Of the five young photographers and photo-artists featured at this annual exhibition, Sara Kopera transcends beginner status with her multi-hued, subtly textured, softly focused and muted study, “Beyond Realization,” in which two ambiguous figures occupy the extreme left center within a horizontal gap in a worn and weathered stone façade that runs across the picture plane. Much as we attempt to discern the figures, which appear alternately to be merged into the statue of a man sitting with his back towards us, and objects broken into fragments, we cannot pin down what they represent, which is how Kopera intends to affect us. If Kopera is fascinated by the enigmas of spatial perception, Shana Gordon is drawn to the pathos of time in a critique of progress; her color images capture contemporary places into which she has introduced her hand holding black-and-white photographs of what the sites looked like back in the day. For those attracted to lighter fare, Jen Clar serves up nocturnal color shots of glowing brassieres flying over telephone wires. (Michael Weinstein)
Through September 9 at the DePaul University Art Museum, 2350 North Kenmore
The Craft of Reparations: DePaul Art Museum Connects Local and International State Violence “Remaking the Exceptional: Tea, Torture, and Reparations | Chicago to Guantánamo” at the DePaul Art Museum examines the question of reparations by tackling two cases: the well-documented tragedy of Chicago police torture and the ongoing international scandal of Guantánamo Bay.
