Critical Mass TOP 50: A Contemporary Reference of the Human Condition

July 20 – August 19, 2018
Edition ONE Gallery 728 Canyon Road Santa Fe, New Mexico // www.editionone.gallery // 505.570.5385
Opening Reception: Friday, July 20

THE EXHIBITION:
A Contemporary Reference of the Human Condition highlights photographic work coming from the top echelon of Photolucida’s Critical Mass competition – photographers are from the United States, Israel, Mexico, Japan, South Korea, Germany, Iceland, Denmark, and Switzerland. The work in this exhibition was juried to the top by 200 international curators, publishers, gallerists, editors, and museum directors.

Curatorial statement from Alexa Becker, Kehrer Verlag Publishers:
The Critical Mass TOP 50 selection is an impressive array of photography. This is true due to the diversity in subject, but also by the variety of artistic approaches in which the medium is used, expanded and explored. Bodies of work in this selection employ documentary, street, and conceptual photography. And, some images stretch photography’s limits with the use of multimedia processes. Even with all of these different genres, subject matters and creative processes, one theme weaves its thread throughout – our very existence in this ever-changing and challenging world.

How do we as an international society deal with persecution, poverty, diverging religious beliefs, sexuality, psychological transformation and the increasing threat to the ecological system that sustains us?

While some of the images in A Contemporary Reference of the Human Condition do not speak directly to current world issues, they stem from fundamental emotions like love, fear, or the feeling of separation. As far apart as these photographs may seem at first glance, seen together they engage us as an inspiring reference document of the human condition in the 21st century.

Image credits:
Patty Carroll: Gun and Roses, from the Anonymous Women: Reconstructed series.
Philip Cheung: Sharjah Aquarium, Al Khan, Sharjah, from The Edge series.