The Quiet Giant
A glimpse into the two major solo exhibitions mounted by faculty member Liz Deschenes
Faculty member Liz Deschenes, dubbed by The New York Times as “the quiet giant of post-conceptual photography,” recently created another site-specific photography installation this past May at MASS MoCA. The exhibition is her second major show in a year and follows her first major solo exhibition at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, which opened in November 2014, and is pictured here.
Both exhibitions are vivid renderings of Deschenes’ own articulation of her practice, which she describes as being interested in “cultivating a self-reflexive dialogue, while simultaneously reflecting the world at large, and utilizing a vocabulary that integrates concept with form.” She has pointed out that the word camera literally means “room” in Latin—and her work embodies this practice, always utilizing every element of her installation sites—light, size, even history—to make images that astound.
In addition to mounting two major solo shows this year, Deschenes also curated a group exhibition at MASS MoCA featuring six artists whose work expands the field of photography—Dana Hoey, Miranda Lichtenstein, Craig Kalpakjian, Josh Tonsfeldt, Sara VanDerBeek, and Randy West.