Photography Doesn’t Have to Reinvent Itself to Be Radical

The much-anticipated survey of cutting-edge image makers—which launched in 1985, and has previously spotlighted talent from Rineke Dijkstra to Philip-Lorca diCorcia—doesn’t offer a single cohesive answer. But the exhibition does smartly investigate how photography continues to expand the possibilities of portraiture, the gaze, and what constitutes “documentary”.
are known for collapsing boundaries, often turning the photographic into something sculptural or installation-based. With the exception of Em Rooney here—whose pieces mix media and most explicitly ignore the definition of what a “photograph” can even be—much of the work in this edition of “Being” is relatively conventional in terms of technique and process. That doesn’t stop it from being quietly radical.