Shannon

Mateo Serna Zapata

 

 

 

A Public Character

By Shannon Ebner

Presented by Institue of Contemporary Art, Miami, FL

 

 

 

 

The exhibition A public character, by Shannon Ebner is displayed in different stages. I will discuss the first.

 

Labeled Black Box Collision A, the artist decides to show a series of photographs of the letter A. These photographs were taken by the artist since 2012. Her focus is to show how a simple letter is portrayed in our environment and how oblivious we sometimes are to it. The room the photographs are displayed in is an actual black box with the walls painted black.  Each letter photographed is substantially different in the way that they were created. Some are part of an advertisement sign while others are part of a graffiti. The line quality changes with some having bold edges and some appearing flat. The surface that they exist is also very different. Some surfaces seem rough while others are smooth like paper.  This further emphasizes that they are sporadic in location across the Meatpacking District and Chelsea of New York; which is where these photographs are taken.  However, the artist decides to correlate them by doing two things, printing them all in Black and White and printing them the same size. By doing this, she groups the letters implying that they are a part of our environment. She chooses to print them all really big to confront the viewer in hope that they can assimilate. There are no commercial lights that indicate an advertisement, nor is there enough significant information surrounding the letter to imply a specific place. Shannon deliberately does this to not distract the viewer from the letter, A.

 

These photographs are inviting; when standing in front of them, you feel as if you were actually standing in front of them in their natural environment. Every photograph holds an ambiguous story. I want to know where that specific letter exists in space, I want to know who placed it there and for what reason. I want to know what Shannon was doing that day when she stumbled upon each letter. Was her intention that morning to find a letter or did she merely come across it by chance.