Deschenes Talks to Artforum
Faculty member Liz Deschenes spoke with Artforum about her midcareer retrospective on view now at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, as well as her fascination with the histories and challenges of photography. The show is on view through October 18, 2016.
Just like other disciplines, photography needs to be reinterpreted constantly. I鈥檝e become fascinated by an economy of means: to make the most out of the least amount of materials, and to not put more work forward in an exhibition than absolutely necessary. With that, I鈥檓 often surprised by what occurs in both making and exhibiting. Just as camera translates into 鈥渞oom鈥 in Latin, many of my photograms take on the rooms they鈥檙e exhibited in as a viewing device, where the viewers can actually see themselves seeing and can have a clearer understanding of the object鈥檚 construction鈥攁s well as of their own perception. I鈥檇 like people to have agency with the work and their experiences, to develop a deeper sense of their relationships to space, light, color, and, of course, photography. Liz Deschenes in Artforum