Inside the George Eastman Museum

I have shown you the outside of the George Eastman Museum for years now, and it is time to show you a couple of photographs of the inside. After opening its doors to the public in 1949, the George Eastman Museum quickly became known as one of the most important venues dedicated to the collection and care of photographs. At the time of its opening, it was one of only two American museums to establish a photography department, and this early commitment to the medium has inextricably bound the institution to the history of photography itself. This is a photograph in the exhibit "Life with Photographs: 75 Years of the Eastman Museum" which explores the many ways in which photographic objects have come to shape our everyday lives. The exhibition encompasses broad cultural histories and image-making practices, from pre- photographic experimentation to critical advances that challenge our conceptions of the medium.  This exhibit is astounding and I was introduced to so many photographers around the world that I had not heard of before.

This is the gallery for an exhibit called "Scene at Eastman."  I don't have enough time to explain what the exhibit is about, but I found that this is such an unusual gallery.  It is all white, with a white rug on the floor!  I can't imagine how they keep that rug clean!  After you walk in the door, which I am facing, when it closes and you look around, you find the door and wall at that end are mirrors!

This space is unlike any other gallery space I can think of in recent memory.  It is so interesting to be in and to experience the space.  The objects on the walls, in this part of the gallery are tiny, for the most part, which is surprising and unexpected.  Then you approach. what appears to be a window on one wall, and discover that it is a mirror and there is my image facing me!   That's a surprise!

So I photographed myself, just because.  It would take a lot more space to explain what's going on here and in addition to this white room, there is a black room as well.  Part of this exhibit is about seeing, and being seen.  So I will leave it at that, and hope you find this gallery interesting to look at. This exhibit also shows that the museum is always experimenting with what photography is about and how it can be practiced and exhibited in new ways.