Our Selves: Photographs by Women Artists from Helen Kornblum

Barbara Probst. Exposure #78, NYC, Collister and Hubert St. 2010 339

Two inkjet prints (diptych), 18 3/4 × 28" (47.6 × 71.1 cm). Gift of Helen Kornblum in honor of Roxana Marcoci. © 2023 Barbara Probst

Artist, Barbara Probst: I am Barbara Probst. I'm an artist working with photography. I'm born in Munich, in Germany, and I live in New York.

I'm interested in photography as a phenomenon that seemingly and supposedly depicts reality. But maybe it is the subjectivity of the photographer, which determines the image. And not the objectivity of the world.

I get a set of pictures from the same moment. By comparing these pictures, it becomes quite clear that the link between reality and photography is very thin and fragile because every picture from this moment gives a different take of this moment.

None of these images is more true or more false than any others. They are equally truthful. The viewpoints and angles and settings of the cameras and the framing and all these things determine the picture.

It's not what is in front of the camera that determines the picture. It's the photographer behind the camera that decides how reality is translated into an image.

Audio of Barbara Probst from the video "Elles X Paris Photo: Barbara Probst." © Fisheye l’Agence 2021

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