Exhibit | Richard Ross: Architecture of Authority

Photo: Richard Ross, “Communication with Others Room,” Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security, San Francisco, California.

In August I had the chance to see this terrific exhibit at the National Building Museum. In this series, Richard Ross shows us architectural spaces that express the authority exercised over us by governments and institutions. The spaces depicted range from prisons to schools to government meeting halls.

The first thing I appreciated about this exhibit was the large size of the prints. It's always nice to see photographs displayed at the scale of paintings, two by two feet and up. Some of the prints are square, which is especially effective for a set of related prints hung next to each other.

The content of the prints is spare, both because of the photographer's style and the nature of the spaces depicted, which tend to express their authority through bare, hard surfaces with no comfort for the eye or body. Ross' compositions take in only what is essential to the photo. They are precisely framed and squared off, with no diagonals out of place, as if to reinforce the authority of the spaces with the photographer's authority over the camera.

The spaces of empty of people. Although they are harsh and should evoke fear (and would evoke it in normal use), stripped of occupants and with the photographer's intentionally impersonal point of view, the spaces become strangely peaceful and meditative. There's a strong contrast between the way we're allowed to view these spaces through Ross' lens and the way they actually function.

This exhibit is definitely memorable for me and I hope to see more of Ross' work.

Richard Ross also has a book about this series.