Extreme white, 2019

Exhibition History

Photography & Politics, Flower City Arts Center, Rochester, NY, 2019, juried by Stephanie Mercedes

Point of Contact, MFA in Photography and Related Media Thesis Show, William Harris Gallery, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY, 2019

work INFORMATION

In “Extreme White” (2018), a 36 x 24 print on canvas, a white gun is photographed on a white background, which leaves little distinction between where the gun stops and where the white background begins. However, the object resists completely blending into its environment, as it dominates most of the frame and feels heavy. The gun has been painted with glow-in-the-dark paint, making the white background black and the gun electric green when the lights are off. When installed in an exhibition, the piece is labeled so that the materials used are available for the viewers to recognize, however viewers are unable to experience the work in darkness because the glow-in-the- dark paint is blocked by the gallery lights. The intention of this work is to offer the viewer the opportunity to scrutinize white privilege. “Extreme White” (2018) is a piece that might look obvious and simple, but it is also a piece in which the viewers are blocked the opportunity to appreciate all the characteristics it offers. By not allowing viewers to see how the work transforms but letting them know that it does, I give them a disadvantage, and trigger the audience to think about how white privilege feels like.