Shoot the Family

Although sensational, the title of this exhibition actually refers to the photography of the family- who we are at home and how we are bound into our unique unit. Sixteen contemporary artists from North America, Europe and Asia portray members of their own families and offer a multi-layered representation of the family as a dynamic social institution. The art works shed light on the formation of each individual's physical, cultural, and sexual identity, on the nucleus that has shaped and influenced each artist, and on the values and traits that they have passed along to their own families. The most familiar artifact or scrapbook item -the family photograph - becomes an illuminating investigation of contemporary culture. Inspired by documentary and staged photography, conceptual art and performance art, these artists portray the charged relationships between the people taking the pictures and those portrayed. The mechanisms of photography and video are penetrating and the photograph becomes an indirect form of self-portraiture of the artist himself.