NOW ON VIEW
Do You See What I See?
Todd Herman
Chief Curator and Curator of European Art
The Presence of Absence, now on view
in Gallery 15, is an exhibition of 31
photographs, drawn from a private
collection, which in many ways is a
counterpoint to the photography on
display in Who Shot Rock & Roll.
In Who Shot Rock & Roll, the power
of the images is in their ability to
capture and document the energy,
performance, and celebrity of rock and
roll music. Recognition and immediacy are
paramount. In The Presence of Absence, the
familiar is disguised and the image within
the photograph is symbolic of a larger
unseen narrative.
Soon after photography was invented in
the early decades of the 19th century,
artists began to play with the medium
to challenge the pervasive criticism
that photography was little more than a
mechanical device that replicated the real
world. Through manipulation of both
subject and process, artists were able to
create images that did not simply mirror
visual reality or document the mundane
but created thought-provoking and
emotionally charged imagery—as potent as
any painting or sculpture.
The Presence of Absence celebrates
photographers who challenge our
perception of the ‘reality’ depicted in a
photograph by capturing what is both
present and absent—what we see and what
we don’t see. In some cases we are shown
what cannot be seen with the naked eye,
and in others we are confronted by the
familiar in a completely new guise.
We are forced to contemplate and imagine
the reality that lies outside the boundaries
Lee Friedlander (American, born 1934) Canyon de Chelly, 1983
of the photograph and its image—
whether it’s Robert F. Hammerstiel’s subtle
photograph of a soiled tablecloth or the
beautiful but unsettling image of a light
switch at a Dachau crematorium complex
by Andrea Robbins and Max Becher. While
these photographs can be dark, weird and
strange, they are also beautiful, exciting,
and poignant.
The Presence of Absence remains on view
through May 1.
columbiamuseum.org
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