After a long and highly individual period working with vivid pink, Irish artist Richard Mosse has produced a body of work entirely in black and white which is currently showing at Jack Shainman. The effect is no less impressive.
There has always been an otherness to the photographs of New York-based Mosse—previously soaked in bright pink thanks to his use of ex-military infrared Kodak film—which carries over into these black and white works. White becomes the new pink, trailing across images in luminous sweeps. While some of these photographs may not at first seem to be obviously thermal, they do, in fact, come from a heat detecting camera (“an extreme telephoto military-grade camera that can detect thermal radiation, including body heat, at great distance,” to be precise).
As with his previous series, Mosse avoids gimmick in finding ways to explore film and camera technology without using well-known aesthetics. We’re used to seeing thermal images in gradients of reds and orange. This also hugely affects his politicised subject matter, as it takes on the language of art photography rather than the more journalistic eye that we tend to view this kind of scene through (which inevitably causes us to lose some of our potential for shock and empathy). At their best, these images shake off the tiredness of viewing difficult images again and again and ask that we look afresh.
For Heat Maps, Mosse focusses on refugee camps and staging sites. The use of military-grade technology serves as a reminder of the cause of these places, and heat—leading to consideration of the wider practical struggles of life in these spaces—becomes a key factor.
The artist’s new video installation Incoming is also represented with a series of stills. Here, distant scenes are brought into focus using the same camera which can detect human bodies from over 30km away. This equipment, which has the potential to connect with weapons systems and very specifically target individuals, is used here to hone in on vulnerable and displaced groups and individuals.
‘Richard Mosse: Heat Maps’ is showing at Jack Shainman, 513 West 20th Street, New York until 11 March.
