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- © Anne Smith Duncan, “Illusions Landscape”
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- © Anne Smith Duncan, “Illusions Landscape”
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- © Anne Smith Duncan, “Illusions Landscape”
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- © Anne Smith Duncan, “Illusions Landscape”
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- © Anne Smith Duncan, “Illusions Landscape”
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- © Anne Smith Duncan, “Illusions Landscape”
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- © Anne Smith Duncan, “Illusions Landscape”
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- © Anne Smith Duncan, “Illusions Landscape”
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- © Anne Smith Duncan, “Illusions Landscape”
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- © Anne Smith Duncan, “Illusions Landscape”
Anne Smith Duncan
Illusions (Landscape)
While our eyes may tell us one thing, our analytical brain often can’t quite figure what we are seeing. Something just doesn’t make sense. What we see and what we perceive and interpret may not be the physical reality.
The series Illusions (Landscape) plays with our visual perception. The images remind of landscapes, but on closer examination, something is off. What is that texture? The colors aren’t quite right. Photographs of two-dimensional flat concrete surfaces can be perceived as three-dimensional landscapes. In the changing light of day, colors and shadows emerge, reminding of dawn and dusk, imagined rivers, shadowed trees reflected in lakes, insects rising to the sky.
Perceptual ambiguity reflects ambiguity in life.
Artist Bio
Anne Smith Duncan’s images often present ambiguities of visual perception, inviting the viewer to question how we make meaning of what we see. Her use of soft focus, reflection, and translucent barriers leave the viewer shifting subject/ground as they attempt to determine “what is happening here?” Her color images may also reflect the dichotomies of being human and finding a place in the world and expose a state of mind, providing openings for the viewer to create-escape-remember their own experience. Her work has been influenced by painters of the Impressionist, Cubistic, and Abstract movements.
Duncan’s images have been shown in juried exhibitions at the deCordova Museum, the Center for Fine Art Photography, the ASmith Gallery, PhotoPlace Gallery, the Houston Center of Photography, the Walkers Gallery, and the Photographic Resource Center.
Doors, a self-published book (2018), is the culmination of her 40-year project photographing in more than 30 countries. Her artist book (in)Visible Presences (2020) documents objects owned by deceased family members with anecdotes about the items and owners. Her publications Partita New York City I and II (2021) present a non-tourist view of the city.
Raised in the Philadelphia area and having lived up and down the East Coast, Duncan is now based in Austin, TX. After a 30+ year career in high-technology and a 10+ year career teaching international students, she turned to the photographic arts. Duncan has studied with many notable photographers including Cig Harvey, Susan Burnstine, Alex Webb, Rebecca Norris Webb, and MJ Benson. She earned her B.A. at The George Washington University and A.L.M. at Harvard University.
Contact Anne Smith Duncan