The show at the Duluth Photography Institute, by Kip Praslowicz, reminds me of how many filters I bring to the viewing of photography. I look at some of these images and I feel like I have seen life caught in action — akin to the Muybridge photos that helped us understand what photography could see that painting could not. I look at others and think: the people in the shot have paused for the creation of art. The photos, in the second case, are closer to portraiture.

Of course, photography allows for both: for the capture of life in motion and for the collaboration with life for the production of art. I’m not just sure I’m used to seeing both kinds of photos in a single exhibition.

But seeing them together like this reminds me of my own perceptual filters. Being reminded of them, I experience art differently than I might, otherwise, and for that, I am grateful to Praslowicz and to the DPI.

More on Praslowicz here:

Signed,
David, Still Ill