Constellations, Photographs in Dialogue
A museum’s collection can tell us a great deal about its history— its past exhibitions and programs, commitments to artists, and dedication to the communities it serves. Each collection is unique and reflects the vision of the various curators who have shaped it. Over the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art’s eighty-five years of collecting photography, the scope of its holdings has evolved. Ever-growing and transforming, it not only represents what its stewards found relevant and pressing in their time but also reveals what they left out. Whether filling gaps or adding depth, new acquisitions are always in conversation with works collected in the past.
Constellations: Photographs in Dialogue presents recent acquisitions by an exciting group of local and international artists alongside existing holdings to explore how, together, these works can expand, deepen, and complicate the stories we tell, sparking thought-provoking connections and activating fresh and unexpected narratives. Organized into six galleries, the exhibition features approximately two hundred works of art, many of which are on view at SFMOMA for the first time. It showcases the collection’s strengths, particularly in Japanese photography, the documentary tradition, and work by Bay Area artists. The exhibition also highlights the museum’s expanding holdings of contemporary photography, featuring artists such as Poklong Anading, Daisuke Yokota, Wendy Red Star, and Clare Strand alongside established figures like Imogen Cunningham, Graciela Iturbide, and Edward Weston. The curators who collaborated on this project have each chosen a single work or grouping of new acquisitions as points of departure. Some have traced creative innovation within a single genre, such as still lifes or self-portraiture, while others have delved into a specific period of the medium’s local history. Each gallery strikes a different chord, creating moments of dialogue, resonance, and even tension, suggesting just some of the many possible ways to interpret SFMOMA’s distinctive photography collection.
Image: Wendy Red Star, Fall, from the series Four Seasons, 2006, printed 2017. Collection of SFMOMA, gift of Loren G. Lipson, M.D. © Wendy Red Star
