Old and new forms of photography combine to form a thought-provoking new exhibition at D.C. Arts Center. Photographer Bruce McKaig relies on both pinhole cameras made from paint cans and digital cameras to capture information about a setting over an elapsed period of time.
"Timemarkers" is both an exhibition and an installation. Black and white silver gelatin prints of the pinhole camera images are paired with color digital contact sheets encompassing hundreds of time lapse images. Each pair displays the motions of humans in a fixed environment through blur and stop motion. Interspersed throughout the gallery space are TV monitors playing back the images, amplifying the methods of motion displayed by McKaig. Stillness and motion are experienced in three different ways.
The objects of McKaig's gaze are humans at work and sometimes at play. Subjects range from an afternoon spent in a barbershop to a band rehearsal to retiling a floor. The digital contact sheets display the action of each scene in hundreds of little freeze frames, while the pinhole print records a fixed image, contrasting the mundane environment with ethereal wisps of motion. The people are distinct and indistinct, repetitive and yet elegant in their actions.
The most successful pairing of images are the photographs for "replacing a kitchen floor," an event recorded over a span of eight hours. The frames of the digital contact sheet have enough variation in image that they form an abstract image of their own. Shot from an overhead angle, the pinhole print eerily records the motion of the work but not the details of the human forms. The effect accentuates the transience of life.
McKaig injects a sense of mortality to his work, though the photographs in "Timemarkers" can be experienced on different levels. The delicacy of the human presence in his images is both contemplative and visually aesthetic. By using one of the earliest methods of photography, the homemade pinhole camera, McKaig introduces a timeline of the photographic genre, culminating in the use of digital photography. Even the contact sheets are reminiscent of the motion experiments of the early days of the genre, where motion studies of the human form were a common scientific exercise.
Anyone interested in the exhibition might want to participate in just such an exercise. On Feb. 11, 18 and 25 at 2:30pm, time-lapse photos of the exhibit will be taken with a pinhole camera. Be a part of the art at D.C.A.C until Feb. 26. For information on gallery hours and directions, check out.dcartscenter.org.
