Archive 192: Abstract Photographs by Women: Albin O. Kuhn Library Gallery, University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), Baltimore, USA

Established in 2015 by photographer Louie Paul and photo editor Chloe Coleman. The archive, which now holds over 200 prints, books and ephemera challenges conventional narratives of the history of photography that centre documentary realism and aims to counter underrepresentation of work by women in institutional collections. 

This exhibition presents a selection of photographs from Archive 192 that explore the diverse techniques of abstraction, including framing, cropping, magnification, and altering chemical processes. These visual strategies present unfamiliar views of real-world objects and change the appearance of photographic prints to create non-representational images. The photographs on view also represent the array of photographic processes employed by photographers in pursuit of abstraction over more than a century, including cyanotypes, C-prints, tintypes, and Polaroid colour instant prints. Related to ephemera including publications, artist books and posters document the evolution of abstractionism in photography and the political contexts, such as the feminist movement, that impact women working within the medium. 

The artworks were created between 1910-2024 in nearly every decade except from 1920's. It showcases an expansive group of artists were born as early as 1863 and residing around the world including photographers from Australia, Belgium, Bermuda, Canada, China, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Iran, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and United States. 

Archive 192: Abstract Photographs by Women, features works by Sara Angelucci, Claudia Fáhrenkemper, Jennifer Garza Cuen, Fiona Grady, Annie Leibowitz, Sage Lewis, Dora Maar, Lucia Moholy, Claire A. Warden, and others.

The presentation of this exhibition is supported by an arts program grant from the Maryland State Arts Council, an agency funded by the State of Maryland and the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional support comes from the Baltimore County Commission on the Arts & Sciences, the Libby Kuhn Endowment Fund, as well as individual contributors.