American home life, Epstein exposes not only a consumerist society, but also renewable energy to show that a healthier, more economical and compassionate way of life is possible.

 

Finally, the Hank Willis Thomas: Strange Fruit exhibit will be open until 2012. This exhibit is best explained by the artist: My work is about framing and context. I am fascinated with how history and culture are framed (who is doing the framing?). This exhibition is a visual and conceptual exploration of the black body as spectacle and souvenir in American popular culture.

 

The photographs (some can be seen in the photo slide) display slave souvenirs in different arrays, exposing the audience to experiencing the perspective of the perpetrators and the victims, alongside photographic comparisons of modern day depictions of racial and social examples of success, strength, and heritage.

 

Starting on Monday (November seventh and ending on the following Saturday) lectures will take place, except Friday, where portfolio reviews will take over. Look for schedules and fees for the reviews [[HERE]].