An-My Le Photos / Museum Of Contemporary Photography

photography, culture, current calendar

The Museum of Contemporary Photography here in the South Loop is a wonderful resource.  It was founded by Columbia College in 1984 and is the leading photography museum in the Midwest.  As such it exhibits local, national and international work and projects. The permanent collection shares this focus.   

Just opened is an exhibit of the work of acclaimed photographer An-My Le, entitled Small Wars.

An-My Le was born in Vietnam in 1960, lived in France for a portion of her childhood and came to the U.S. in 1975 as a refugee.  She received BAS and MS degrees from Stanford University, a MFA from Yale University and a Guggenheim fellowship in 1997.  Her work is in the collections of  the Whitney Museum, MOMA, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY, among others.

The current exhibit includes images relating to the war in Viet Nam and current interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq.  Her approach to both is oblique.

"Instead of addressing her subject by creating reportage images of actual shocking events, she photographs places where war is psychologically anticipated, processed and relived."  The exhibit is impressively thought provoking in a broader sense than the experience one might find viewing more common images of the horrors of war.

Concurrently a related exhibit entitled, "War Fare"  includes photographs by Sarah Pickering, Ashley Gilbertson, Sean Hemmerle, Martha Rosler and Sean Snyder.  All may be seen through January 6.

Karen Irvine, will discuss both exhibits, Tuesday December 5 at noon in the galleries.  Karen is the curator of both exhibits and a terrific lecturer. 

You can have a fine time on the museum's website  http://www.mocp.org perusing their permanent collection.   Works of noted photographers may be seen there along with their bios. 

The Museum of Contemporary Photography, 600 S. Michigan, M-F 10-5; Thurs. til 8, Sat, 12-5.