Barbara Kasten
[Photographer, b. 1936, Chicago, Illinois, lives in Chicago.]
The question is: Can I make a photograph that is truly abstract, or must photographs always be representational as reality is there at their core?
I am asking the question “can a photograph be an abstraction?” simply because it seemed almost impossible. A camera has to have something to record... Can I make a photograph that is based in something that is not tangible?
I don’t want to create a narrative or a metaphor. I’d rather suggest a sense of mystery.
The challenge is how do you use light and shadow to photograph an object in such a way that it questions the veracity of what you’re looking at?
When I make a photograph, it’s not in the traditional style of using a camera to capture reality or to catch a fleeting moment of life. I use the camera to document a moment, but everything that it records is something that I’ve made with my hands.
