Loneliness permeates Adam Ekberg’s whimsical photographs that document the climax of orchestrated events. While the camera freezes them into still lifes, a sense of continuity—like the arc of a story—happens as one realizes that Ekberg (American, b. 1975) invented, manifested, documented, and concluded these events. The objects take on lives of their own, even though we know that such agency is impossible.

For this nineteenth rotation, Stephanie Hofner, collection manager in the Department of Photography, worked with her four-year-old daughter Sawyer to select objects. While previous displays have been thematic, we will be sharing a wider variety of objects in the rotations going forward, while still highlighting the breadth and depth of the museum’s photograph holdings. An emphasis on family-friendly content can also be found thanks to Stephanie and Sawyer’s collaboration.