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The Mess Just Beneath the Veneer of Order

The Mess Just Beneath the Veneer of Order

The Mess Just Beneath the Veneer of Order is a group exhibition of photographic-based works curated by Joshua Lutz, Assistant Professor of Photography in the School of Art+Design. In this show, disparate catalogs capture various degrees to which power can imprison those that fall on the fringes, and embolden others born into privilege. The exhibition invites us to engage with the space between the archive of transgender woman seeking refuge from the public in the upstate home of Casa Susanna, to the horror of images of men confined within the walls of the San Quentin State Prison. Another set of images, painstakingly maintained and cataloged, of men congratulating themselves, is foiled by, an archive of decayed family photographs that floated to the surface after being destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. Together, these images map out ways to which photographs can both document the past and as well as perhaps foreshadow and provide insight to our current cultural and political climate.