Polaroid, despite the demise of the great corporation, remains a highly respected name, evoking innovation, utility, creativity and quality. In the photography world, Polaroid has only the finest connotations, and the bankruptcy of the corporation has rightly been viewed as a tremendous loss for the field of artistic expression. Photographers were deprived of a creative laboratory that was unparalleled in the medium's history.
© Nancy Burson, Untitled, 1989. Courtesy the Polaroid Collections
Nancy Burson used the medium of polaroid photography in her composite portraits from the 1980s in a profound way. All 20 x 24 inch polaroids are unique prints and more so unique in the sense that Nancy has created new imagery, new faces, with layers upon layers of research and purpose behind each composite portrait. He work revolutionized compositing practices and became a basis for her patented technology to be later used for aging predictions in the human face. Her research at M.I.T. was proven to be incredibly successful which lead to her involvement with the FBI to help find missing persons. Her work will be on exhibit with artists Chuck Close, Ralph Gibson, David Hockney, Barbara Kasten, Robert Mapplethorpe, Ansel Adams, Andy Warhol, and William Wegman to name only a few.
Read about the exhibition on fep-photo.org
