Conversation XVII: Photographic Memory

Exhibition

Exhibition Overview

Conversation XVII: Photographic Memory
Conversation XVII: Photographic Memory
Cassandra Mesick, curator
December 21, 2013–May 18, 2014
Gallery 405, Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas

Using works on paper from the Spencer’s collection, including pieces that have never been on display, this exhibition explores the intersections between emerging photographic traditions and evolving understandings of Native American culture in the late 19th century. Photographic Memory invites viewers to use hindsight and cultural sensitivity to question traditional notions of ethnicity, identity, and authenticity, especially as they relate to indigenous communities in post-colonial contexts. Highlights include documentary photographs of American Indian life in the northern Great Plains and a selection of commercial studio portraits that circulated in the last decades of the 19th century.

To broaden the conversation, a selection of newly acquired works by contemporary artists will be shown alongside historic photographs. Among the contemporary selections is a series titled An Indian from India by photographer Annu Palakunnathu Matthew; the artist pairs reprinted 19th-century portraits of Native Americans with self-portraits in which she poses in similar scenarios, using modern digital technologies to recreate historic photographic processes to uncanny effect. Photographic Memory encourages us to consider how moments in American history, saved for posterity on film, continue to reverberate today.

Exhibition images

Works of art

David Francis Barry
Standing Rock, circa 1885
David Francis Barry
David Francis Barry
portrait of Red Fish, circa 1885
David Francis Barry
David Francis Barry
portrait of Gall, circa 1885
David Francis Barry
portrait of Curley, circa 1885
David Francis Barry
David Francis Barry
David Francis Barry
David Francis Barry
David Francis Barry
Fred R. Shiffert
portrait of a man, 1910–1925
Fred R. Shiffert
portrait of a man, 1910–1925
Fred R. Shiffert
portrait of a man, 1910–1925
Fred R. Shiffert
Fred R. Shiffert
Fred R. Shiffert
family portrait, 1910–1925
Fred R. Shiffert
Fred R. Shiffert
Fred R. Shiffert
Fred R. Shiffert
Fred R. Shiffert
Fred R. Shiffert
portrait of Plain Bear, 1910–1925
Fred R. Shiffert
Fred R. Shiffert
Fred R. Shiffert
portrait of two women, 1910–1925
Fred R. Shiffert
portrait of a woman, 1910–1925
Fred R. Shiffert
Fred R. Shiffert
Fred R. Shiffert
Fred R. Shiffert
Fred R. Shiffert
portrait of a woman, 1910–1925
Fred R. Shiffert
Fred R. Shiffert
Bill Groethe
Bill Groethe
Bill Groethe
Bill Groethe
Bill Groethe
Bill Groethe
Bill Groethe
Bill Groethe
Annu Palakunnathu Matthew
Daughter/Daughter, 2008–2009
Annu Palakunnathu Matthew
Whiteman/Indian, 2008–2009
Daniel D. Teoli Jr.
Daniel D. Teoli Jr.
Andy Warhol
Sitting Bull, 1986

Events

February 2, 2014
Talk
1:00–2:00PM

Resources

Documents