Richard Mosse, Love Is The Drug, 2012
Light in Wartime brings together photographers whose works shed new light on war, both forensically and symbolically.
In a world so hounded by images of war, many of the photographers featured in Light in Wartime challenge the conventions and limitations of traditional reportage, underlining the tensions between art, fiction, and photojournalism.
Photography in this exhibition is utilized to address themes of displacement, war, and the silent stories of the aftermath of conflict. The works explore the gap between understanding wars as historical happenings, and their fictionalized representations in the entertainment world, political realm, and collective consciousness. This exhibition offers new ways of looking at conflict by turning the apparatus of photography and various apparatuses of war (such as heartbeat detectors, x-ray machines, sniper holes, and infrared film) upon themselves, to create photographs that act as metaphors.
Drawing from experimental photographic processes, the works in this show engage with the remnants and vestiges of warscapes in order to illuminate hidden truths and bring forth the presence of absence. Questions are raised about the reliability of historical accounts such as news and photographs, which significantly determine how war is transmitted, understood, and remembered. The viewer is forced to step back and reconsider how the images around us construct reality.
In a world so hounded by images of war, many of the photographers featured in Light in Wartime challenge the conventions and limitations of traditional reportage, underlining the tensions between art, fiction, and photojournalism.
Photography in this exhibition is utilized to address themes of displacement, war, and the silent stories of the aftermath of conflict. The works explore the gap between understanding wars as historical happenings, and their fictionalized representations in the entertainment world, political realm, and collective consciousness. This exhibition offers new ways of looking at conflict by turning the apparatus of photography and various apparatuses of war (such as heartbeat detectors, x-ray machines, sniper holes, and infrared film) upon themselves, to create photographs that act as metaphors.
Drawing from experimental photographic processes, the works in this show engage with the remnants and vestiges of warscapes in order to illuminate hidden truths and bring forth the presence of absence. Questions are raised about the reliability of historical accounts such as news and photographs, which significantly determine how war is transmitted, understood, and remembered. The viewer is forced to step back and reconsider how the images around us construct reality.
Rola Khayyat is a Lebanese visual artist and curator. In 2016 she graduated with an MFA in photography
from Columbia University. Her work explores new dimensions on the representation of war, memory, and
identity. Rola has curated shows in Beirut, Thessaloniki, and New York, such as the BEYroute for the third
Thessaloniki Bienniale, Lattice Work at the Black and White gallery, and Simmer at Kunstraum LLC. Her
work has been exhibited extensively both nationally and internationally, including exhibitions at the
Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art, Okk / raum 29, Catalyst Arts Belfast Photo Festival 2013, and the
21st International Istanbul Art Fair (Tuyap). Rola lives and works in NYC.
