Exhibition Review: Our Selves at MoMA
Sharon Lockhart, Untitled, 2010. Chromogenic print, 37 × 49 in. (94 × 124.5 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Helen Kornblum in honor of Roxana Marcoci. © 2021 Sharon Lockhart.
Written by Nina Rivera
Copyedited by Chloë Rain
Photo Edited by Yanting Chen
Presented by The Museum of Modern Art, Our Selves: Photographs by Women Artists from Helen Kornblum showcases 90 photographic works from women creatives that span over the last 100 years.
While the exhibition itself is presenting feminist photography spanning the last 100 years, the pieces are not spaced linearly or in any chronological order. Instead, the show calls for a contemporary and intersectional perspective of each piece regardless of its medium, time period, or origin. By venerating the work of queer, African-disaporic, and Indigenous/postcolonial artists in the slowly-progressing space of a museum institution, differing ideas and conversations can be had in regards to “canonical” narratives of art history.
Frances Benjamin Johnston, Penmanship Class, 1899. Platinum print, 7 3/8 × 9 3/8 in. (18.7 × 23.8 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Helen Kornblum in honor of Roxana Marcoci.
Our Selves asks viewers to reconsider the one-sided historical recounts that have been taught time and time again. Whether it be photojournalism, portraiture, collage, ultra modern experimentation, advertising, documentary, or conceptual photography, each individual work builds on each other in a striking manner that would otherwise not be realized. Emphasizing both celebrated and obscure images, the juxtaposition of these contemporary works ties together powerful commentary when viewed amongst the rooms filled with art from the late 1800s to the early 1950s.
Cara Romero, Wakeah, 2018. Pigmented inkjet print, 52 × 44 in. (132.1 × 111.8 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Helen Kornblum in honor of Roxana Marcoci. © 2021 Cara Romero.
Amongst the artists presented are the well-known names of Carrie Mae Weems, Claude Cahun, Lucia Moholy, and Lorna Simpson, as well as other image-makers and practitioners including Car Romero, Rosemarie Trockel, Flor Garduño, and Tatiana Parcero. These creatives paint a stunningly colorful world that is true to the lives of marginalized peoples that is often absent in the realm of antiquity.
Upon entering the single room dedicated to the show, it’s difficult to miss the two rectangular prints propped up against the far wall. This piece, called Invisible Ink, is the work of Amanda Ross-Ho, which illustrates Amanda in life-sized self portraits covered in temporary tattoos. The images themselves are muted and haunted, which is the work of soft-case pillowcases that were sewn onto the images and then re-photographed and printed at a larger scale. The only things that are fully visible are Ross-Ho’s eyes, cut out of the pillowcases as though she were a ghost. These self-portraits stem from the notion of classification– what it means to be considered one thing or another, and yet not feel entitled to any of those labels at all.
Hulleah J. Tsinhnahjinnie, Vanna Brown, Azteca Style, 1990. Photocollage, 23 9/16 × 30 in. (59.8 × 76.2 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Helen Kornblum in honor of Roxana Marcoci. © 2021 Hulleah J. Tsinhnahjinnie.
On an adjacent wall is a piece titled, Vanna Brown, Aztec Style, by Navajo-Tuskegee artist Hulleah Tsinhnahjinnie. The hand-made collage showcases Tsinhnahjinnie’s close friend wearing her Aztec dancing regalia within a Philco television set frame. The image itself is making reference to long-time televised game show, Wheel of Fortune, where Vanna White has been its long-standing co-host. Tsinhnahjinnie changes her name from Vanna White to Vanna Brown in the piece in order to address the beauty of her friend and culture, as well as re-envision famed symbols of idealized beauty in America.
Our Selves demonstrates an assemblage of photographs that are connected through expunged lived chronicles. In a society that continues to settle for relentless misogyny and an oppressive patriarchy, this exhibition is an encouragement to experience visual media through the lens of contemporary feminism. It exemplifies the power of women to assert their political and social provocations and embarks on the difficult process of unraveling the buried legacies of those before us.
In the empowering words of Hulleah Tsinhnahjinnie: "No longer is the camera held by an outsider looking in, the camera is held with brown hands opening familiar worlds. We document ourselves with a humanizing eye, we create new visions with ease, and we can turn the camera to show how we see you."
Installation view of Our Selves: Photographs by Women Artists from Helen Kornblum, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, April 16, 2022 – October 2, 2022. © 2022 The Museum of Modern Art. Photo: Robert Gerhardt
