American artist Anne Collier (*1970) questions the medium of photography by working with found materials from popular culture. Her conceptual works are based primarily on photos of the 1970s and 1980s, gleaned from magazines, advertising, record covers, book illustrations and film stills. By photographing these printed images and putting them into new contexts, she pursues a reflexive archaeology of the uses of photography. Collier is interested, above all, in images with an emotive visual undertone, such as waves, eyes, clouds and romanticised sexism. With analytical elegance, Collier reflects the deceptive imagery that shapes our everyday lives and, in doing so, reveals the tension between the photographic subject and the act of photographing.
