PHOTOGRAPHS
Brown, Lawrie
U.S. (1949 - )
Wallpaper #1
1976
Gelatin silver print with machine sewn thread
9 1/16 x 7 1/2 in. (23 x 19 cm) image size;10 1/16 x 8 in. (25.6 x 20.3 cm) sheet size
Monsen Study Collection of Photography, gift of Joseph and Elaine Monsen
FA 81.5

In this work, by literally piercing a photograph with thread, Lawrie Brown disrupts our sense of the photograph as a two-dimensional rendering of something in the world (in this case, wallpaper). No longer simply perceived as a representation, the photograph becomes a material, a surface to be built upon in three dimensions. In this way Brown creates a work that is self-reflexive—one that refers to its own materiality. For the viewer, this brings the tension between the image and its materiality to the fore, requiring that we engage with the work on multiple levels. -- Label copy for Material and Document: Experiments in Photography during the 1970s, November 4, 2011, to February 4, 2012.