“Creepshow”

The psychic drama of photography

Dwarves, hermaphrodites, corpses, prostitutes: you don’t have to see the work of Diane Arbus or Joel Peter-Witkin (both of whom made the marginalized and macabre their subject matter) to feel that photography has an inherently creepy nature. It’s voyeuristic, often exploitative and invasive, as anyone who’s been chased by paparazzi or photographed in a compromising position would tell you. Plus, it apparently can capture ghosts. In “Creepshow,” photographers Diane Fenster, Carol Golemboski, and Maura Sullivan reveal spooky, sinister aspects of life through compelling images. Sullivan’s Selected Stories probes New York City’s decaying corners for the stories of what happened in them. Similarly, Golemboski’s Psychometry offers weathered objects for your interpretation—letting you try some psychometry, or psychic “object-reading,” yourself to uncover their mysteries. And Fenster’s Ghost Stories are Polaroid portraits of the haunted and, yes, marginalized—which means that in a way, she’s captured some ghosts after all.

Oct. 5-31, 2007