
Penelope Umbrico

Everyone's Photos Any License, 2019
UV print on plexiglass panels, framed, with attribution book and image map
5 panels, overall 62 x 139 in. (157.5 x 353.1 cm)
Everyone's Photos Any License uses the photo-sharing website Flickr to explore how the full moon is photographed and shared through various imaging technologies. Umbrico first used Flickr in 2016 as...
Everyone's Photos Any License uses the photo-sharing website Flickr to explore how the full moon is photographed and shared through various imaging technologies. Umbrico first used Flickr in 2016 as a resource for Suns from Sunsets from Flickr (2006–ongoing), which addresses the ubiquity of sunset photographs made with common smartphone devices and shared online. In contrast, Everyone's Photos Any License looks at the more rarified photographic practice of making a sharp image of the full moon, which necessitates specialized photographic equipment. However, when Umbrico searched Flickr for 'full moon' she found 1,146,034 nearly identical technically proficient images—with most claiming 'all rights reserved.' Seen individually, any one of these images is impressive. Seen as a group, however, they seem to cancel each other out. Everyone's Photos Any License seeks to address the shifts in meaning and value that occur when the individual subjective experience of witnessing and photographing is revealed as a collective practice, seen recontextualized in its entirety.
Join our mailing list
* denotes required fields
We will process the personal data you have supplied in accordance with our privacy policy (available on request). You can unsubscribe or change your preferences at any time by clicking the link in our emails.