Discussion | Artists in Conversation: Out in the (Photographic) Field

A conversation between artists John Miller and Anna Ostoya, who will each discuss one series from their photographic bodies of work.

Miller’s Middle of the Day (1994-ongoing) series consists of photographs with simple parameters: All images must be produced between the hours of noon and 2pm. These photos act not only as travelogue snapshots, but also investigate a time where there is a momentary break in the day’s labor. Miller writes: “Subjectively, I find this time of day to be the most depressing, but my response may not be entirely personal or arbitrary. This is also the time of day when most people need a break, need to eat and so forth—despite the expectation that the hours designated for productive activity be used in the most ‘efficient’ way possible. Here, in other words, the work ethic collides directly with the physical limits of the human body. […] What I am interested in, then, is documenting something intangible, something invisible and something that might only attach itself to an image after it has been placed in a system: the problem of valuation.”

Anna Ostoya’s Memorabilia (2021-ongoing) series is comprised of found images, mainly drawn from current news media. Each is placed in juxtaposition by the artist and mounted on a 3x6 inch panel with painted edges. Ostoya’s positioning mimics the form of stereoscopic photography and results in a process she calls “pseudomorphic,” nodding to the philosopher Oswald Spengler, to describe how preceding media and culture influence the form and shape of young, emergent culture.  Ostoya writes, “They are a reflection of what the media delivers to us in this particular part of the world, and also what is being delivered by algorithms and search engines to my devices. It’s an open question whether they’ll succeed or fail to register the same kinds of meanings in the future.” The works present an immediate dialectic between increasingly polarized worldviews, as well as upheavals of the historic past alongside current events.