The middle distance. Curated by Frances Cathryn. Featuring works by Kelly Kristin Jones

The middle ground or middle distance in the composition of an image is neither background nor foreground, neither very close nor very far away. It is a depth within the frame at which past and future are implied. While the middle ground is the most common framing andconsidered a “respectful” distance (especially in documentary photography) it is also often criticized as causing a scene to appear flat or static. 

The works currently installed in the Barbara Walters Gallery explore the idea of a social “middle ground,” a place where one can gain status while avoiding accountability, what historian Laura Wexler might call the “averted eye.” White women in particular have historically maintained a posture at middle distance: Always just close enough to exert influence but never putting themselves or their reputations in harm’s way. In Nice white ladies, installed in the center of the gallery, Jones has collected hundreds of vernacular images that showcase the lengths white women will go to access power at a remove. 

White women have also used this middle ground to preserve a singular, politically salient retelling of American history. In 1908, Eva Smith Cochran, matriarch of a local carpet-milling family, used her wealth to save Philipse Manor, the second-oldest building in Westchester County and former city hall. In a special collaboration installed in the gallery, Jones and students at Sarah Lawrence use the Philipse Manor Hall archive to consider how visual culture participates in political discourse. By turning such archival work into energeia ¹—an activist approach to interrogating the archive—Jones aims to make dominant historical knowledge more participatory. This exhibition is funded with a grant from the Mellon Foundation.

Image caption: Kelly Kristin Jones, nice white ladies, installation of unique found photographs.