LONG BEACH, CA.- The University Art Museum at College of the Arts presents Multiple Exposures: Highlights from CSULB Special Collections, on view through August 6, 2006. Photography from its infancy has enthralled viewers for its ability to depict the immediate. Magic co-exists with realism. But, however much we question the truth in photography, particularly in this digital age, when presented with a tangible representation, the illusion is sacred. The University Art Museum presents Multiple Exposures: Highlights from CSULB Special Collections, curated by Sarah G. Vinci, Public Relations Director for the UAM.

The group exhibition features a cross section of visually arresting and diverse black and white and color photographs from the 1930s through the 1980s. The original library director for CSULB was Charles Boorkman, who collected fine art, photography, and rare books for the campus. The exhibition includes striking photographs made by Farm Security Administration photographers Dorothea Lange, Walker Evans, and Marion Post Wolcott. Wolcott is noted for her images of the downtrodden during the Great Depression in America. The untitled photo of 1939, listed as A Member of the Wilkins Family Making Biscuits on Corn-husking Day evidences the realist documentary style of Wolcott’s work for the FSA. Her compelling images of this period have become emblematic of the Great Depression. The exhibition also includes Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico by Ansel Adams; and numerous photographs by Edward Weston, including Cabbage Leaf, 1931, that were gifted to the collection by Long Beach residents Dr. Fred and Esther Modern. Multiple Exposures also consists of images by contemporary photographers such as Linda Connor and Joel Sternfeld. The luminous photograph Seven Sacred Pools, Maui, Hawaii by San Francisco artist Linda Connor contemplates the poetry and mystery of an ancient site and the timeless realm of the spirit. Connor states, "the strongest and most consistent content in my work is the investigation of the cultural boundaries between the natural and the sacred." Connor uses printing techniques that date back to photography's early beginnings. She makes contact prints by placing the 8 x 10 inch negatives from her large-format view camera on special paper, laying it outside in her garden, and exposing them to the sun acting as active agent in creating these prints. She then tones the prints with gold chloride. Connor does not manipulate the image. In part, her ability to capture light is what makes her photographs appear to reveal the presence of something holy.