Sunset Portraits from Sunset Pictures on Flickr, 2010 - ongoing

The images in Sunset Portraits from Sunset Pictures on Flickr are from the same source as the Suns from Sunsets from Flickr. For Sunset Portraits I found images where technology of the camera is exposing for the sun, not the people in front of it, thereby erasing the subjectivity of the individual. I use the entire photograph for this work, thinking of the relationship between the collective and the individual, the individual assertion of ‘I am here’ in the process of taking the photograph, and the lack of individuality that is ultimately expressed, and experienced, when faced with so many assertions that are more or less all the same.

 


Sunset Portraits, 2011
Details


Sunset Portraits from 9,623,557 Sunset Pictures on Flickr on 08/22/11, 2011
1,058 machine c-prints
Each 4in x 6 in
Installation view at PACE Gallery, NYC
 
 

Sunset Portraits from 13,243,857 Sunset Pictures on Flickr on 10/08/13, 2013
1,539 machine c-prints
Each 4in x 6 in
Installation view at Orange County Museum of Art, CA
 
 

Sunset Portraits from 27,700,711 Sunset Pictures on Flickr on 05/04/15, 2015
1,625 machine c-prints
Each 4in x 6 in
Installation view at Sextant et plus, FOMO, Marseille, France
 
 

Sunset Portraits from 9,623,557 Sunset Pictures on Flickr on 08/22/11, 2011
Machine c-prints
Each 4in x 6 in
Installation at PACE Gallery, NY, 2011
 

For each installation the title reflects the number of hits I get searching “sunset” on Flickr at the time of installation– for example the first search resulted in 541,795 Suns from Sunsets from Flickr (Partial) 01/23/06 in 2006.

Examples of subsequent installation titles:

Sunset Portraits from 8,462,359 Sunset Pictures on Flickr on 12/21/10
Sunset Portraits from 9,807,121 Sunset Pictures on Flickr on on 9/24/11
Sunset Portraits from 9,807,121 Sunset Pictures on Flickr on 09/24/11
Sunset Portraits from 11,063,296 Sunset Pictures on Flickr on 07/17/12
Sunset Portraits from 11,705,079 Sunset Pictures on Flickr on1/7/2013
Sunset Portraits from 12,193,606 Sunset Pictures on Flickr on 09/05/13
Sunset Portraits from 16,988,833 Sunset Pictures on Flickr on 02/15/14
Sunset Portraits from 27,700,711 Sunset Pictures on Flickr on 05/04/15
Sunset Portraits from 27,700,711 Sunset Pictures on Flickr on 07/14/15
Sunset Portraits from 30,253,384 Sunset Pictures on Flickr on 03/07/16

… the title itself becoming a comment on the ever increasing use of web-based photo communities and a reflection of the collective content there. And since this number only lasts an instant, its recording is analogous to the act of photographing the sunset itself.