Photo-text art

The head and shoulders of a black woman in a simple white cotton shift, taken from the back leaving the subject unknown. The black and white photographs are alongside six engraved text plaques and fixed directly to the wall. One text plaque hangs above the photographs and five are placed below.
"Twenty Questions", by Lorna Simpson. An example of photo-text installation, in which a series of black and white photographs are shown alongside six engraved text plaque.

Photo-text, also written as photo/text, is a hybrid form of artistic expression that combines photography and textual elements to convey a message or create a narrative. This combination allows for a multi-dimensional experience for the viewer.

Notable examples of photo-text art include Martha Rosler's The Bowery in two inadequate descriptive systems (1974/75);[1][2] David Askevold's Muse Extracts, exhibited at Documenta 6 in 1977; Carrie Mae Weems' Family Pictures and Stories (1983);[3] Lorna Simpson's installation Guarded Conditions (1989); and Martha Wilson's I have become my own worst fear, first presented in 2011.[4]

The summer photography festival Rencontres d'Arles gives a Photo-Text Book Award at each annual event.

  1. ^ "Whitney Museum of American Art". Retrieved 17 March 2017.
  2. ^ Blazwick, Iwona (2008). "Taking Responsibility". Art Monthly: 1–7.
  3. ^ "Family Pictures and Stories, 1981–1982". carriemaeweems.net. Retrieved March 7, 2015.
  4. ^ Gómez, Edward M. (Nov 2011). "MARTHA WILSON and the Well-Examined Female Self". The Brooklyn Rail.