I’ve read quite a few reviews of the new MoMA exhibit “Into the Sunset: Photography’s Image of the American West,” but I would recommend the slide-show essay by Sarah Boxer at Slate.
Sarah is really thoughtful about the perceptions the larger public has of certain geographic regions because of the images to which it has been exposed. In some greater sense, then, photographers- particularly before the advent of mass media- created an environmental reality from their artistic expression (shot framing, which images to promote, etc.); viewers had little additional information on which to assess the accuracy or fairness of what they were seeing.
Speaking of framing, I chose to share Darius Kinsey’s fantastic image above as a representation of the mostly black-and-white photo exhibit. Scroll over the picture for details; it’s in the MoMA‘s permanent collection.
This exhibit runs through June 8th.
Thanks to my dear friend Meghan for the tip!
