Walking into the Brookline Arts Center, visitors could easily pass by the gallery’s most recent exhibit. And some did. The show features six 24-by-24-inch square prints in muted hues of sepia, yellow and gray. Its title is as stripped down as the art on display: “backs of photographs.”Photographer Chandra Meesig was present at her show’s opening last Friday. She chatted with visitors as they admired her work and nibbled on shrimp and tortilla chips. The pixie-haired artist admitted that her idea for the series was born out of artistic frustration.
“I started taking all of my photographs and turning them backwards,” said Meesig, her cherubic face splitting with a sly grin. What she saw sparked her latest innovation.
Focusing on the backs of photographs seemed counterintuitive to most people, Meesig said, because pictures are used to tell people’s stories. The 30-year-old Ohio native said her purpose was to bring photography into the realm of higher art, where critics regularly discussed such aspects as materials and techniques in painting.
“I believe art should sort of ask questions and not provide all the answers,” Meesig said.
But one question she gets frequently from viewers proves they’ve missed her point.
“[People ask] what was on the other side,’” Meesig said. Her reaction: “I just grin and walk away.”
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