Research Catalog

Title

Paul Shambroom : picturing power / [editor, Laura Westlund].

Author

Shambroom, Paul, 1956-

Publication

Minneapolis, Minn. : Weisman Art Museum, University of Minnesota, ©2008.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• Westlund, Laura.
• Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum.

Description

xi, 147 pages : illustrations (some color); 30 cm

Summary

Published to accompany documentary photographer Paul Shambroom's extensive 2008-09 American traveling exhibition, "Picturing Power" is the first volume to bring together selections from all five of his most important--and highly acclaimed--series to date. In the late 1980s, Shambroom visited manufacturing sites and office spaces to capture the spaces where many Americans spend the majority of their days--from the grittiest industrial factory to the cleanest biotech lab to the smallest, emptiest office cubicle. His next series, "Nuclear Weapons," begun in the early 1990s, gained him access to long-restricted nuclear sites, where he produced eerie images of slumbering bombs and immaculate, empty war rooms. For "Meetings" (1999-2003), Shambroom traveled to municipal meetings in small communities as far flung as Bernice, Louisiana and Baltic, South Dakota, to document public officials in a formal portrait style, calling up both the seriousness and banality of these gatherings. His most recent series, "Security" (2004-present), documents eerie scenes of security training at special facilities across the country. Past and future, reality and fiction, blur as each figure creates a picture of threat and resistance in our post-9/11 era. While diverse in subject matter, Shambroom's series all record and demystify secret and little-seen loci of power. His images are remarkable both for their stark portrayal of such places, and as evidence of his access to the sites. Negotiating this access in an open and democratic manner is a hallmark of Shambroom's practice

Alternative Title

Picturing power

Subjects

• Photography, Artistic > Exhibitions
• Shambroom, Paul, 1956- > Exhibitions

Genre/Form

Exhibition catalogs.

Note

• Catalog of an exhibition held at the Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum, Feb. 8-Apr. 20, 2008 and at 3 other museums in the U.S. through Apr. 6, 2009.

Contents

Power, power, everywhere ... : curators' introduction / Diane Mullin, Helena Reckitt, and Christopher Scoates -- Process and perspective : an interview with Paul Shambroom / Stuart Horodner -- Chim chiminey : Paul Shambroom, the documentary tradition, and the subject of work / Diane Mullin -- Going underground : the nuclear weapons series by Paul Shambroom / Christopher Scoates -- Neither to criticize nor glorify : Paul Shambroom's studied neutrality / Helena Reckitt -- Baffling lights : Paul Shambroom's security series / Dick Hebdige.

ISBN

• 1933045752
• 9781933045757

OCLC

• ocn192056100
• 192056100
• SCSB-1468960

Owning Institutions

Princeton University Library