INEXHAUSTIBLE INVITATIONS

Jane Waggoner Deschner

November 15 to December 24, 2008

Opening Reception Nov. 15, 2008 6-9 PM

The ultimate wisdom of the photographic image is to say:

“There is the surface. Now, think---or rather feel, intuit--- what is beyond it, what the reality must be like if it looks this way.” Photographs, which cannot themselves explain anything, are inexhaustible invitations to deduction, speculation, and fantasy.           

                                  Susan Sontag, On Photography, 1977

Orphaned photos, taken by unknown photographers, are rich and fascinating in their representations of commonality. Working with snapshots & studio photos from the mid-20th Century, Deschner strives to uncover what these records of reality teach us about our essential humanity. But she also invites us to look deeper. Whether hand-embroidering quotations & aphorisms on anonymous portraits, or digitally cropping, rearranging, covering & juxtaposing, she enhances a given image in order to suggest diverse, inexhaustible interpretations.  

underneath series (golden dear)

Ultrachrome pigment print

24 3/8” x 13 3/4”

2008, 1/3

     photographer series (No. 11)

Ultrachrome pigment print

17 1/8” x 11 7/8”

2006-07, 1/3

EXHIBITIONS