“I find it difficult when looking at these works to avoid questions about the status of not just photography but representation more broadlyin a post-postmodern world. Keenly aware of photographic history, Slovenc seems to be wondering in this series: Where does photographystand? Is documentation even possible?What is the relation between formal and thematic concerns? What purpose(s) have generic interests served up until now? How are photo-historical periods linked — in some sense how are they married to — specific generic and thematic content? Are any of the earlier preoccupations that were developed in an analogue world valid in a digital one? It seems that the sequestions haunt any photographic effort nowadays. Slovenc seems to imply that something is there but that the nature of representation has changed so dramatically that the referent is in retreat — to put it mildly.”

Hrvoje Slovenc (b. 1976) is a Croatian photographer based in New York. He holds MFA in photography from Yale University School of Art(2010) and ms in biochemistry from University of Zagreb, Croatia (2000).

Donald Mengay is an associate professor at Baruch College, City University of New York, where he teaches literature and theory. He lives in Beacon, NY.

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