I Thought
I Saw

Curated by Jan Rattia 

Nov 14 - Dec 11, 2020 / Photography Gallery, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn NY.

If we were to expand on the combined arguments of some theorists [Flusser, Azoulay, Derrida], we would be able to conclude that life has been organized to the service of photography. From its early scientific applications, to the pictorialists, to its current proliferation through camera phones, the world and its events are continually devising ways to conform to the photographic zeitgeist. 

Technological advancements allow for new and innovative artistic interactions with the image, but it is our understanding of the medium that continues to evolve, rather than photography itself. This notion positions photography as a centrifugal force to which the world reacts. 

The works included in this exhibition are examples of this evolving understanding of the medium, its capabilities, and also its limitations. These artists are considering, both introspectively and contextually, what it means to engage in image making in 2020. 

Graduate work is often characterized by the questioning that naturally occurs around one’s artistic practice, and this year, these artists have embraced the added challenges imposed by a global pandemic, a cultural awakening around social justice, and the political unrest that has shaped their current experience. They have continued their inquiry of the medium. A re-thinking of the photographic process and of the image itself is ongoing. Strategies are being remapped, modes of working have been adjusted, and the meaning of contemporary photography is being expanded.

—Jan Rattia 

Presented by Pratt MFA Photography and organized by Prof. Allen Frame.