Title: Donated By

Photographer/s: M. Michelle Illuminato and Brett Hunter

Date of publication: 7.2011

Place of publication: Andover, NY

Dimensions: 9 x 7 inches (wide, lulu) or 10 x 8 inches (wide, blurb)

Edition size: POD

Type of binding: Perfect-bound Paperback

Number of pages: 102

Type of paper: standard

Number of pictures: 100

Type of printing: Full color

Designer: M. Michelle Illuminato

Language: english

Category: artist book

Price: $25.25

Summary: Donated By is a slideshow of images, taken by artists M. Michelle Illuminato and Brett Hunter at the Pioneer Oil Museum in Bolivar, New York. It is the result of their attempt to visually ‘exhaust the museum’ with a hat tip to writer Georges Perec and his An Attempt at Exhausting a Place in Paris. Like Perec, they spent time observing and documenting a place, in this case, a local historical museum. They looked at what was contained, how it was organized, and in turn what those things said about the people in the surrounding village, both past and present. Using their camera lens, they looked beyond the major narratives, and captured images that express fleeting moments and unfocused details.
The man in a large photograph grinning for the camera. The momentary blast from an oil derrick. The handwritten corrections on a label. The tiny section of the chart that tells the big story.
These moments flickering one after the other, allow new stories that are ‘hidden in plain sight’ to emerge.

Date and place of birth of photographer/s: May, 1961, DuBois, PA (Illuminato)

Website: http://ruralscape.tumblr.com/

Book link: http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/donated-by/16257735

Donated by: M. Michelle Illuminato

iPL Notes: This book was part of the exhibition “bookMARKS” (SPE November 2011) curated by Carlos Loret de Mola and Willson Cummer.

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