These four photographers are concerned with human interaction in the realm of societal fringe.
Merry Alpern, whose work was included in the 1995 Whitney Biennial, will present a selection of images that define the photographer as voyeur. Her images of a lower Manhattan brothel, taken surreptitiously from a window of a building opposite, garnered Alpern an N.E.A. Grant which was subsequently revoked.
Stephen Barker has taken clandestine photographic images in sex clubs and porn movie theatres; intensely and purposefully atmospheric (and the work most closely aligned to notions of photography as painting), Barker captures a mood of furtive displacement, as strangers amass and interact in a world of shadow.
Maryann Camilleri has documented the world of drag queens and their interaction with each other, the camera, and by extension, the non-drag world. Photographic selections from her book, Ladies, Please!, are both records of public gatherings of “the clan” (at events like Wigstock) and “portraits of portraits” with attendant humor and pathos.
San Francisco-based photographer Ken Probst is best known for his behind-the-scenes documentation of the couture fashion world. In his new body of work, Probst posits himself and the viewer as voyeur in the world of adult entertainment. Taken at both gay and straight video shoots, Probst captures the interaction of actors, directors, and technical staffs, simultaneously de-bunking the erotic myth of porn and identifying a “middle space” between action and production.