building or public space, such as a sculpture. Or,
the work can be part of a ‘‘portable’’ collection of
work, such as photographs and paintings that can
be moved among public buildings. Artwork may
also be physically integrated into the location,
becoming an essential element to the structure,
such as an artist-designed floor, wall, or landscape.
Temporary or ephemeral public artworks may in-
clude performances, photographic projections, or
temporary displays.
From its invention up until the period of major
growth of public art programs in the mid to late
twentieth century, photography has been primarily
utilized within public art as collectable portable art-
works or as a medium for documentation. In the
1920s, Soviet artists seized upon the documentary
nature of photography to create Agitprop, or works
meant to sway the masses to a particular political
viewpoint. Several significant documentary projects
came about in the United States during the Great
Depression in the 1930s, under the Federal Govern-
ment’s Works Progress Administration (WPA) pro-
gram, the Federal Arts Program (FAP), and the
Farm Security Administration (FSA). Photogra-
phers, along with others in the arts such as painters
and writers, were employed by the U.S. Federal
Government and given the opportunity to create
or teach art for reasonable pay.
The government hired the photographers to docu-
ment the current condition of life in America, includ-
ing documenting governmental relief and construction
programs. Historically, these photographers built
upon the distinguished social documentary work of
independent photographers throughout the world in
the earlier part of the twentieth century. Photographer
Lewis Hine, with his groundbreaking images of the
abysmal working conditions in industrial America,
and the subsequent reform that these images helped
bring about, is an excellent example of this earlier
socially-conscious work.
The FSA program employed the photographers to
document the life and hardship of rural America
during the drought and Great Depression. The pro-
gram produced a remarkable 270,000 images and
included such notable photographers as Dorothea
Lange and Walker Evans. The iconic twentieth cen-
tury image, Migrant Mother, Nipomo, California
(1936) by Lange was a product of the program.
Photographer Berenice Abbott completed another
significant project but hers was focused on the
urban experience. Funded through the FAP and
sponsored by the Museum of the City of New York,
Abbott was employed to document New York City in
a period of sweeping change during the 1930s. This
work culminated in the important portfolio,Changing
New York(1939),a collection of 305 images.
Contemporary public art can be defined as
beginning in the post-World War II era when art-
work began to be incorporated into new post-war
modern buildings and cities throughout the world.
In particular, the 1960s and 1970s saw a significant
growth of local governmental public art programs
and interest in public art in general. Much of this
funding was spurred by the newly created National
Endowment for the Arts, one of President Lyndon
Johnson’s ‘‘Great Society’’ programs. So-called
‘‘Percent for the Arts’’ programs were set up in a
number of American cities that by statute called for
the setting aside of a percent of the overall budget
for the construction of a public building for the
purchase and placement of art works. The federal
General Services Administration in particular was
a pioneer in percent-for-the-arts placements.
In this time period, photography as a public art
medium was generally still utilized for documenta-
tion purposes and collecting of discrete prints.
However, the evolution of technology and artists’
ingenuity changed this pattern in the 1980s, 1990s,
and today. Photography is currently being inte-
grated into public art on many different levels
from large commercially-produced digital murals;
to source imagery for etched reproductions in glass,
metal, stone, or tile; to use in traditional commer-
cial and advertising venues; to temporary projects
including installations and projections.
Photography and the photographic process have
become more feasible in public art largely through
technological advances that have allowed for
greater scale opportunities and the utilization of
new materials and reproduction techniques that
lead to a more permanent image and product. For
example, Puerto Rican born artist Pepo ́n Osorio’s
community-based artwork entitledI Have a Story
To Tell You...(2003) features glass panels incorpor-
ating transferred photographic images from the
Latino community in Philadelphia. The panels
became the walls and roof of a casita (small house)
Osorio built in a community health center courtyard
as a gathering place. Deborah Wian Whitehouse
creates large-scale photographic works using com-
mercial digital printing on vinyl sheets. Her work
Spirit of Atlanta(2000), installed at the Atlanta Inter-
national Airport, highlights diversity and urban life,
and measures a remarkable 2070 feet. Artist Ellen
Driscoll’s large work,As Above, So Below(1993–
1999), in New York City’s Grand Central Terminal
is a mosaic mural she created with source photo-
graphic imagery.PUBLIC ART PHOTOGRAPHY