Studio A.H.
2020
Surkov's Rock #1-8

We’re tired of seeing. We’ve put our trust in powers and forces that have simplified narratives to satiate our need to scrutinize them. Photography was once thought to play the role of a bipartisan storyteller - an objective truth-teller. This was, of course, never true. What is real documentation and what is fake documentation has grown from a trivial concern to a constant question. Deepfake software allows anyone to be made to say anything. The accessibility of the internet has been taken advantage of – to the point that you can find anything to suit your beliefs if you enter the right search query. Everything is networked. We can no longer claim ignorance because we have access to a limited network of information on the internet. Yet, we are still taken advantage of by images and information. It is our lack of visual athleticism that is being taken advantage of. We need to exercise our vision. The same way a runner trains to run the marathon we need to equip ourselves in the effort to see. Photography can no longer assume the position of simply documenting the truth. Documentary photography has an obligation to make its manipulation known. Now more than ever. Documentary photography should train us to see what is real. To equip us with the visual fitness necessary to see.

Photograph, Rock, Ruler
TALENT AWARD 2020
C/O Berlin
Berlin, Germany
2020
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Surkov's Rock #1

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Surkov's Rock #2

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Surkov's Rock #3

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Surkov's Rock #4

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Surkov's Rock #5

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Surkov's Rock #6

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Surkov's Rock #7

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Surkov's Rock #8

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Surkov's Rock #1-8 – Installation view