Fabrications:
Identities in Contemporary American Photography

Exhibition Statement

Fabrications was a contemporary photography exhibition organized by Schneider Museum curator, Pipo Nguyen-Duy. The show opened on January 15th in conjunction with the Butterfield and Buck exhibition. The exhibition represented the preoccupation of issues surrounding identity in the United States. Who are we? The answer is complex because of our diverse cultural and racial backgrounds. But diversity and our sense of tolerance of individual differences is the beauty of the American culture. The dynamics of our culture is the result of the ongoing discourse that acknowledges the different stories and voices of its people. As diverse as their backgrounds, the vision of the artists in this exhibition demonstrated a variety of approaches and practices within the medium of photography.

Artists featured in this exhibition were: Donna R. Bourret whose current project at the time, was heavily influenced by computer imaging technology and the pleasure of Cyberspace. Bill Adams, at the time of this exhibition, made humorous color photographic collages of complex scenes in which he played all of the characters. A selection of Dillon McDaniel’s work was chosen by the curators of MOMA, Bibliotheque Nationale de France, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, to appear on the cd-rom Photography in the 1990’s: Fifty Portfolios, published by Wright State University. His current body of work in 1998, Fables and Foibles of Our History, looks at the conundrum that exists between our actions as a group and our self-proclaimed status as a being of higher intellect. J. John Priola photographs still life and found objects with a large format camera. These sentimental objects are representations of our collective identity. In his work, the object is objectified, re-represented and then turned into another object. They are objects about objects, and speak in some way, by using the viewers memory. Kristine Mill’s work is a combination of photographs, mostly of people like her family, with objects that have a figurative sense to them. This combination jars memory and helps her to tell stories. Dinh Q Le was born in Vietnam and now divides his time between the United States and Vietnam. At age 6 he learned to weave by watching his aunt who is a grass mat weaver. Dinh now combines his weaving skills with photography. He takes large photographs, cuts them into strips and weaves them back together. In his work, by interweaving self-portrait and historical, mythological images from both cultures, he is dissecting the existing history and mythology to create a new mythology, a mythology that reflects his own experience of a bicultural perspective. Fabrications: Identities in Contemporary American Photogaphy traveled to the Galerie Vrais Reves in Lyon, France after closing in Ashland.

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