Liz Deschenes

The photography of Liz Deschenes challenges the limitations of documentation, reimagining the object hood of images by manipulating the materials, equipment, and chemicals of the photographic process. Her acclaimed photograms, made by leaving photosensitive paper outside overnight then washing it with silver toner, are prone to oxidation and are thus in a constant state of flux despite their abstract, mirror-like qualities. Rather than represent a moment in time, Deschenes’s works are a literal rendition of the passing of time. She challenges and alters the limited scope through which her audience might approach a photograph, forcing them to become an active interrogator of the space that they can see through their own eyes.

Deschenes has shown at institutions including MASS MoCA, North Adams, Massachusetts, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Villa Arson, Nice, France, Museum of Modern Art, New York, National Gallery of Denmark, Copenhagen, Autocenter, Berlin, International Center of Photography, New York, Fotomuseum Winterthur, Switzerland, Aspen Art Museum, Colorado, Bergen Kunsthall, Norway, New Museum, New York, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, among others. She participated in the Whitney Biennial in 2012.