Sean Rocha

You are not alone

There are a variety of ways artists can address the banality of seemingly unique experiences in travel, but it is difficult to do in a way that is not kitsch or mocking — witness the work of Martin Parr.  The Swiss photographer Corinne Vionnet creates composites of hundreds of snapshots culled from the internet that suggest, first, the sheer assembly-line volume of travel today, in which everyone stands in the same place, finding the same vantage point, in an experience that nevertheless feels theirs alone.  But something else emerges from her work that recalls the indistinct contours of Impressionism, which is fitting because that earlier movement in art was a romantic return to nature in reaction to the industrialization of Europe — an experience no less misleading in its selection of context than the tourist who takes a picture of the Forbidden City and leaves the advertising and electricity poles out of the frame.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 17th, 2011 at 11:35 am. It is filed under That is Genius and tagged with China, Corinne Vionnet, photography, travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.