Uta Barth's work screws with the demand of the viewer's gaze. Her minimalist approach denies our desire for crisp recognizable images, and allows us to find agency in interpreting the unknown. Barth's images rely on angles, focus manipulation, and light to test the connection "between the descriptive clarity of photography and the haze of memory". The reproduction of Barth's gaze does not give her work life. It's the glimmers of recognition the viewer experiences that roots the image back into a manageable plan of perception
Her work gains strength when the viewer let's go of needing to know where, what, or who the image represents, and becomes comfortable with the concept of the many whats, whos, and places the image invokes. A part of this movement is the dislocation inherent in Barth's work. In other words, Barth's work provides the framework of the image, and the viewer's experiences provides the story line
My emulation project concentrates on the sense of dislocation Barth uses in her work in order to draw the viewer into their own "haze of memory"
