{"id":928391,"date":"2026-10-14T23:26:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-14T23:26:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/928391\/"},"modified":"2026-10-14T23:26:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T23:26:12","slug":"whos-the-thief-in-deana-lawsons-photography","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/928391\/","title":{"rendered":"Who\u2019s the Thief in Deana Lawson\u2019s Photography?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a class=\"gh-article-tag\" href=\"https:\/\/hyperallergic.com\/tag\/art-review\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Art Review<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"gh-article-excerpt is-body\">I wonder what the women standing perpetually accused and anonymous might say about the sale of their stolen images. <\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/hyperallergic.com\/author\/channelle-chevelle-russell\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"author-profile-image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/IMG_0722-2-1.jpeg\" alt=\"Channelle Chevelle Russell\"\/><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>        <img decoding=\"async\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/DL_Houston-Beauty-Supply_4_Crop_2_V3_File-1.jpg\" alt=\"Who\u2019s the Thief in Deana Lawson\u2019s Photography?\"\/><br \/>\n            Deana Lawson &#8220;Edge Control_edvc&#8221; (2023\u2013ongoing), silver halide print <\/p>\n<p>For her latest show, Deana Lawson made one simple request: no photography allowed. I watched as other gallery-goers entered and received the same mandate, while an attendant handed out Gagosian-branded stickers to cover phone cameras. I found myself watching the crowd, observing micro-expressions of discomfort and surprise.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>I imagine the rule against photography in our highly visual, largely immediate world can be unsettling, but is our attachment really that strong? In a society where most of us carry the vehicle of modern technological warfare in our pockets, Lawson\u2019s prohibition on photography is certainly a sensible request. As I looked at the sticker plastered over my own camera, I felt that perhaps that sense of unmooring is precisely Lawson\u2019s point.<\/p>\n<p>Because I couldn\u2019t take photos, as I thought about how to compose my thoughts for this piece, I found myself questioning my sight. This led me to then question my memory, my ability to hold onto the details that my phone usually carries. By the time I left, I wondered: Would I be able to recall the faces, the snapshots on display? Should I? In deference to Lawson\u2019s vision, would I have to relinquish any desire writhing within me for a sense of control through these photographic constraints?<\/p>\n<p>In Edge Control, an ongoing series that began in 2023, Lawson turns her attention to the ubiquity of everyday monitoring as it appears in the genre of the beauty-supply surveillance photo. These photos are typically pinned behind counters to deter theft, a long-held ritual of humiliation. In a recent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/10\/01\/t-magazine\/deana-lawson-gagosian-gallery.html%20being%20secluded%20for%20most%20of%20his%20life%20in%20a%20Victorian%20asylum,?ref=hyperallergic.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">interview<\/a>, Lawson said of this work, \u201cIf anything, I feel more identity with the people on the wall \u2014 like I\u2019m stealing a picture of them stealing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Yet by restricting access to what has become, for many, our second set of eyes, Lawson\u2019s newest series provokes a fraught ethical question: Who truly has the power to authorize or deny access?<\/p>\n<p>    Keep reading with your email \u2014 it\u2019s free<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 18px;\">Create a free account to read more articles each month, and get the best of Hyperallergic in your inbox.<\/p>\n<p>      <a class=\"gh-btn\" data-portal=\"signup\" style=\"color:#00AEEE\">Create free account<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Already have an account? <a data-portal=\"signin\">Sign in<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Art Review I wonder what the women standing perpetually accused and anonymous might say about the sale of&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":928392,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[449,458,459,64,63,460,134],"class_list":["post-928391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-design","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/928391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=928391"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/928391\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/928392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=928391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=928391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=928391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}