Liz Deschenes, Camera-Less

On the occasion of the publication of Liz Deschenes's eponymous book, the artist discusses her work with Eva Respini, curator of Deschenes’s exhibition at The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston opening in summer 2016. The writer and contributor Lynne Tillman does a reading of her fiction piece included in the publication. Since the mid-1990s, Liz Deschenes’s work has evolved as a stripping away of photography’s inherent interference with its subjects. Making use of the medium’s most fundamental aspects—paper, light, chemicals—she produces camera-less pieces that not only remind viewers of photography’s essential goal of reflecting light and color but also expand its scope into the realm of sculpture. Filled with dazzling reproductions of Deschenes’s installations and lush work, this book includes her key bodies of works, from early color studies to recent hybrid photo-sculptural installations that playfully interact with their environment. An interview captures Deschenes's voice and point of view and a series of critical essays rounds out this unparalleled exploration of an exciting, boundary-pushing artist working at the height of her powers.

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