EXPOSURE: UNCOVERING THE PRIVATE SPACE

What does it mean to be hidden from the light or the public? To be exposed? EXPOSURE: UNCOVERING THE PRIVATE SPACE focuses on bodies in space: naked bodies, sexual bodies, sexualized bodies, embracing bodies, bodies off-guard, bodies on-guard, gendered bodies. Through the medium of black and white photography, these artists challenge normative ideas surrounding the private space and the identities they form. In this collection of photographs, the camera acts as a tool serving as a portal between two worlds: the public and the private.

EXPOSURE: UNCOVERING THE PRIVATE SPACE explores the in-between spaces of everyday lives, exposing sexual intimacy, queer bodies, and moments of solitude. Through light, the photographers expose private spaces, evoking shadows that allude to truth, intimacy, and intensity. In Duane Michals’ The Unfortunate Man Who Could Not Touch the One He Loved, the subject arches his back, head and back in shadow, chest exposed to the light. Eyes closed, shoes on his hands—which don’t fit properly, and never could—he is doomed as a gay man in a world that does not accept him. Irina Ionesco’s Nu à la fourrure depicts a nude woman draped in a fur coat. The model’s exposed chest is almost white from the light, while her lips, eyes, jacket, and pubic hair are stark, offering dark contrast. Her eyes make direct, confident contact with the camera, asserting power over the subject and exuding confidence in her nude body. Her nude form and the uncommon upward angle of the photograph allude to the intimate nature of the photograph. EXPOSURE: UNCOVERING THE PRIVATE SPACE invites the viewer into private scenes and asks them to question their preconceptions about the body and intimacy.

Curated by Claire Begalla '24, Brown Payne '24, Isabel Smith '24