A majority of Umbrico’s work focuses on the photography and set design of goods photographed in Home catalogues. What I found surprisingly interesting was her point about the voyeuristic qualities of the photos taken for these magazines. For instance one of her pieces displays cutouts of “casually flung clothing.” Who exists in these spaces? Are they coming back? Where did they go? More specifically-what “props” do they interact with? Asking these questions all of a sudden makes these spaces much more mysterious and scintillating. Another point she made was in reference to books being used for things other than their original purpose. She showed us many clips of books being used as pedestals for other objects. This degrades the object and discards any meaning or identity of its original purpose, which I find quite insulting.
We are taking a business practice class this semester which covers a lot about copyright. When Umbrico presented Suns From Flickr, she discussed the matter of ownership of photos uploaded to online domains. Having had an issue with this piece and the viewer’s misunderstanding of appropriation, she argued that if an image is put up online, it’s basically public domain and that perhaps the original photographer is seen as having very little claim to any of his/her images. She pointed out that, while these pictures of sunsets were taken individually by many, many people, they were all (in a wider scope) taking part in a collective effort or group activity to photograph this particular time of day. Having had that idea introduced to me I suddenly felt incredibly hypocritical as an artist.
Umbrico’s work is immediately inaccessible and does require titles and/or explanation. That said, I thought she was very well spoken. I had familiarized myself with her work before the lecture, so that may have helped me better follow what she was speaking about. She was pretty casual and modest in her delivery, which may sound weird but it helped me relax and sort of open up to whatever she was describing. What I find wonderful about Umbrico’s work is that she makes these small anecdotes (such as her father wanting her to find a plate online, or her mirror breaking) into larger concepts, yet goes about executing them fairly simply. Her method of collection seems therapeutic and enjoyable and it comes through in her work as well as when she speaks. There is a very obvious passion for what she creates.
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