Rubbish as Design
1965
In this photograph, Imogen Cunningham offers a dynamic view of the creative potential of ordinary materials. Here, the way debris is arranged within the frame produces a composition that confuses our relationship to the material world and what we are viewing. In her hands, the rubbish is transformed into a complex arrangement of light, texture, and abstraction. The surface of the triangular structure becomes a space that absorbs and reflects the environment in which these materials are placed, a container of information much like the photograph itself. Michael John Burns, Gyorgy Kepes, and William Eggleston's photographs on view in this exhibit also give form to the ordinary, often creating substance out of shadows, skewed perspectives and light.
Gelatin silver print
9 1/2 x 9 7/8 in. (24.1 x 25.1cm)
Gift of John H. Hauberg
89.65
