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Home>The Memory of Time: Contemporary Photographs at the National Gallery of Art>Memory and the Archive

# 

Introduction

Traces of History

Time Exposed

Memory and the Archive

Framing Time and Place

Contemporary Ruins

Sarah GreenoughSenior Curator and Head, Department of PhotographsNational Gallery of Art, WashingtonAndrea NelsonAssociate Curator, Department of PhotographsNational Gallery of Art, Washington

2015 Events

Press Release

Exhibition Checklist

Overview

View All Photographs

Celebrating Twenty-five Years of the Department of Photographs

*The Memory of Time: Contemporary Photographs at the National Gallery of Art* Sarah Greenough and Andrea Nelson, with Sarah Kennel, Diane Waggoner, and Leslie J. Ureña

# Memory and the Archive

Many contemporary photographers are fascinated with the idea of the archive. Whether created by governments, commercial enterprises, or private individuals, archives are the foundation on which history is written, yet they are not static entities out of which a single monolithic history arises. Recognizing this, the artists in this section have exploited archives as repositories of material that can be reexamined and reordered to challenge prevailing views. Binh Danh and Carrie Mae Weems explore commercial or government archives to focus attention on people who have been marginalized, while Ishiuchi Miyako and Susan Meiselas have created and explored their own archives. Sophie Calle takes a different approach that blurs the lines between fact and fiction, private and collective experience, real and fabricated archives.

 

Memory and the Archive
**Binh Danh**, American, born Vietnam, 1977, *Ghost of Tuol Sleng, Genocide Museum #1*, 2008, daguerreotype, 21.59 × 16.51 cm (8 1⁄2 × 6 1⁄2 in.), 2012.43.1

The Khmer Rouge created an unsettling photographic record of inmates at the notorious high school turned prison in Phnom Penh  where the regime detained, interrogated, tortured, and executed Cambodian and Vietnamese victims during the brutal rule of Pol Pot (1975–1979). More than 6,000 passport-sized photographs and negatives of bound and tagged prisoners taken by the Khmer Rouge (only a fraction of the total number of inmates) are now housed in archives at the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, which occupies the site of the former prison. In 2008 Danh mined this archive, rephotographing some of these pictures to recall the atrocities and commemorate the victims. Although the prisoner in this photograph remains anonymous, Danh restored a sense of dignity to him, reproducing the image as a one-of-a-kind daguerreotype and reframing the picture as a reverential memorial rather than a dispassionate record of inhumanity.   

Memory and the Archive
**Sophie Calle**, French, born 1953, *Autobiographies (Wait for Me)*, 2010, two inkjet prints, photograph: 170.18 × 99.06 cm (67 × 39 in.), text panel: 49.53 × 49.53 cm (19 1⁄2 × 19 1⁄2 in.), © 2014 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris, courtesy of Sophie Calle and Paula Cooper Gallery, photograph Steven Probert, 2013.58.1

The young girl’s charming half-smile and old-fashioned dress seduce viewers into a sense of sweet nostalgia, but the text about the cruel games of childhood suggests other forces at play. The first-person narrative, the title’s invocation of autobiography, and viewers’ predisposition to accept the truthfulness of photography all imply that the girl in the photograph is the artist and the written words are hers. Yet Calle offers no proof that she is exploring her own personal archive of photographs, that she is the young girl depicted, or that these are in fact her own memories, reminding us that photography’s history is one of both documentation and deception. 

Memory and the Archive
Text panel detail from Sophie Calle, *Autobiographies (Wait for Me)*, 2010, inkjet print, © 2014 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris, courtesy of Sophie Calle and Paula Cooper Gallery, photograph Steven Probert

Memory and the Archive
Detail from Sophie Calle, *Autobiographies (Wait for Me)*, 2010, inkjet print, © 2014 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris, courtesy of Sophie Calle and Paula Cooper Gallery, photograph Steven Probert

Memory and the Archive
**Ishiuchi Miyako**, Japanese, born 1947, *Mother’s #24*, 2001, gelatin silver print, 2014, 107.5 × 74 cm (42 5/16 × 29 1/8 in.), © Ishiuchi Miyako, courtesy Michael Hoppen Gallery

Intrigued by the way objects evoke memories, Ishiuchi sifted through the inventory of her recently deceased mother’s most intimate belongings, finding items that directly touched her skin and still bore her imprint, such as lingerie, lipstick, and shoes. “What I have now,” she explains, “are the only things that my mother left behind for me. I bring them out into the light one by one, to impress their image onto a photograph as a farewell to  her.” To create the two prints seen here, Ishiuchi taped the silky slip and girdle onto sliding glass doors, allowing light from her garden to filter through them. The delicate pictures make public not only the intimate undergarments, but also the private experience of mourning.

Memory and the Archive
**Ishiuchi Miyako**, Japanese, born 1947, *Mother’s #49*, 2002, gelatin silver print, 2014, 107.5 × 74 cm (42 5/16 × 29 1/8 in.), © Ishiuchi Miyako, courtesy Michael Hoppen Gallery

Memory and the Archive
**Carrie Mae Weems**, American, born 1953, *Slow Fade to Black II*, 2010, 17 inkjet prints, each: 33.18 × 25.56 cm (13 1/16 × 10 1/16 in.), © Carrie Mae Weems, courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, 2014.84.1-17

In Slow Fade to Black II Weems manipulated publicity shots of African American female performers who rose to fame in the first half of the 20th century, including such notables as Marian Anderson, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, and Mahalia Jackson. By blurring these publicity stills, Weems acknowledges both the artists' diminishing fame and the cinematic fade (the transition of an image to a blank screen). As she notes, "These women have given us a gift and a legacy, and yet we have forgotten them. They are disappearing, dissolving before our eyes." By bringing them back to a place of honor at center stage, Weems reminds us of the important role these women had in shaping 20th-century American cultural identity.

(left to right)Top row: Dinah Washington, Mary Lou Williams, Marian AndersonSecond row: Mahalia Jackson, Koko Taylor, Abbey Lincoln, Billie Holiday, Betty Carter, Ella FitzgeraldThird row: Dorothy Dandridge, Leontyne Price, Dorothy Dandridge, Pearl Bailey, Dinah WashingtonBottom row: Nina Simone, Shirley Bassey, Ethel Waters

Memory and the Archive
Detail of Dinah Washington from Carrie Mae Weems, *Slow Fade to Black II*, 2010, inkjet print, 33.18 × 25.56 cm (13 1/16 × 10 1/16 in.), © Carrie Mae Weems, courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York

Memory and the Archive
Detail of Mary Lou Williams from Carrie Mae Weems, *Slow Fade to Black II*, 2010, inkjet print, 33.18 × 25.56 cm (13 1/16 × 10 1/16 in.), © Carrie Mae Weems, courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York

Memory and the Archive
Detail of Marian Anderson from Carrie Mae Weems, *Slow Fade to Black II*, 2010, inkjet print, 33.18 × 25.56 cm (13 1/16 × 10 1/16 in.), © Carrie Mae Weems, courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York

Memory and the Archive
Detail of Mahalia Jackson from Carrie Mae Weems, *Slow Fade to Black II*, 2010, inkjet print, 33.18 × 25.56 cm (13 1/16 × 10 1/16 in.), © Carrie Mae Weems, courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York

Memory and the Archive
Detail of Koko Taylor from Carrie Mae Weems, *Slow Fade to Black II*, 2010, inkjet print, 33.18 × 25.56 cm (13 1/16 × 10 1/16 in.), © Carrie Mae Weems, courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York

Memory and the Archive
Detail of Abbey Lincoln from Carrie Mae Weems, *Slow Fade to Black II*, 2010, inkjet print, 33.18 × 25.56 cm (13 1/16 × 10 1/16 in.), © Carrie Mae Weems, courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York

Memory and the Archive
Detail of Billie Holiday from Carrie Mae Weems, *Slow Fade to Black II*, 2010, inkjet print, 33.18 × 25.56 cm (13 1/16 × 10 1/16 in.), © Carrie Mae Weems, courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York

Memory and the Archive
Detail of Betty Carter from Carrie Mae Weems, *Slow Fade to Black II*, 2010, inkjet print, 33.18 × 25.56 cm (13 1/16 × 10 1/16 in.), © Carrie Mae Weems, courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York

Memory and the Archive
Detail of Ella Fitzgerald from Carrie Mae Weems, *Slow Fade to Black II*, 2010, inkjet print, 33.18 × 25.56 cm (13 1/16 × 10 1/16 in.), © Carrie Mae Weems, courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York

Memory and the Archive
Detail of Dorothy Dandridge from Carrie Mae Weems, *Slow Fade to Black II*, 2010, inkjet print, 33.18 × 25.56 cm (13 1/16 × 10 1/16 in.), © Carrie Mae Weems, courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York

Memory and the Archive
Detail of Leontyne Price from Carrie Mae Weems, *Slow Fade to Black II*, 2010, inkjet print, 33.18 × 25.56 cm (13 1/16 × 10 1/16 in.), © Carrie Mae Weems, courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York

Memory and the Archive
Detail of Dorothy Dandridge from Carrie Mae Weems, *Slow Fade to Black II*, 2010, inkjet print, 33.18 × 25.56 cm (13 1/16 × 10 1/16 in.), © Carrie Mae Weems, courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York

Memory and the Archive
Detail of Pearl Bailey from Carrie Mae Weems, *Slow Fade to Black II*, 2010, inkjet print, 33.18 × 25.56 cm (13 1/16 × 10 1/16 in.), © Carrie Mae Weems, courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York

Memory and the Archive
Detail of Dinah Washington from Carrie Mae Weems, *Slow Fade to Black II*, 2010, inkjet print, 33.18 × 25.56 cm (13 1/16 × 10 1/16 in.), © Carrie Mae Weems, courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York

Memory and the Archive
Detail of Nina Simone from Carrie Mae Weems, *Slow Fade to Black II*, 2010, inkjet print, 33.18 × 25.56 cm (13 1/16 × 10 1/16 in.), © Carrie Mae Weems, courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York

Memory and the Archive
Detail of Shirley Bassey from Carrie Mae Weems, *Slow Fade to Black II*, 2010, inkjet print, 33.18 × 25.56 cm (13 1/16 × 10 1/16 in.), © Carrie Mae Weems, courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York

Memory and the Archive
Detail of Ethel Waters from Carrie Mae Weems, *Slow Fade to Black II*, 2010, inkjet print, 33.18 × 25.56 cm (13 1/16 × 10 1/16 in.), © Carrie Mae Weems, courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York

Memory and the Archive
**Deborah Luster**, American, born 1951*, Tooth for an Eye: A Chorography of Violence in Orleans Parish #06-16*, 2008–2011, two gelatin silver prints, overall, framed: 68.58 × 159.39 cm (27 × 62 3⁄4 in.), © Deborah Luster, courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York

Focusing on what she described as “the empty, dizzying space at the core of violence,” Luster photographed homicide sites in New Orleans. Removed from the city’s famous French Quarter, the run-down houses and back alleys in her series *Tooth for an Eye*show parts of the city usually overlooked, producing a disquieting urban chorography (mapping of districts or regions). Although the circular format nods to early photography, it also suggests peepholes or views from a gun scope. The handwritten ledgers that accompany each photograph record the lives lost by gunshot and the cycle of violence at each site: *#06-16*, for instance, documents four murders, which occurred a week apart in 1993 and later in 2008 and 2009.

Memory and the Archive
Detail from Deborah Luster*, Tooth for an Eye: A Chorography of Violence in Orleans Parish #06-16*, 2008–2011, gelatin silver print, © Deborah Luster, courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York

Memory and the Archive
Detail from Deborah Luster*, Tooth for an Eye: A Chorography of Violence in Orleans Parish #06-16*, 2008–2011, gelatin silver print, © Deborah Luster, courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York

Memory and the Archive
**Deborah Luster**, American, born 1951,*Tooth for an Eye: A Chorography ofViolence in Orleans Parish #06-22*, 2008–2011, two gelatin silver prints, overall: 60.96 × 152.4 cm (24 × 60 in.), © Deborah Luster, courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York

Memory and the Archive
Detail from Deborah Luster,*Tooth for an Eye: A Chorography ofViolence in Orleans Parish #06-22*, 2008–2011, gelatin silver print, © Deborah Luster, courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York

Memory and the Archive
Detail from Deborah Luster,*Tooth for an Eye: A Chorography ofViolence in Orleans Parish #06-22*, 2008–2011, gelatin silver print, © Deborah Luster, courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York

 

Susan Meiselas, *The Life of an Image: “Molotov Man,” 1979–2009*, 2014

Susan Meiselas, The Life of an Image: “Molotov Man,” 1979 – 2009
National Gallery of Art installation of *The Life of an Image: “Molotov Man,” 1979–2009*, 2014, mixed-media installation, dimensions variable, 2015.12.1-17

Susan Meiselas, The Life of an Image: “Molotov Man,” 1979 – 2009
Series of transparencies from the final assault on the National Guard Headquarters, Estelí, Nicaragua, July 16, 1979, 2015.12.4

Susan Meiselas, The Life of an Image: “Molotov Man,” 1979 – 2009
Final assault on the National Guard Headquarters, Estelí, Nicaragua, July 16, 1979, 2015.12.5

Susan Meiselas, The Life of an Image: “Molotov Man,” 1979 – 2009
The moment before, Estelí, Nicaragua, July 16, 1979, 2015.12.6

Susan Meiselas, The Life of an Image: “Molotov Man,” 1979 – 2009
“Molotov Man” at the walls of the National Guard Headquarters, Estelí, Nicaragua, July 16, 1979, 2015.12.7

Susan Meiselas, The Life of an Image: “Molotov Man,” 1979 – 2009
Tear sheet from Swedish magazine, c. 1981, 2015.12.2

Susan Meiselas, The Life of an Image: “Molotov Man,” 1979 – 2009
First anniversary matchboxes of the FSLN triumph over Somoza, Nicaragua, July 1980, 2015.12.1

Susan Meiselas, The Life of an Image: “Molotov Man,” 1979 – 2009
Catholic church publication, Nicaragua, 1980, 2015.12.3

Susan Meiselas, The Life of an Image: “Molotov Man,” 1979 – 2009
Sandinista poster to raise a popular militia, Nicaragua, 1982, 2015.12.12

Susan Meiselas, The Life of an Image: “Molotov Man,” 1979 – 2009
Flyer soliciting funds for Contra revolution, United States, 1983, 2015.12.13

Susan Meiselas, The Life of an Image: “Molotov Man,” 1979 – 2009
Mural featuring Nicaraguan folk legends including “Molotov Man,” Masaya, Nicaragua, 1986, 2015.12.8

Susan Meiselas, The Life of an Image: “Molotov Man,” 1979 – 2009
Wall previously painted with “Molotov Man,” blackened before election campaign, Masaya, Nicaragua, 1991, 2015.12.9

Susan Meiselas, The Life of an Image: “Molotov Man,” 1979 – 2009
Wall stencil based on “Molotov Man,” Estelí, Nicaragua, 1982, 2015.12.10

Susan Meiselas, The Life of an Image: “Molotov Man,” 1979 – 2009
Wall stencil mobilizing popular militia to fight against the Contra, based on “Molotov Man,” and reads “They will not pass,” Estelí, Nicaragua, 1982, 2015.12.11

Susan Meiselas, The Life of an Image: “Molotov Man,” 1979 – 2009
Interview with “Molotov Man,” Pablo Jesús Aráuz, in Somoto, Nicaragua, March 25, 1990, outtake from the film*Pictures from a Revolution*by Susan Meiselas, Alfred Guzzetti, and Richard P. Rogers, 1991, QuickTime video, 2015.12.14 (not included in exhibition installation)

View video

Susan Meiselas, The Life of an Image: “Molotov Man,” 1979 – 2009
Excerpt from the film *Reframing History* by Susan Meiselas and Alfred Guzzetti, showing the mural installation for the 25th anniversary of the overthrow of Somoza by the FSLN, Estelí, Nicaragua, July 2004, QuickTime video, 2015.12.17 (not included in exhibition installation)

View video

Susan Meiselas, The Life of an Image: “Molotov Man,” 1979 – 2009
Monument to Pablo Jesús Aráuz, known as “Molotov Man,” Estelí, Nicaragua, July 2009, 2015.12.15

Susan Meiselas, The Life of an Image: “Molotov Man,” 1979 – 2009
T-shirts sold at the 30th anniversary celebration in the Plaza of the Revolution, Managua, Nicaragua, July 2009, 2015.12.16

 

Next: Framing Time and Place

Banner image: Detail from **Carrie Mae Weems**, *Slow Fade to Black II*, 2010, inkjet prints, © Carrie Mae Weems, courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, 2014.84.1-17

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