In the Midst of a Phantom Presence

By Isaac Mason on October 20, 2009 7:25 AM

A sleeping baby, an upheld moth with wings outstretched, a portrait of a stately pug …

Recent visitors to the USC University Club likely have noticed a collection of striking images lining the restaurant’s dining room walls.

The photographs, which vary widely in size and subject matter, comprise Phantom Presence, an exhibition by USC Roski School of Fine Arts faculty member Julia Paull; alumni Amanda Alfieri BFA ’08, Renée Martin BFA ’07, Joey Lehman Morris BFA ’04, Natalie Shriver MFA ’04; and senior fine arts major Senna Chen.

The exhibition will be on display at the University Club for the duration of the fall semester.

Phantom Presence was curated by Paull and recent USC Roski alumnus Cesar Garcia.

Paull, who holds an MFA from CalArts, has taught photography at the USC Roski School since 2001. She has participated in exhibitions throughout Los Angeles and has created public artworks for the Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation and the Democratic National Convention, among others.

Garcia earned his master of public art studies degree from the USC Roski School and recently began doctoral work in culture and performance at UCLA.

What do the pictures of the infant, the insect and the dog have in common?

According to Garcia, the photographs explore “the intricacies of the condition of being present.” But as the title suggests, Phantom Presence is as much about what isn’t there as what is — and, perhaps most interestingly, what is both, neither or somewhere in between.

“The photographs exist as observations of particular moments that offer to the viewer an absence, lacking or emptiness,” Paull explained.

According to Paull, the prominence of emptiness in Phantom Presence has, at its root, a single work in the exhibition. “Phantom Presence initially developed from a photograph of mine called ‘Strawberry Field, Imagine Memorial, 2008’,” she said. The photo shows a group of young people gathered in New York City around the Imagine Memorial to John Lennon. For Paull, there is more in the photograph than meets the eye.

“One can sense a longing for, or mystification of, John Lennon’s life in the expressions of these young people — a life that most likely ended before they were born,” she explained. Though unseen — in a sense absent — the spirit of the iconic musician seems to haunt the image, and the ghostlike presence of Lennon in “Strawberry Field” is precisely the kind of presence that draws the photographs in the exhibition together.

Phantom Presence features work by several former Handtmann Photography Prize winners: Alfieri received the award in 2007, Martin in 2006 and Morris in 2003. Senna Chen, one of the co-winners of this year’s prize, is included in the show as well.

The Handtmann Prize, which provides funding for a major photographic exhibition, is awarded to one third-year undergraduate photography student in the USC Roski School every year. It is the only undergraduate photography prize of its kind in the United States.

For Paull, who along with other members of the photography faculty oversees the Handtmann Prize each year, Phantom Presence is a reunion of sorts. “It has been my great pleasure to serve as faculty adviser to each of the students who have won the Handtmann Prize,” she said. “I am fortunate to have worked so closely with such intelligent and thoughtful artists and to have formed lasting friendships with former students who share overlapping photographic concerns.”

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