Reality is a Good Likeness

Photographs by Patricia Carr Morgan
Launched by the University of Arizona Museum of Art
June 22 – December 1, 2013

Statement

I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the mediated truth.

My reality was forever challenged and transformed when, as a young girl of 15, walking home from school, I noticed a familiar print, a simple flowered fabric hanging from our mulberry tree. Odd, I thought. Then, my eyes focused forward and adjusted to the present moment. I saw my house, once warm and safe, transformed into a charred skeleton. Our private belongings were strewn in the street, in the shrubs, in the neighbor’s yard. While I had sat at my desk that day, a simple gas leak had destroyed my home along with generations of mementos.

As my family began the heavy work of piecing together a new reality and searching for keepsakes we would one day pass down to our grandchildren, my beloved aunt would often steal me away for a glorious afternoon matinee. Each time, we were both drawn to the most complex and layered genre of film noir, with all of its twists and turns.

By the time I sought a good Western, white hats versus black hats, my life knowledge had given clarity to the complex human fabric of perception that obfuscates even the simplest of scenes. I didn’t just see noble natives. I saw white men in brown makeup. I saw quaint towns that I knew were false fronts. I saw hopeful citizens attempting to create community in a culture of violence. I saw the gunman leave at the end. I saw myth.

Whether exploring my personal story or that of popular culture, I am at once afflicted and beguiled by the complex nature of human reality. Even the most simple and light occasion, a county fair or a family wedding, has its angles of repose, elation, tension, and darkness.

In each of my series, I examine a different approach to capturing the truth. Some images are left unadulterated, while others have been intentionally manipulated. In each case, I attempt to capture an indiscriminate view of reality.

Concept

Reality is as memory does. What begins as scientific fact merges with belief, perception, past and future experiences, cultural tremors, and societal imprints to create true reality. A rose is definitively not just a rose to all who inhale its sweet scent regardless of what you call it.

In the exhibition Reality Is a Good Likeness, photographer Patricia Carr Morgan explores the depth and malleability of reality by sifting images through the lens of cultural identity and national pride, alongside the provocative and intimate perception of each unique subject and viewer. Artist, audience, and image merge to create differing constructs of the same reality.

Broken into three series of photographs, each grouping explores a different approach to the creation of reality: Out of the Past layers objects as memories over iconic stills from film noir, alerting the eye to missions and additions, blurring the line between fact and fiction; united states explores the impact of popular culture on historical fact and how one’s national identity vastly alters his or her perception of past eras; and the unmediated images of Alligator Balls and Cotton Candy demonstrate that even unedited shots are altered by the perceptions of both viewer and artist. Remembering these realities, Morgan has merged remaining photographs into groups with neither reason nor segues and, like a persistent thought, an unrelated image intrudes.

As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain, and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality.

—Albert Einstein in his lecture,
“Geometry and Experience,” 1921

Series Explanation
The concepts of this exhibition are depicted within three series for a total of seventy-three images.

Exhibition Contents

This exhibition from the University of Arizona Museum of Art, as curated by Lauren Rabb, is available in its entirety. Images from the three series along with Continuous strips of outtakes are included:

• Out of the Past

• united states

• Alligator Balls and Cotton Candy

• Continuous strips of outtakes

The exhibition consists of:

36 archival matted, framed and UV acrylic glazed, museum quality images of the three series, which range in size from 20”x 24” to 53”x 19.5,” totaling 105 linear feet
37 unglazed pieces from the Continuous strips of outtakes, mounted on acrylic ranging in size from 4”x 6” to 32”x 4” totaling 98 linear feet
5 crates
Catalogues for retail sale
4 publicity copies to accompany exhibit
Printable PDF CD of education material

Exhibition Specifications
Mounting hardware is in place and works are exhibition ready. The artist is happy to work closely with all exhibition planners and coordinate with each venue to create a site-specific installation.

Editing the exhibition is permitted and at the discretion of the exhibitor.

Loan

Fee is $1800 for eight weeks. (If no conflict, the exhibit time may be extended).

Included in the fee:
Shipping and transit insurance one-way
Crating cost

Essays

• Rebecca Senf, Norton Family Curator, Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona, and Phoenix Art Museum

• Lauren Rabb, Curator of Art, University of Arizona Museum of Art

• Paul Ivey, Professor of Art History, University of Arizona, School of Art

• Trudy Wilner Stack, Independent Curator

Educational Materials

• Created for this exhibition by Cass Fey, acclaimed education director of the landmark exhibition Girl Culture and former Director of Education at the Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona

• Created to help teachers and docents interpret the photographs and engage viewers

• Presented to complement study in many subject areas, including photography, design, media arts, popular culture, visual studies, creative writing, and poetry

• Printable CD of materials is included.

• Artist will be available and has given exhibition talks to docents, general public, museum groups, college English classes as well as other students.

“Reality is a Good Likeness,” which was displayed at the UAMA in the fall of 2013, brought in many visitors who had never before been to our museum. Morgan graciously gave presentations to our docent group, many students, and to the public at large. Rather than giving a straight-forward lecture, Morgan guided visitors through the exhibition, immersing them in her work all the while maintaining a dialogue with the group. Her ability to explain her complex artistic process in a way that was comprehensible to diverse audiences was invaluable to the public’s understanding of the exhibition.

– Olivia Miller, Curator of Exhibitions and Education, University of Arizona Museum of Art

Downloads

Checklist (PDF)

Proposal (PDF)