May 4 – 9, 2010
Members’ Photography Exhibition
Marshall McLuhan created the term “allatonceness” referring to the Pervasive Influence of the digital age. Barriers of language and distance that once separated the wave of progressing ideas in the world are rapidly being broken down by technology. While this uniting trend of influences is positive in many ways, McLuhan criticized the sense of overall conformity that results from a world infected with itself.
Ideas today are mainly conveyed visually rather than in any written format. Texting cannot be thought of as communication of ‘ideas’ since it panders to the most banal information. It reduces words to contractions and uses the minimization of language, encouraging the inability to engage in “deep” thought. It evokes the spectre of George Orwell’s 1984.
The message of photographic images today, however, is not diluted by widespread dissemination. It is enhanced by the bombardment, creating instant visceral reaction. The ‘democratisation’ of photography allows for informational and aesthetic input from previously uninfranchised citizens of the world. With cell phone cameras, computer manipulation and internet access, anything goes! Photography has enhanced its power to communicate ideas.
Artists are once again at the forefront of this expanding universe. Propeller members, in this exhibition of photo-based art, present images that challenge the idea of ‘conformity’ while being accessible and enlightening for all.
Participating Members
- Frances Patella
- Lucy Molnar Wing
- Joseph Muscat
- Daniel Yu
- Philip Hare
- Keijo Tapanainen
- Daphne Gerou
- Dan Dodds
- Kat Citroen
- Liz Preiss
- Anne-Marie Cosgrove
- Margie Kelk
- Ian Amell
- Ruthanne Henry
- Pieter Bakker
Guests
- Simone Collins
- Tony Saad
- Mariam Magsi