How did we find human connection during a pandemic that kept us apart from each other? Some people made art museums for their hamsters or hosted happy hour trivia on Zoom. The photographer Jim Fiscus lit out on a series of road trips in a camper with a friend. His usual bread and butter is commissioned work, but that had ground to a halt, so he left on a journey with no end point or itinerary, visiting unexpected places and getting to know strangers. The exhibition “Where Shadows Cross,”(opens in new tab) now on view at the Georgia Museum of Art through October 8, 2023, shows the single-frame stories that resulted from those travels.
Fiscus’ specialty, both in his commercial and his fine-art work, is storytelling, and the photographs in the exhibition feature elaborately constructed scenes that suggest complex narratives. As he drove around the country, Fiscus found places that spoke to him. He then directed real people (some of whom were the new friends he’d made on his travels) within those landscapes to craft a kind of stage set to photograph. He is the photographer, but also the producer and director, meticulously orchestrating every element that that composes the final image.
Fiscus says, “With each shoot, I have a starting point and a plan; within this structure, I allow for things to shift and unfold in front of me without interruption, permitting the subject matter to take me to a different place creatively, a place that supports the story being told.”
Once a scene is set, he captures multiple scenarios, then digitally assembles those perspectives into a single image, a sort of perfect film still of an imaginary movie. The exhibition is organized by the museum’s Parker Curator of Russian Art, Asen Kirin. Its title comes from the way Fiscus creates his images, with multiple figures and objects that cast crossing shadows. Fiscus says, “These shadow shapes partake in a game within each image in this body of work. Shadows are the basis of the compositions. Though they may go undetected, they are used to ground the eye or direct attention elsewhere in the frame.”
Kirin adds that the title “points to the artist’s way of creating well-composed scenes, but it also conveys ghostly overtones that conjure up tales of the South. It alludes to the shadows on the wall in Plato’s famous Allegory of the Cave, in which prisoners look at the outlines of objects being carried in front of a fire behind them. In the allegory, the real world is outside the cave, and the silhouettes on the wall have very little to do with it. In this exhibition, shadows take center stage to help us enter and inhabit the scenes the artist created over the last three years.”
He continues, “Inviting us to look at the world through this prism of art history, Fiscus wants us to start wondering whether it allows us to gain insight or whether we end up always recognizing the same things and never manage to reach below the surface of our own life experiences. Whether learned through schooling or absorbed from popular culture, these iconic images connect us to one another.”
Fiscus investigates seemingly mundane situations, highlighting nuanced figures doing unpredictable or unconventional things, using his arsenal of technical expertise to construct dreamlike scenarios that question our perceptions of what is real. Born in Dallas, Texas, he lives in Athens, Georgia, and is well-known for his award-winning advertising and editorial photography. His work is featured in the permanent collection of the Georgia Museum of Art and in numerous private collections.
“Where Shadows Cross” is generously sponsored by the Todd Emily Community Foundation, the Epting Family Foundation, the W. Newton Morris Charitable Foundation Fund and the Friends of the Georgia Museum of Art.
If you missed the artist’s talk by Fiscus this week, you can catch another one September 7 at 5:30 p.m. It’s free and open to the public, as are almost all of our events.
Authored by:
Hillary Brown
