It is hard to imagine how one could turn chalkboard depictions of theoretical mathematics into a beautiful photographic project, but Jessica Wynne has done just that. The project was inspired by two circumstances: Wynne has two close friends who are mathematicians at the University of Chicago and whose work intrigued her. And on a trip to Jaipur, India – she is a photography professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology who takes her students on study trips – she and her students visited an Indian school where some of the classes were taught on a rooftop by teachers using chalkboards. She took pictures of those chalkboards, and once she got home she took a closer look at them. They intrigued her, reminding her of the formulas on the chalkboards of her mathematician friends. Her new series began to take shape, and for the next year and a half, Wynne will document the formulas, problems, and thought processes that men and women in various institutions worldwide scrawl on their chalkboards. The book, Do Not Erase, to be published in 2020 by Princeton University Press, will include 100 photographs of these chalkboards.
It may seem antiquated, but to this day, many mathematicians work through their ideas on these boards, returning to them as they work on solutions. The boards show a creative thought process, a narration of concepts and ideas that build over time – sometime years – and a view into the world of pure thought. For Wynne, it is a secret language, both mysterious and beautiful, that reflects a quality of creativity not so very different from that of an artist.
Her photographs are documentary, in the sense that she has made straightforward images of an everyday object – chalkboards – whose subject matter is abstract thought, but the end result is a project wholly original in concept. Wynne photographs the boards straight on, in natural lighting, with a large-format camera, and her images can evoke the abstract paintings of Cy Twombly or Brice Marden. Just like handwriting, no two are alike. Some are complex and beautiful, others whimsical or starkly minimal. For me, they bring back memories of my early school years. I can hear the squeaky sound of chalk on the board and the sponge wiping it clean. Back then, I had to comprehend what was in front of me. Now, I can just admire the mysterious inscriptions.
January – February 2012 About The Cover
If Vivian Maier had not existed, it would have bee...
Bill Hunt
“Photography, for me, is a life’s mission,” says collector, curator, teacher, writer, former dealer, onetime actor, and full-time storyteller Bill Hunt.
Joanne Dugan
Joanne Dugan has practiced some form of meditation for about a decade – she calls it “a repetitive practice of quiet sitting,” to de-emphasize the formality of certain meditation practices and highlight its accessibility.
Anastasia Samoylova's Florida
A Russian-born photographer captures the idiosyncrasies of her adopted state.
Glen Ruga
Rania Matar, Jessica, Rabieh, 2010. Courtesy the a...
John Jacob
When John Jacob joined the Smithsonian American Ar...
RBG Collars: Photographs by Elinor Carucci | The Jewish Museum, New York City
When the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg took the...
January – February 2008 About The Cover
When a person sees me for the first time, they wil...
Cheryle St. Onge
After photographer Cheryle St. Onge’s mother, Carole, was diagnosed with vascular dementia about five years ago, St. Onge stopped making photographs.
Mary Ellen Bartley
Mary Ellen Bartley was in Bologna, Italy, in the midst of a residency at the Giorgio Morandi studio and library, when the pandemic hit Italy.
An-My Lê
Beginning March 14, the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh is presenting On Contested Terrain, the artist’s first major survey show, with nearly 125 images.
Linda Troeller
Linda Troeller, whose work is on view at the Museum of Sex in New York City, responds to five questions from photograph.