#large-format camera

As part of his solo exhibition, A Sidelong Glance, the Museum invited John Edmonds to create new work that incorporates sculptures and masks donated by the estate of the late Black American novelist Ralph Ellison (1913–1994), who is best known for his 1952 novel Invisible Man. 

“I was drawn to the collection because of Ellison's complicated relationship with race, but also because of others’ responses to the collection not being ‘very interesting,’” Edmonds says. “Interest and value are all a matter of class and taste, and through photographing the collection I wanted to re-assign ‘life’ to [it]. The questions I had moreover were: What does Ellison's collection reveal about his tastes and who he was as a collector and admirer? And, if presented collectively, does this act as a portrait of Ellison himself?”

Using a large-format camera, Edmonds photographed individual objects in the Museum’s photography studio, which is used to document and catalogue works in the collection. Edmonds employed a shimmering golden fabric as a backdrop rather than the standard black, white, or gray backdrops, which have been deemed more neutral, and therefore more appropriate, by art historical institutions. Just as the meaning of these objects changes within the context of both Ellison’s collection and the Museum, Edmonds’s photographs once again transform them through the act of photography.

This Black History Month, we're examining how John Edmonds centers African art in his photography as a site of identity, power, and artistic ingenuity.

'Untitled' (Portobello Sunset) 4th February,2015. 

This is the second image I took with a 5x4 large-format Camera Obscura (pin-hole camera) It was a particularly magic evening and the sea and the sky seemed to merge in inky colours. I liked the inclusion of the man and his dog who took time to stand and stare out to sea.