I recently visited ICP, where an exhibit of Japanese artists got me thinking about how technology has changed the scope of photography. Many of these artists had used Photoshop in distinctive ways – most strikingly in Tomoka Sawada’s photograph of Japanese schoolgirls in which she collaged her subtly altered face onto the heads of all the students in a class portrait. Her use of Photoshop and her themes dealing with identity brought to mind another summer exhibit at ICP: Atta Kim’s On-Air show from 2006, which featured beautiful prints with multiple images. I remember I had been especially impressed with 100 Countries/100 Men from his self-portrait series. An expert and long-time user of Photoshop, these photographs were executed with multiple images using the Layers feature.
I’ve been using Photoshop since before it was released 18 years ago. In the early days we were trying to figure out how to use it. Today, Photoshop has become an invaluable instrument for professional photographers, and artists use it with complete freedom, fulfilling our wildest dreams.
–ken
Heavyweight: Recent Photography & Video from Japan
International Center for Photography
New York, NY
through September 7, 2008
