The Memory of Time: Contemporary Photographs at the National Gallery of Art

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the photography collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, and the gallery is celebrating by launching its first exhibition of contemporary photography. This catalog of that exhibition, curated by Greenough (senior curator, head of the dept. of photographs) looks at work by photographers who use the physical materials and conceptual foundations of traditional paper- and chemistry-based photographic methods to explore time, change, memory, and impermanence. To some readers, the art here might veer toward an esoteric conversation among photographers. But as they observe the remarkable images they will be rewarded by intellectually challenging and quite stunning work touching on vexing issues of identity, place, history, and the public and private uses of the past as they intersect with the present.