Izumi Miyazaki – Un l I am a human, 2015. Copyright the artist
Originally dismissed by the art world as mere snapshots, documentary-style photography didn’t gain credibility until the Seventies, when pioneering works by Nan Goldin and Larry Clark pushed the medium. Since then, artists have utilised it as a method of investigation, whether as a study of their external environment, their friends and family, or even themselves. For its inaugural photo exhibition inside the newly renovated Osservatorio gallery space, Fondazione Prada has brought together 14 artists from around the world in a group show entitled “Give me Yesterday”. Continuing in the tradition of autobiographical photography, the programme aims to capture the performative, and often exhibitionist, nature of the practice.
Housed inside Milan’s historic Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, directly above Prada’s original flagship store, the exhibition develops across two levels of light-filled gallery space. All artwork has been installed on a single side, hanging across a pathway adjacent to the Osservatorio’s large glass windows. Placed in such close proximity to one another, the presentation creates a visual stream of conscious displaying the rawness of everyday life. Notable artists include Ryan McGinley, Tomé Duarte, and Joanna Piotrowska. However, the standout contributions belong to American photographer Leigh Ledare and Dutch lens master Melanie Bonajo. Selected from several collections, Ledare’s taboo-ridden images of his mother posing in sexual scenarios serve as Freudian critiques of the ubiquity of the male gaze in art, while Bonajo’s “Thank You for Hurting Me I Really Needed It” (2008-2016), a project comprising 60 self-portraits of the artist every time she cried over the course of eight years, offers a meditation on the fleeting nature of time.
Leigh Ledare – Fur is fabulous, 2003. Copyright the artist, Courtesy Office Baroque
“Give me Yesterday” runs until 14 May at Fondazione Prada in Milan