Since the very early days of photography, the human body has fascinated countless photographers, both professional and amateur, as a subject of study.  Whether the body has been photographed for its formal properties, or for its sensual dimensions - few subjects are more engaging than a human’s physicality. We seem to be programmed both mentally and emotionally from early childhood to be particularly responsive to pictures of the body.  Whether we treat this subject in a classic formal sense, or abstractly, the nude is never merely denotative.  The nude has always had connotative meanings. There have been, and are currently as many different approaches to photographing the human body as there are ways to interpret, or understand these photographs.

This exhibit showcases mostly contemporary photographers.  It is meant to be open-ended in its investigation of the body.  The photographers have been selected because they each have different aesthetic approaches to dealing with the body as a subject.  They also have unique strategies in capturing the expressive functions of the body. In the end – the various photographs all converge in the largest context. “On Skin: The Body As Landscape” presents us with subjects to think about, dream about and perhaps desire.