Allan Sekula Polonia and Other Fables The Renaissance Society September 20 – December 13, 2009 at The University of Chicago , global om om the s work ough his gman Gallery s he social nity’ t chool is a s i S om a history of gman. Thr moder which inaugurates ogram of The Chicago -day globalization , 2009 ough the fine arts. to quote Sekula. , As Sekula’ g, and follow us on ” . , ability to achieve .or s emain grateful for his outstanding r as a discourse speaking to ginalization fr e cussion e eceive our newsletter at W . Survival Unit s clarinetist etionary Fund at The University of Chicago; 94th season and its 30th in the Ber evolution to a latter tatus. s T ] s September 20, 4:00–7:00pm unfolding. (1979/1980), a project in which Sekula a project (1979/1980), , Discr s s enaissancesociety Polonia and Other Fables .r t, the basis of claims to grasp directly othing could be further from the pit’s from othing could be further e be called documentary his work, such a master narrative can only be N Y The larger question raised by Sekula’s photo- question raised by Sekula’s The larger wealth of subject matter master narrative such as capitalism. A master return to traditional documentary all but ent with the genr om that side ovost’ ekula, this image was of particular interest to ekula, this image was of particular interest ackground, an announcement that the party is an announcement that the ackground, ver. Printed at a scale larger than usual for Printed at a scale larger ver. rasped in the form of traces, which paradox- im since it turns woman is also an out the arrative is a totalizing and global framework arrative is a totalizing and global framework rtist. Her dual profession recalls recalls rtist. Her dual profession ttests, any critique of documentary at once ociety and history. A master narrative does not ociety and history. imply explain the social fabric; it mythic” emains the province of social documentary— emains the province equires the urgency of practice and an engage- the urgency equires o or explaining forces shaping aspects of self, or explaining forces n Essay by Hamza Walker. Layout by the JNL Graphic Design, Chicago. [ Allan Sekula fr cally belie a narrative’ h a testosterone-fueled mania than Sekula’s portrait mania than Sekula’s testosterone-fueled She stands, slight female trader. of an extremely of a confetti-strewn arms at her side, in front b o S history’ Factory Related Events OPENING RECEPTION Sunday 5:00 to Featuring a talk with the artist from 6:00 pm. This event will take place in Cobb Hall below the gallery). FREE 307 (directly room CONCER November 4, 8:00pm Wednesday, Hans Koch, November 9, 8:00pmMonday, Joe McPhee’ Joe McPhee, saxophone cello Lonberg-Holm, Fred Michael Zerang, per This event will take place in Bond Chapel, of east which is directly 1050 East 59th Street, Cobb Hall. FREE. AND EVENTS FOR NEWS ABOUT ARTISTS Please sign up to r www Allan Sekula: Polonia and Other Fables This event will take place in Bond Chapel, of east which is directly 1050 East 59th Street, Cobb Hall. FREE. CONCERT fabric, inextricably woven into reality at every fabric, inextricably woven into reality level. All-encompassing, it becomes ideology, is invisible, making which by its very nature a the impossible. However noble and necessary task of exposing various injustices, traditional question as to documentary sidesteps the larger and if, capitalism as a master narrative how, “what used through can achieve representation t “ (rather than abstractly) an era spanning fr industrial r r this, despite its mar photography as narrated thr Rather than being accountable to a history of styles, social documentary is accountable to history itself. Needless to say evolution continues to furnish documentary a The Society’ Facebook and Twitter. addressed the confluences and discrepancies addressed between higher education and the demand training. Although artist and for workforce commodities trader might seem antithetical Koons one need only think of Jeff professions, of that idea. for a reappraisal graph of the trader is how does one illustrate a n f s I i a r m is dedicated to the memory of Edwin Ber s example, friendship, service and support. This exhibition has been made possible with funding fr Alphawood Foundation; the CityArts Pr a municipal agency; Christie’s; Department of Cultural Affairs, The Danielson Foundation; The John R. Halligan Charitable Fund, the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency; The MacArthur at Prince; Nuveen Investments, the Fund for Arts and Culture Pr commitment to new and provocative art, Ed championed all commitment to new and provocative The Society stands for g Pritzker Foundation; The Siragusa Foundation; and our membership. edit en, - cum mantic, escent the Old o m photos are must also line of cr o elegating it , work is its dism s Burtynsky.) Burtynsky.) s s d ent Polish fer ching in the 2009 emoved fr al and partly r Republic’ om behind a column. e f olonia and Other Fables P decision to close the Polonia and Other Fables Bloc. As home to the olonia and Other Fables s n his images to the work of, P e esponse to the media attention, eflection on the historic inter ough a pair of images, one of a ding distribution of “bailout” funds. ee generations r egar composition. s cent immigrants find themselves amongst Sebastiao Salgado or Edwar ationalism certainly played no small part in ationalism certainly played no small part e , wded foyer of Republic Windows and Doors. Sekula is of Polish heritage. The autobio- Sekula is of Polish heritage. N The trading pit at the Chicago Mercantile One of the hallmarks of Sekula’ As an examination of the links between an historic repository of Polish nationalist an historic repository ay Day parade, the other an image of the orld. This is the subject of two of the Chicago o eans of thinking through rather than excluding eans of thinking through other; a portrait of the priest who delivered his other; a portrait of the priest who delivered oman and young boy mar hat many debate as Poland’s complicity in the hat many debate as Poland’s olocaust. This strain of nationalism, however, articularly evident in orary Poland is partly r efore the outbreak of World War II. War of World the outbreak efore raphical works in as its roots in the rise and fall of Poland as a as its roots ted into the Easter s onsist of four photographs: a portrait of his r entiments whose connection with contem- ARP funds.) In r s argest Polish population in the U.S.,argest Chicago h once powerful kingdom subsequently conquered powers and partitioned amongst the surrounding a of Austria, Prussia, and Russia. Poles became diaspora harboring a centuries-long regional to become a nation state. Arguably, desire than the Polonia define national identity more after country itself, which was not founded until WarWorld I, only to be invaded and occupied by II incorpor- War and after World Nazi Germany, a l w H i In December of 2008, this factory was the site of a sit-in staged by its workers protesting senior management’ factory on short notice, terminating their health benefits and denying them pay for accrued care vacation days. This tale of post-For M c an index not narratives in themselves but merely in fact as captured narrative. Visual to a larger photographs is subject to an interro- Sekula’s gation not for the sake of questioning the truth of what is depicted but the truth of the story to which the photograph alludes. Contrary to our instinctive belief in photography as truth, photographs, as an index to a story the self, beginning with the most basic social the self, beginning with in varying recurs Autobiography unit, the family. his work. It is of subtlety throughout degrees p s post-fraudism was picked up by the national media because it confirmed negative public opinion r (Bank of America cut of say a c m father, last rites; an image of Sekula’s father’s and the photograph on the and nephew; brother a which features other side of this poster, 1979 a list of four father reading photo of the artist’s rabbis. Although other Sekulas, two of whom are heritage, like religious raised catholic, Sekula’s is that of many Poles is up for question. This surprising given that Poland was home to hardly Jewish population most significant Europe’s b doubles as a r twining of labor struggles and immigration. This is signified thr w It is not a question of what story his images tell but if they tell a story at all. Sekula’ potential sites of myth. be considered Exchange has been the subject of iconic photographs by Thomas Struth and Andreas taken during Their photographs were Gursky. the mayhem, before the heyday of the pit’s trading. Struth and Gursky’s onset of electronic of traders in action, frantic scenes of hundreds portray capitalism as its own form of labor in the most literal sense, as if its being raised to visuality makes it tangible fact, which is contrary called the invisible hand. to why it’s m p He tends not to spectacularize his humility. subject. (Compar g $25shortly after receiving billion dollars in T Sekula has downplayed the event, r to a single image featuring an Hispanic gentleman peering out fr Wide-eyed under a blaring bank of fluor lights, he is wedged in a tight spot by the photo- graph’ as r W photographs both taken at dif festivals. Chicago and Poland, an older wave of immigrants and their childr two or thr , to ed the 1973 PBS 1973 pigsties are a esentation s , Aerospace Folktales epr . eplorable living arsaw passersby. These arsaw passersby. d ’ s , which is the visuality, Smithfield’ by ominent space in his , eground this problem through this problem eground eates toxic gases and pathogens ee hogs belonging to a family ideological parameters as a not. s ound. What looks like a beautiful e An American Family .” This meant photography’s narrative This meant photography’s .” Aerospace Folktales e. This cr ons, Sekula also photographed a young wariness of photographic representation is wariness of photographic representation the biggest producer of pork in Poland, their the biggest producer sence. Notably Sekula took an interest in photography during Sekula took an interest One of the grander themes is Poland’s current is Poland’s One of the grander themes Sekula’s decision to include autobiography Sekula’s Poland’s efforts to distance itself from its to distance itself from efforts Poland’s A Sekula photographed Smithfield both aerially e aided and abetted the highly controversial mainstay of Sekula’s critique of documentary. mainstay of Sekula’s ethod of industrial hog-raising is cited by s ractice of extraordinary rendition, generally rendition, ractice of extraordinary risoners from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan risoners from oy from a nearby town reporting their childrens’ a nearby town reporting oy from r ctivists and governmental agencies as amongst eferred to as “torture by proxy.” Two of Sekula’s Two by proxy.” to as “torture eferred he most cruel and inhumane in the world. In t llnesses are directly related to Smithfield’s related directly llnesses are mages are of alleged “black sites,” where of alleged “black sites,” mages are yet circumscribed yet circumscribed (1973), to (1973), case in the photos of W a typology of individuals captured subjects are is a during their quotidian commutes. There fashionable young couple; an intellectual whose status is not only betrayed by the fact that he while walking, but the socks and is reading shorts combo; and a middle-aged woman whose is a staple of Easternfloral print dress European about fashion. Whatever we might conjecture strictly visual social codes them is through comportment, age). (dress, studies at the University of his undergraduate California, San Diego from 1968 At that to 1972. time, photography existed, as he said, “in a film and triangulated space bound by literature, painting capacity was being challenged by other media. this dilemma as a question; Sekula restates “What can a photograph in and of itself tell us?” Sekula would for his use of text, which is an integral component to date. These texts, of all his major projects which occupy a pr a means of complimenting while exhibitions, are challenging a strictly visual medium. An upshot combination of text and image is a of Sekula’s in which the photos become story- proto-cinema and the text a kind of voiceover script. It boards an surprising that one critic compared is hardly early autobiographical work, variety of photographic tropes ranging from ranging tropes variety of photographic from to formal portraiture, clandestine snapshots street and from serial to aerial photography, in the vein of photography to ethnography Evans’ FSA work. Walker geopolitical situation, which Sekula depicts a trio of images featuring training through base. Poland’s activities at a Polish airforce connected to its militarization is directly an event further marking the inclusion in NATO, was all Poland, however, end of the Cold War. itself an ally to the U.S. when too eager to prove i p as part of his practice acknowledges social documentary’ documentary chronicling a nuclear family. This a nuclear family. documentary chronicling was not only because both works shar but because of the narra- same subject matter, the inclusion of through tive quality introduced text in r i p a t were illegally transferred to states outside U.S. to states illegally transferred were jurisdiction for the purpose of being tortured. enterprise communist past by embracing free in its susceptibility to the high has resulted crimes and misdemeanors of multinational corporations such as Smithfield Foods Sekula photographed a Smithfield Company. plant in the southeastern of Lubelski. province A The limits of photographic r m addition to the animal are hazards environmental conditions, gross the storage of vast amounts of through created manur a hidden from view, negating photography’s ability photography’s negating view, hidden from to furnish In its stead, Sekula photo- proof. graphed the thr way of questioning This is Sekula’s farmer. allowed to see versus that that which we are which we ar raised as his subjects are become apparent that seep into natural water basins. and on the gr wheat field was planted as a barrier to the In addition to the factory Smithfield grounds. envir b i p s nism, om s Polonia , geoning mounted and Gary Polonia and , , had to disband , .1951). A joint .1951). cation of fine art subjects can be is a new project is a new project ’ exploits the specificity ugh the success of o geneous genre. This geneous genre. golden era during the o s New Documents is a collection of highly elations; dubious corporate was executed over a three-year objective documentation of social esiding outside Poland. Chicago’ e These subjects are portrayed using a These subjects are . progressive politics, accounts for para- progressive Nothing could be more antithetical to abstract Nothing could be more Polonia and Other Fables Polonia and Other Fables Not a story in any conventional sense priest and a smoker; and last but not least, ed to the moral purpose of social change. roclaimed as the art of the modernroclaimed era, sychological—making documentary photo- rimacy of the individual make abstraction an rimacy of the individual make abstraction hotography from a social documentary practice hotography from raphy a highly heter his was facilitated thr f eterogeneity, combined with the ebb and flow eterogeneity, nd by extension the values of neo-liberalism. xpression of America’s post-WWII triumphalism of America’s xpression 970s, documentary photography seeking to ndeed, its emphasis on freedom and the ndeed, its emphasis on freedom Polonia and Other Fables In documented Jackson Hans Namuth 1950, now iconic photographs. Pollock in what are a pensive Pollock crouched One features of a weathered in front amongst abraded weeds photo The jalopy suggests the Model T Ford. At Lange. of Dorothea was taken by the likes the same time, his demeanor and nearness to the earth make Pollock a poster boy for rugged was individualism. One would think the photo native hometown of Cody, taken in Pollock’s Wyoming rather than at his East Hampton the image of Pollock, studio. Through soil. abstraction is celebrated as native to the I p e a P casts ours as an age preeminence abstraction’s beyond conventional forms of representation. Given painting than documentary photography. that photographs of people, places, things, and events qualify as documents, documentary photography has been part of the medium different however, are, since its inception. There to document—visual, social, kinds of reality p g o grouped into several overarching themes. into several overarching grouped of post-communist These include the realpolitik Polish/American r machinations in Chicago and Poland; and maintenance of national Chicago Polonia’s identity Other Fables disparate puzzle pieces. It consists of motifs successive and Sekula’s throughout recurring overlapping bodies of work. These range fr Its subject matter geopolitics to autobiography. the humble to the monu- runs the gamut from mental. Subjects include: a polka player and an aging metal-head; a fruited plain and a crowded a labor rally and a black- thoroughfare; Warsaw smith shop; students and fighter jets; a young female commodities trader and a mother; a some pigs. of locations from the University of Chicago of locations from campus to rural villages in Poland. postmodern irony. postmodern irony. at The Museum of Modern Art in It in- 1967. cluded Diane Arbus, Lee Friedlander gained Winogrand. Their subjective approach favor with critics, curators, and collectors over mor conditions. This distinction was even more with the alignment of staged pronounced photography and the rhetoric of postmoder skepticism over photography’s which expressed By the mid capacity to portray a social reality. 1 let alone pursue social critique social relations, justice, found itself between the Scylla of abstraction and the Charybdis of a bur by photographer Allan Sekula (b commission between The Society and The Zacheta National Gallery in Warsaw, Polonia deeply links the City with that nation. period and is comprised of 40 photographs text. The majority of the accompanied by related taken in Chicago and various photographs were Poland. “Polonia”locations throughout refers to Poles r h digmatic shifts in documentary photography’ journey muckraking to museum. A tren- from chant example is the pendulum swing from social documentary’ to its vilification during Depression Great (The Photo League, the leading the Cold War. champion of social documentary in 1951 after being blacklisted due to one of its founders’ documentation of labor unions.) Another example is the demar p w T exhibitions such as and Other Fables Mòwimy po Polsku

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