Acquisition of ten photographs by Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris

In addition to its earlier acquisition of a dozen photographs by Katz, the Bibliothèque Nationale Museum, Paris, acquired a further new series of ten photographs in Autumn 2007. These unique body of work is presented as a hand-printed portfolio of 16”x12” C type colour photographs. The Bibliothèque Nationale houses one of the most prestigious collections of international photography worldwide, both in terms of historical and contemporary work.This body of work is drawn from a new research theme entitled Pursuit, which explores the notion of the untended garden as metaphor for a lost world and abandoned utopia. These constructed images complement a set of photographic investigations entitled Within and are inspired by a reading from Charles Baxter’s essays on fiction, Burning Down the House: “What one sees is at best a partial truth” ('Against Epiphanies').

Reflecting on Thomas More’s notion of utopia as a ‘land of nowhere’, as well as other writers exploring spatial poetics such as Bachelard, Katz’ research seeks to interrogate systematically the spatial properties of the image through study of the foreground, seen by Katz as the ante-chamber of the photograph. Drawing on her earlier research in dance and choreography where she created experimental pieces in found environments, each photographic image is presented as a small stage, an embodiment of a frozen moment in a choreographed sequence, despite the stillness presented.

The work is closely linked to Katz’ other bodies of work such as the Invitation to Arcady, The Last Trace, Shipwreck, and Silent Passage which explore the overlooked, forgotten, the neglected. The images investigate further the notion of  melancholic object on the brink of extinction.