Between 2004 and 2007 Martin Hyers and Will Mebane made a series of road trips through the American South, West and East to create a photographic archive of objects. The project, titled Empire, yielded more than 9000 photographs captured in twenty-five states. Using two hand-held 4×5 view cameras Hyers and Mebane ventured out into public places, met strangers, and accompanied them back to their homes, offices, and factories to photograph. Working in a deliberately forensic fashion, they photographed the objects they encountered – stoves, family photographs, computers, trophies, etc.
Based in New York and Brooklyn, they work collaboratively and individually as photographers on a wide range of fine art, editorial, and commercial assignments. William Mebane is currently a Visiting Lecturer at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY. The Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia College Chicago will present Peripheral Views: States of America, a group exhibition of artists whose work grapples with the difficulty of picturing America in our time. Authoritative images and grand narratives take a backseat to malleable viewpoints, with each artist using photography as a means to identify certain markers—past, present, and future—of the American Dream. By using diverse and fragmented images of America as barometers of the social climate, these artists ask whether it is possible to create a larger view of the state of our nation.
EXHIBITION
« Peripheral Views: States of America »
July 13 – September 30, 2012
MoCP Museum of Contemporary Photography Columbia College Chicago
600 S Michigan Ave
Chicago IL 60605
USA
Public Reception : Thursday, September 27, 2012, 5 – 7pm
Group exhibition featuring the work of: Adam Broomberg & Oliver Chanarin, Object Orange, Harry Shearer, Martin Hyers & William Mebane, Michael Mergen, Doug Rickard
