We know D.C. Get our free newsletter to stay in the know.
TO MAY 29
There’s not a lot of culture in Conner’s panoramas of China and other Asian countries, but there’s apparently more than there used to be. The photographer, a Yale professor, has been dragging her 7-by-17-inch “banquet camera” around China for more than a decade, and her recent pictures include more evidence of human habitation (including even a few actual people) than her earlier works. Still, the “exaggerated rectangle” format and delicate, painterly richness of her contact prints suggest Chinese scroll landscape painting more than documentary photography. Conner sometimes combines two or more prints to provide a broader view of such Asian landmarks as Angkor Wat, but her most effective images are of Chinese geologic forms; the tonal depth of her platinum prints (made on hand-prepared paper) suggests the accretions of time seen in those distinctively eroded outcroppings. At the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, 1050 Independence Ave. SW. FREE. (202) 357-3200. (Mark Jenkins)