STEPHANIE SYJUCO | Native Resolution Catharine Clark Gallery continues its 2021 program with Native Resolution, a solo exhibition of new work by multi-disciplinary artist Stephanie Syjuco, on view March 6- April 10, 2021. Syjuco’s highly anticipated presentation expands on the artist’s research into the problematic construction of American history and concurrent histories of photography that inform deeply biased structures foregrounding whiteness as a normative subject. Borrowing from the visual language of photography, anthropology, and museum archives, Native Resolution examines how these disciplines go hand-in-hand with producing and proliferating images and documents of exclusion, generating a skewed collection that mirrors an American imagination built on ethnographic record and cultural Othering. In technological terms, “native resolution” refers to the inherent amount of information in a digital image, a terminology that Syjuco also employs to consider how the American record, when looking outside of itself, is inherently a low-resolution, incomplete endeavor. At turns deflecting the viewer’s gaze or redirecting it onto the act of viewing itself, the works on view question the ability of the archive and photography itself to be neutral cultural narrators. By extension, Syjuco rephotographs national archives and institutional records as a means of examining how photography and imaging technologies created permanent historical value through flawed forms of knowledge. Syjuco’s latest work resulted from a 2019/2020 Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship in which the artist spent hundreds of hours embedded in the archives of the National Museum of American History and the National Museum of Anthropology in Washington DC, searching for visual evidence of the Philippines and Filipinos in the official American archive. In her methodologies, Syjuco posited a series of guiding questions: namely, how complete is the American story based on its own record, what story does it choose to tell, and what does that say about the limits of the American archive? Syjuco’s search in the Smithsonian archives yielded volumes of biological samples, anthropological documents, and military records, but very little in terms of unearthing Filipino cultural agency except as subject for ethnographic study. Archives and museum collections are a reflection of the biases and knowledge-base of their curators and the leading national American cultural archive is no exception. Approached as a “cultural forensics,” Syjuco’s work attempts to piece together a fragmented and always incomplete narrative of an entire American colonial country and culture—The Philippines and Filipinos—based on peripheral records and even mislabeled files. Along the way, the structure of the archive itself takes center stage, with notes, errata, and omissions playing a visual role in her (re)photographs. Faded photocopies, cancelled files, color calibration charts, and museological metrics are as present as the artifacts to be saved for research and posterity.
Stephanie Syjuco Afterimages (Interference of Vision), 2021 Photogravure printed on gampi mounted on Somerset black 280 gram cotton rag; re-edited photograph of an ethnological display of Filipinos from the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair. Printed by Paul Mullowney and Harry Schneider in an edition of 20 plus 8 proofs. Copublished by BOXBLUR, Catharine Clark Gallery, and Mullowney Printing, San Francisco, CA and Portland. Image: 16 x 20 inches Sheet: 18 x 24 inches Note: Crumpled/folded gampi is proud by 1/8” from back mounted layer of Somerset Individual photogravure: $4,500 Suite of five photogravures: $18,000 Framing is POR
PLEASE NOTE: Prices are Subject to Change Based on Available Edition
Catharine Clark Gallery | cclarkgallery.com | 2
Stephanie Syjuco Afterimages (Deflection of Vision), 2021 Photogravure printed on gampi mounted on Somerset black 280 gram cotton rag; re-edited photograph of an ethnological display of Filipinos from the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair. Printed by Paul Mullowney and Harry Schneider in an edition of 20 plus 8 proofs. Co-published by BOXBLUR, Catharine Clark Gallery, and Mullowney Printing, San Francisco, CA and Portland. Image: 20 x 16 inches Sheet: 24 x 18 inches Note: Crumpled/folded gampi is proud by 1/8” from back mounted layer of Somerset Individual photogravure: $4,500 Suite of five photogravures: $18,000 Framing is POR PLEASE NOTE: Prices are Subject to Change Based on Available Edition
Catharine Clark Gallery | cclarkgallery.com | 3
Stephanie Syjuco Afterimages (Field of Vision), 2021 Photogravure printed on gampi mounted on Somerset black 280 gram cotton rag; re-edited photograph of an ethnological display of Filipinos from the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair. Printed by Paul Mullowney and Harry Schneider in an edition of 20 plus 8 proofs. Co-published by BOXBLUR, Catharine Clark Gallery, and Mullowney Printing, San Francisco, CA and Portland. Image: 16 x 20 inches Sheet: 18 x 24 inches Note: Crumpled/folded gampi is proud by 1/8” from back mounted layer of Somerset Individual photogravure: $4,500 Suite of five photogravures: $18,000 Framing is POR PLEASE NOTE: Prices are Subject to Change Based on Available Edition
Catharine Clark Gallery | cclarkgallery.com | 4
Stephanie Syjuco Afterimages (Interruption of Vision), 2021 Photogravure printed on gampi mounted on Somerset black 280 gram cotton rag; re-edited photograph of an ethnological display of Filipinos from the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair. Printed by Paul Mullowney and Harry Schneider in an edition of 20 plus 8 proofs. Co-published by BOXBLUR, Catharine Clark Gallery, and Mullowney Printing, San Francisco, CA and Portland. Image: 20 x 16 inches Sheet: 24 x 18 inches Note: Crumpled/folded gampi is proud by 1/8” from back mounted layer of Somerset Individual photogravure: $4,500 Suite of five photogravures: $18,000 Framing is POR PLEASE NOTE: Prices are Subject to Change Based on Available Edition
Catharine Clark Gallery | cclarkgallery.com | 5
Stephanie Syjuco Afterimages (Obstruction of Vision), 2021 Photogravure printed on gampi mounted on Somerset black 280 gram cotton rag; re-edited photograph of an ethnological display of Filipinos from the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair. Printed by Paul Mullowney and Harry Schneider in an edition of 20 plus 8 proofs. Co-published by BOXBLUR, Catharine Clark Gallery, and Mullowney Printing, San Francisco, CA and Portland. Image: 16 x 20 inches Sheet: 18 x 24 inches Note: Crumpled/folded gampi is proud by 1/8” from back mounted layer of Somerset Individual photogravure: $4,500 Suite of five photogravures: $18,000 Framing is POR
PLEASE NOTE: Prices are Subject to Change Based on Available Edition
Catharine Clark Gallery | cclarkgallery.com | 6
Stephanie Syjuco Pileup (Eastman), 2021 Hand-assembled pigmented inkjet prints on Hahnemuhle Baryta Edition of 3 + 2AP; edition 2/3 48 x 36 inches framed 1/3: $22,000 2/3: $26,000 3/3 (only sold as a full set): $90,000 PLEASE NOTE: Prices are Subject to Change Based on Available Edition
Catharine Clark Gallery | cclarkgallery.com | 7
Stephanie Syjuco Pileup (Brass Bells), 2021 Hand-assembled pigmented inkjet prints on Hahnemuhle Baryta Edition of 3 + 2AP; edition 2/3 36 x 48 inches framed 1/3: $22,000 2/3: $26,000 3/3 (only sold as a full set): $90,000
PLEASE NOTE: Prices are Subject to Change Based on Available Edition
Catharine Clark Gallery | cclarkgallery.com | 8
Stephanie Syjuco Pileup (Herbaria), 2021 Hand-assembled pigmented inkjet prints on Hahnemuhle Baryta Edition of 3 + 2AP 48 x 36 inches framed 1/3: $22,000 2/3: $26,000 3/3 (only sold as a full set): $90,000
PLEASE NOTE: Prices are Subject to Change Based on Available Edition
Catharine Clark Gallery | cclarkgallery.com | 9
Stephanie Syjuco Soft Body (Fragment), 2021 Pigmented inkjet print on Hahnemuhle Baryta mounted on 3mm E-Panel Edition of 3 + 2AP 19 x 28 inches 1/3: $9,500 2/3: $9,500 3/3: $11,500
PLEASE NOTE: Prices are Subject to Change Based on Available Edition
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Stephanie Syjuco Double Portrait (Available Light), 2021 Pigmented inkjet print on Hahnemuhle Baryta mounted on 3mm E-Panel Edition of 3 + 2AP 34 x 26 inches $15,000 PLEASE NOTE: Prices are Subject to Change Based on Available Edition
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Stephanie Syjuco Overlay, 2021 Pigmented inkjet print on Hahnemuhle Baryta mounted on 3mm E-Panel Edition of 3 + 2AP 34 x 27 inches $15,000 PLEASE NOTE: Prices are Subject to Change Based on Available Edition
Catharine Clark Gallery | cclarkgallery.com | 12
Stephanie Syjuco Inverted Eclipse (Light Into Dark Into Light Into Dark), 2021 Pigmented inkjet print on Hahnemuhle Baryta mounted on 3mm E-Panel Edition of 3 + 2AP 21 x 17 inches $7,500 PLEASE NOTE: Prices are Subject to Change Based on Available Edition
Catharine Clark Gallery | cclarkgallery.com | 13
Stephanie Syjuco Headshots (Witness 1), 2021 Pigmented inkjet print on Hahnemuhle Baryta mounted on aluminum Edition of 5 + 2AP 13 x 13 inches $6,500
PLEASE NOTE: Prices are Subject to Change Based on Available Edition
Catharine Clark Gallery | cclarkgallery.com | 14
Stephanie Syjuco Headshots (Witness 2), 2021 Pigmented inkjet print on Hahnemuhle Baryta mounted on aluminum Edition of 5 + 2AP 13 x 13 inches $6,500
PLEASE NOTE: Prices are Subject to Change Based on Available Edition
Catharine Clark Gallery | cclarkgallery.com | 15
Stephanie Syjuco Headshots (Witness 3), 2021 Pigmented inkjet print on Hahnemuhle Baryta mounted on aluminum Edition of 5 + 2AP 13 x 13 inches $6,500
PLEASE NOTE: Prices are Subject to Change Based on Available Edition
Catharine Clark Gallery | cclarkgallery.com | 16
Stephanie Syjuco Headshots (Witness 4), 2021 Pigmented inkjet print on Hahnemuhle Baryta mounted on aluminum Edition of 5 + 2AP 13 x 13 inches $6,500
PLEASE NOTE: Prices are Subject to Change Based on Available Edition
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Stephanie Syjuco Headshots (Witness 5), 2021 Pigmented inkjet print on Hahnemuhle Baryta mounted on aluminum Edition of 5 + 2AP 13 x 13 inches $6,500
PLEASE NOTE: Prices are Subject to Change Based on Available Edition
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Stephanie Syjuco Fixed Focus (Dead Center), 2021 36 pigmented inkjet prints on Hahnemuhle Baryta mounted on 2mm E-Panel Edition of 3 + 2AP 71 x 56 inches overall 11 x 8 1/2 inches each 1/3: $25,000 2/3: $28,000 3/3: $30,000
PLEASE NOTE: Prices are Subject to Change Based on Available Edition
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Stephanie Syjuco Block Out the Sun, 2021 Single-channel video with sound Edition of 3 + 2AP 5:09 minutes looped 1/3: $15,000 2/3: $18,000 3/3: $20,000 Institutional repositories, archives, and museums are tasked with housing cultural collections, framing historical narratives, and creating research opportunities for future generations. These archives are also rife with omission, racial bias, and a subjective eye toward what should be collected and preserved for posterity. How does one “talk back” to an archive and attempt to potentially re-narrate its documents and images? In conjunction with my 2019 solo exhibition “Rogue States,” at the Contemporary Art Museum in St. Louis, Missouri, I researched images in local archives, libraries, and historical societies, searching for photographic documentation of a faux Filipino village created for the 1904 World’s Fair. A newly-acquired colony of the United States, Filipino culture was showcased for the American public via a living “human zoo,” filled with 1200 imported “natives” performing dances and rituals. These displays served dual purposes: as entertainment and as ethnographic pedagogical tool for justifying racial hierarchy and white supremacy. After seeing image after image of this spectacle, it struck me that the photos, while historical, also serve to constantly reinscribe and reify the power dynamics of the time. Although factual (this indeed did “happen”), the constant effect of viewing these staged ethnographic images could also serve to perpetuate racist stereotypes, despite attempts to frame them as outdated or a relic of their time. These images, unfortunately, still speak for a culture. By physically blocking the images with my hands, I attempted a direct way of intervening with an archive, and thwarting the viewer’s ability to fully consume the people and faces on display. Over a century after the original photos of the Filipino Village were taken, my own body, sitting in the archives, becomes both a temporary shield and a marker of defiance, while at the same time acknowledging that the images still remain.
PLEASE NOTE: Prices are Subject to Change Based on Available Edition
Catharine Clark Gallery | cclarkgallery.com | 20