holditorloseit

Since the inception of photography in the early 19th century, the realism it introduced has had a significant impact on the practice of pictorial art. Whether or not photography single-handedly promoted the rise of Impressionism, it undoubtedly changed the way people perceived reality. Because the camera lens can depict with such precision and accuracy whatever is placed before it, viewers often confuse these depictions with the physical, tangible, and so-called “real” things. This brings us to the issue of representation, a concept long examined by art critics and philosophers. Partly inspired by Hiroshi Sugimoto’s Architecture series, Not Quite Real is my attempt to challenge photographic realism in a literal, unambiguous way.