Randolph Community College’s second year photography students traveled to Greensboro today to check out two new photography exhibits being held at the Weatherspoon Museum at UNCG. Photographer, Richard Mosse’s new series, INFRA, is on display on the first floor. Mosse’s exhibit was full of landscapes captured using Kodak Aerochrome infrared film, which turned all normally green plant life into a surrealistic pink and red world. Students were amazed by the photographs’ vivid colors and the dreamlike quality they created. The other exhibit, To What Purpose? Photography as Art and Document, hosts several different photographers and is located on the second floor of the museum. Original plates of some of these photographs date back to 1869 with some of the newest photographs only dating back to 1999. Students enjoyed the variety of these documentation styled pieces just before sitting down to a photography talk hosted by the museum. Dr. Benjamin Filene, academic with a background in history museums, spoke at the event. He talked about cameras being called “machines that capture reality” and questioned students on their thoughts about that. Filene chose one photo in particular to analyze during the lecture, Nan Goldin’s photograph, Bruce’s Mirror. Students talked with Filene about the meaning of the photograph and different aspects of what the photograph was supposed to represent. What may have looked like a snapshot at first glance may have a million stories being told at once upon further inspection. For a better look, stop by the Weatherspoon Art Museum in Greensboro. Exhibits will be up until the middle of April 2012.
