Metal Objects, (From the Whispered Silences: Japanese Americans and World War II)

Images(2)

Metal Objects, (From the Whispered Silences: Japanese Americans and World War II)

Artist Joan Myers (American, born 1944)

Date1984 (printed 1993)

Mediumplatinum- palladium print

DimensionsImage: 8 1/4 × 6 5/8 in. (21 × 16.8 cm)
Support: 14 1/2 × 11 in. (36.8 × 27.9 cm)
Mat: 20 × 16 in. (50.8 × 40.6 cm)

ClassificationsPhotograph

Credit LineGift of Joan Myers, 2017

Object number2017.5.17

DescriptionStill life composition with metal objects carefully arranged: rusted bottle opener at top left; small glue or paste tube at left side; rusted nail file at bottom; unidentified object, possibly a razor head, at lower right; unidentified object, possibly part of a belt or fastener, at upper right; unidentified long, thin object at center.
Text Entries

Object Notes

During the preparations for her 2014 solo exhibition at the museum, the artist offered that if the museum purchased work from the show in the amount of $5,000.00 she would donate the remaining prints from the show to the collection. This offer was presented to the Collections Committee who expressed reservations about taking the entire group. Curator was asked to come back with a new proposal of a smaller group of work and to present that as part of an acquisitions proposal for the entire Focus on Photography series, of which Myers show was a part. The final group includes the purchase of two photographs and a donation of work by the artist drawn from prints in the exhibition and from her larger body of work.

Emuseum Notes

Throughout her series Whispered Silences, Myers uses the camera to convey the solemn, isolated landscapes of former Japanese internment camps, highlighting physical ruins and abandoned objects. Her photographs of utilitarian objects carry an emotional poignancy while simultaneously presenting the objects with an archeological importance. The isolation of the objects within the frame implores their careful observation. The details of each object speak to their history while also serving as testimony to the resiliency of human spirit.

On View

Not on view

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