11-part installation: collaged photographs and resin on paper; 1999. Collaged photographs and resin on paper, 11-part installation. Museum purchase, generously supported by a gift in memory of Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Barrios 2020.7.1-11. Photo by Jeffery Johnston. Photo courtesy of the Newcomb Art Museum of Tulane University, New Orleans.
COLLAGE ON VIEW
Poetic Gaps: Opacity in the Photographic Imprint
at the Newcomb Art Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
14 August 2025-16 January 2026
In his writings, Martinican poet and philosopher Édouard Glissant asserts that all people have the right to opacity–to remain elusive and partially hidden. Additionally, he conceptualizes “poetics” as a set of in flux relations that bridges the gap between the known and the unknown. “Poetic Gaps: Opacity in the Photographic Imprint” uses these claims as a speculative prompt. Taking Newcomb Art Museum’s photographic collection as a point of departure, and extending into the realms of sculpture and installation, this exhibition follows a poetic and relational logic of that which refuses to be fully “caught”, or fully known, within the photographic frame.
The artworks gathered in the exhibition feature subjects, objects, and landscapes that push against the boundaries of the traditional photographic medium (which seeks to freeze a moment in time and capture a likeness fully). The play between presence and absence takes center stage. Denying the viewer the option of explicit narrative, photography is used instead as a means to consider the precarious nature of “capturing” a subject, landscape, or moment in time completely.
11-part installation: collaged photographs and resin on paper; 1999. Collaged photographs and resin on paper, 11-part installation. Museum purchase, generously supported by a gift in memory of Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Barrios 2020.7.1-11. Photo by Jeffery Johnston. Photo courtesy of the Newcomb Art Museum of Tulane University, New Orleans.
Organized into a series of vignettes, “Poetic Gaps” asks: what happens beyond the photographic frame? What precedes and outlasts it? What keeps itself hidden and remains unseen?
The exhibition, curated by Kaillee Coleman and Fei Xie, curatorial assistants at the Newcomb Art Museum, features work by 18 artists and collectives.
(text adapted from material provided by the museum)
INFORMATION
Newcomb Art Museum
Tulane University
50 Newcomb Place
New Orleans, Louisiana 70118 USA
(504) 865-5328
Hours:
Monday-Friday, 10AM-5PM
Saturday, 11AM-4PM
by appointment