Visible Fictions: Photography and Artifice
Drawn from the Collection, Visible Fictions: Photography and Artifice challenges the idea that photography records reality impartially. Through staged scenes, constructed environments, performed identities, and invented narratives, the featured artists present photography as a medium of invention rather than straightforward documentation.
With works by Sophie Calle, Renée Cox, Gregory Crewdson, Thomas Demand, Tania Franco Klein, Nikki S. Lee, Cindy Sherman, Laurie Simmons, and others, the exhibition explores how photographs shape, rather than simply reflect, the world around us.
Hans Bellmer (German, 1902 – 1975), La poupée (The Doll), 1933
Renée Cox (Jamaican, born 1960), Missy at Home, 2008, printed 2023, from the series The Discreet Charm of the Bougie, 2009
Thomas Demand (German, born 1964), Landing, 2006
Tania Franco Klein (Mexican, born 1990), Car, Window (Self-portrait), 2018, printed 2025, from the series Proceed to the Route, 2018 – Ongoing
Nikki S. Lee (Korean, born 1970), Part (14), 2002 from the series Parts, 2000 – 2005
Yasumasa Morimura (Japanese, born 1951), An Inner Dialogue with Frida Kahlo (Dialogue with Myself 1), 2001
Laurie Simmons (American, born 1949), Untitled (Dummy in a Stairwell), 1994
Visible Fictions: Photography and Artifice is organized by the Norton Museum of Art. Major support for this exhibition was provided by the William and Sarah Ross Soter Photography Fund.