Seen/Unseen seeks to shine a light on a professional figure that often remains in the shadows – the art documentation photographer – and to bear witness to the way these individuals make the invisible visible, rendering the atmospheres and contexts in which works of art, installations, and performances are presented.
In twenty-first-century culture, art is primarily consumed through images. Aside from being a means of communication, photography can have an impact on collective memory, determining both what must be remembered and what must be forgotten. A photographer is an invisible storyteller who literally puts the work of artists into perspective.
The book brings together the experiences of about 20 photographers from different countries and generations. A short set of questions was sent to each of them to gather their opinions on the possibilities, challenges, and limits of photography. In addition to the interviews with the photographers, this publication includes critical essays by scholars from different disciplines on the subject of documentation photography.