Students and the general public had the opportunity to peruse the photographs of Alan Cohen and listen to him speak about his Earth with Meaning exhibition at the Gregg Museum of Art and Design.
Located on the second floor of Talley Student Center, the Gregg Museum is a branch of the Arts N.C . State program that is home to a wide variety of collections from ceramics to photography.
This semester, the Earth with Meaning exhibition is the forefront of promoting a different view of historical landmarks like California’s Death Valley and Belgium’s Nazi death camps.
The exhibit houses a collection of Cohen’s photographs that illustrate aspects of history and the natural world that are typically unseen. In lieu of taking standard photographs, Cohen opts for a much closer look at the places and processes that have shaped the history of the world.
Amber Kenney, a senior in communication, went to the exhibit to gain a stronger understanding of the artistic side of photography. Kenney said that the black and white elements invoke an aesthetic feeling that is not found in color photography.
“The historical context of the pictures is what struck me. It was interesting to see how the past can be explained through the perspective of a photograph,” Kenney said.
Cohen returned to the University to give a gallery talk about his artistic approach to conveying history and emotion with black and white photography. Unlike what is expected from a photo of the Berlin Wall for example, Cohen’s version is a close-up of concrete and cobblestone, worn down from years of destruction and desperation.
Cohen, who graduated from N.C . State with a degree in nuclear engineering, took up the art of photography after meeting the famous photographer Aaron Siskind , and eventually found his inspiration during a trip to Germany with his wife. There, he discovered two worlds of vastly different proportions and divisions in the earth that were important to see and understand.
“The more I traveled, I realized that every piece of the Earth has history, [and I began] wanting to track the soft side of history as well as the hard side,” Cohen said.
Cohen found that the Earth holds an extraordinary history, and that it is fundamentally important to look down to the ground. He uses his camera as a medium in which to reclaim the Earth with art. In that sense, Cohen became a detective of the ground.
Straying from his science roots, Cohen began the defining part of his photographic career after the trip to Germany. Since then, he has traveled all over the globe to bring attention to senses and feelings of images rather than by-the-book appearances.
Each photograph in the exhibit has its own meaning and story presented by Cohen’s lens; his photos challenge the viewer to look beyond the simplicity of only what meets the eye.
According to the Gregg Museum’s director Roger Manley, Cohen, who lives and works in Chicago, returned to his exhibit on Thursday for a formal lecture session about his work.
“His opening reception talk was an informal introduction of his work, but [Thursday night’s] lecture was more formal,” Manley said.
Cohen’s gallery talk gave students a better understanding of the motivation and inspiration behind his work.
The Earth with Meaning exhibition is open to all students and the public during the Gregg Museum’s operating hours, Monday through Friday, 12-8 p.m ., and Saturday and Sunday, 2-8 p.m .
Tickets are not required to view the exhibition and admission is free for all.