Comment on Sentimental Education for Santa Fe Prize for Photography
– Comment on Sentimental Education for Santa Fe Prize for Photography – Charlotte Cotton, Curator and Head of the Wallis Annenberg Department of Photography, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, April 2009
I have chosen Hiroyo Kaneko as the recipient of the Santa Fe Prize for Photography because, for me, the work and her artist’s statement really intrigued me, perhaps even confused me at first. It is often the case for me that the first time I experience an enduring photographic project, it doesn’t entirely reveal itself to me. I kept returning to Hiroyo Kaneko’s images of her family bathing in hot tubs. I had questions about the work – is the subject of Japanese bathing with its visually seductive mis-en-scene make this project inherently too beautiful? What does the range in her use of portraiture say about her subjects and relationships to them? In essence, I needed a little bit of time to become comfortable with the better than formulaic way that Hiroyo Kaneko works and to trust that the ambiguous and unexpected threads that her practice weaves are both interesting and enduring. I appreciate the subtle layers of thought and observation that underpin her practice and I really look forward to seeing how the amazing support that the Santa Fe Prize for Photography offers will impact on her photography..