Duggan Online Exhibition

This work is situated within an international tradition of contemporary artists who photograph within cultural institutions. Sophie Calle, Louise Lawler, Karen Knorr, Candida Höfer, and Thomas Struth have all produced significant bodies of artwork that scrutinize cultural institutions and draw on the framework of the museum as a source for both critical analysis and inspiration.

Calle, Lawler, and Knorr have each expressed similar interests to my own. Calle's subjectivity of viewing and memory, Lawler's images signifying the contextual frame, and Knorr's advocacy for slower viewing are all elements with which Impossible Gaze strongly identifies. These artists are, as am I, stirred by the parallels and incongruities to be found in the framework of the museum, often layering the art with museological devices and questioning the function of art in museums and galleries.

The images by Höfer and Struth are particularly pertinent to my inquiry. These photographers graduated from the renowned Becher school at the Düsseldorf academy in the 1970s, and both create formal, balanced, wide-angle views of architectural and institutional interiors in the Becher tradition. Höfer's photographed spaces, intended to accommodate large numbers of people, remain empty and dormant, whilst the Museum series by Struth departs from this tradition by embracing the museum audience. Even though their subject matter is at times similar to my own, my photographs remain intrinsically different. Impossible Gaze embraces the museum interior and describes it with acute attention to the minute details. Whereas Höfer and Struth's images are precise and ordered, mine are intimate and opulent, expressed as much through their intense color and size as their sumptuous content. Furthermore, Impossible Gaze is animated through the dizzying camera angles that are a significant departure from their formalist approach.