Advancements in digital photography, through
the accessibility of the process, ease of use and rela-
tive low cost of image-taking and distribution, has
also encouraged the use of photography in public
art. For example, over the past decade in China,
digital photography has helped lead to a major
photographic movement and interest in photography
in general as a means of public expression—ulti-
mately resulting in public exhibits and installations
all over the world. An engaging example of recent
work from China is artist Chen Shun-Chu’sFamily
Parade(1995–1996). In the work, Shun-Chu created
a large installation by covering an abandoned house
with hundreds of framed images of his family.
Contemporary photographers and artists have
also utilized, and some would say exploited, ele-
ments that have been traditionally available to the
advertising and promotions industry, including bill-
boards, photo light boxes, bus shelters, and bus and
taxi placards. Many of these artists are specifically
critiquing the prevalent advertising medium and
how information, and photography, are dissemi-
nated in popular culture. Chilean artist Alfredo
Jaar frequently utilizes photography in installations
including large-scale prints and light boxes. His
work, often political, focuses on the exploitation
of the Third World by the industrial world. In
Rushes(1986), Jaar installed 80 large photographs
of Brazilian Indians mining gold in dehumanizing
conditions beside the world market price of gold in
a New York City Wall Street District subway sta-
tion. In contrast, Taiwanese artists Pu and Yang
Tsong utilized photo light boxes to exhibit tranquil
images of nature in their workMusical Skies(1998)
at the Memorial Hall Station in Taipei, Taiwan.
Artist Krzysztof Wodiczko combines photo-
graphic images and the photographic process of
slide projection in his ephemeral work. Wodiczko,
who was born in Poland and now lives in the United
States, has produced his projection installations
throughout the world since 1981. Wodiczko’s work
addresses social and political issues including home-
lessness, corporate power and the experience of the
disenfranchised. The artist chooses the images and
the buildings, such as monuments, museums, and
corporate headquarters, to both engage the viewer
and challenge the viewer’s own perception and pre-
judice. His projections may include images of eyes or
hands juxtaposed with images of guns, nuclear mis-
siles, and money. For a project in 1985 at the Grand
Army Plaza in Brooklyn, New York, Wodiczko
projected a U.S. nuclear missile and a Soviet nuclear
missile chained and locked together. These tempor-
ary works are also recorded for history and further
reproduction through photographic documentation.
Others have successfully worked with projection
including American artist Shimon Attie, whose strik-
ing work concentrates on the Holocaust and Ger-
man Jewish history.
The intent and use of the photograph varies from
artist to artist, from original work created by the
artist to the inclusion of appropriated or historical
images. The photograph, image, or projection can
be the final complete artwork or it can be inte-
grated into an overall, larger work. Photography,
and evolving and innovative photographic pro-
cesses, will continue to be a source for artists as
they create works to enliven our public buildings,
cities, spaces, and communities.
JimMcDonald
Seealso:Abbott, Berenice; Agitprop; Digital Photo-
graphy; Evans, Walker; Farm Security Administra-
tion; Hine, Lewis; History of Photography:
Twentieth-Century Developments; Image Theory:
Ideology; Lange, Dorothea; Social Representation;
Works Progress AdministrationFurther Reading
Akmakjian, HaigThe Years of Bitterness and Pride: Farm
Security Administration, FSA Photographs 1935–1943.
New York: McGraw-Hill, 1975.
Bach, Penny Balkin, ed.New Land Marks: Public Art,
Community, and the Meaning of Place. Philadelphia:
Fairmount Park Art Association, 2001.
Feuer, Wendy. ‘‘Review of the International Conference on
Transportation and Public Art, Taipei, Taiwan.’’Public
Art Review(Spring/Summer 2002).
Finkelpearl, Tom.Dialogues in Public Art. Cambridge, MA:
MIT Press, 2000.
Haus, Mary. ‘‘The Bombs on the Building Walls.’’ART-
news. October 1993.
Jaar, Alfredo.Alfredo Jaar: It Is Difficult, Ten Years. Bar-
celona: ACTAR, 1998.
Jacob, Mary Jane.Places with a Past: New Site-Specific Art
at Charleston’s Spoleto Festival. New York: Rizzoli
International Publications, 1991.
Kleeblatt, Norman. ‘‘Persistence of Memory.’’Art in Amer-
ica. June 2000.
Lacy, Suzanne, ed.Mapping the Terrain: New Genre Public
Art. Seattle: Bay Press, 1995.
McEven, Melissa A.Seeing America: Women Photogra-
phers Between the Wars. Lexington, KY: The University
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McKinzie, Richard D.The New Deal for Artists. Princeton,
NJ: Princeton University Press, 1973.
Minglu, Gao, ed.Inside Out: New Chinese Art. Berkeley:
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Mitchell, W.J.T., ed.Art and the Public Sphere. Chicago
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Novakov, Anna. ‘‘Public Penetration: Text, Gender and
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Novakov, Anna, ed.Veiled Histories: The Body, Place, and
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