Independent Curators International supports the work of curators to help create stronger art communities through experimentation, collaboration, and international engagement.

Independent Curators International supports the work of curators to help create stronger art communities through experimentation, collaboration, and international engagement.

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Shoot the Family

Publication

$19.95

In recent years, contemporary artists have often aimed their cameras at their own families, framing a subject that is undeniably charged. In compelling and diverse images by 16 artists selected by curator Ralph Rugoff, we are invited to contemplate the strong emotional and psychological ties that connect these artists to their relatives and partners, as well as the powerful social and economic forces that shape the family. With a text by Rugoff and a short story by author Lynne Tillman, Shoot the Family is a fully illustrated catalogue published to accompany the traveling exhibition.

Artists include Yasser Aggour, Darren Almond, Janine Antoni, Richard Billingham, Miguel Calderón, Mitch Epstein, Hai Bo, Lyle Ashton Harris, Ari Marcopoulos, Malerie Marder, Jonathan Monk, Anneè Olofsson, Adrian Paci, Chris Verene, Gillian Wearing, and Zhang Huan.

"Published in 2006 to accompany a traveling exhibition of the same name, Shoot the Family addresses various emotional and psychological issues that artists working in the medium of photography may face when taking on their own family members and relatives as the subject of their art making. For the exhibition, curator Ralph Rugoff selected 16 artists whose images of various aspects of familial life, ranging from the literal to the metaphorical in presentation, invite the viewer into the private inner sanctum of the home. Artists such as Zhang Huan, Yasser Aggour and Lyle Ashton Harris explore and manipulate the age-old concept of the ‘family portrait,’ while Janine Antoni and Annee Olofsson reflect on the importance of individual identity in regards to parent-child relationships. The Shoot the Family catalogue, with its striking images and accompanying essay by Rugoff, poses culturally charged questions that have only become increasingly relevant and valuable to reflect upon in the years since its publication, as the role of the contemporary family in society continues to complicate and diversify with each passing moment.” — Nina Blumberg, Communications Intern, ICI

Rugoff, Ralph, Shoot the Family, Independent Curators International (ICI), New York, 2006. 63 pages, 10.5 x 7.5 in., hardcover. ISBN: 9780916365738. $19.95

Essay by Ralph Rugoff; short story by Lynne Tillman.