In an age of passive image consumption, the artist reminds us that photographs require our full attention.

In technical terms, a&nbsp;showcaller&nbsp;is the person who, during a theatrical production, makes sure that all of the elements of the show run smoothly&mdash;from the lighting to the sound to the stage entrances.&nbsp;Show Caller is&nbsp;also the name of an app you can download that will identify the name of the person calling you,&nbsp;allowing you to avoid spam or otherwise unwanted callers. Both the true definition and the&nbsp;intent of the&nbsp;app can be used to describe the work of Talia&nbsp;Chetrit, who aims, in her broad range of imagery, to expose&nbsp;the machinations of the photographer in the creation of a photograph.&nbsp;&nbsp;

021_Book_LTI-talia-may_41.2.jpg

Chetrit has made a name for herself with imagery that is often unabashedly&nbsp;erotic.

Showcaller&nbsp;is, appropriately, the name of Talia&nbsp;Chetrit&rsquo;s&nbsp;first monograph,&nbsp;published by MACK in January. Encompassing a broad range of images taken between 1994, when&nbsp;Chetrit&mdash;who was born in 1980 in Washington, D.C.&mdash;first picked up a camera, and 2018, the publication is linked to the first retrospective of her work, which was held at&nbsp;K&ouml;lnischer&nbsp;Kunstverein&nbsp;in Cologne, Germany, in early 2018.&nbsp;&nbsp;

063_Book_NadegeLollipop_FINAL.jpg

Without&nbsp;distinguishing&nbsp;between type&nbsp;or time period,&nbsp;the tome&nbsp;mixes&nbsp;a wide range of&nbsp;Chetrit&rsquo;s&nbsp;images:&nbsp;advertisements she shot for&nbsp;Helmut Lang and C&eacute;line;&nbsp;photographs of New York City streets&nbsp;taken&nbsp;with a long-range lens through an office building window;&nbsp;portraits&nbsp;of her&nbsp;teenage friends and her parents&nbsp;that have appeared in&nbsp;gallery&nbsp;exhibitions&nbsp;(including&nbsp;at&nbsp;Sies&nbsp;+&nbsp;H&ouml;ke&nbsp;and Kaufmann&nbsp;Repetto); explicit scenes of&nbsp;herself having sex with her partner in a sunny meadow; and&nbsp;nude&nbsp;self-portraits&nbsp;that recall both&nbsp;Robert Mapplethorpe&nbsp;and Courbet&rsquo;s painting&nbsp;L&#39;Origine&nbsp;du Monde. On paper, there&rsquo;s an obvious comparison&nbsp;between&nbsp;Chetrit&nbsp;and&nbsp;Nan&nbsp;Goldin, who also uses&nbsp;her&nbsp;own sex life and friendships as&nbsp;subjects. But&nbsp;Chetrit&rsquo;s&nbsp;images are far more clinical, even sterile, recalling the advertisements of the fashion&nbsp;collective&nbsp;Eckhaus&nbsp;Latta&nbsp;and&nbsp;portraits by Collier&nbsp;Schorr, who herself blends fine art with editorial and advertisement photography.&nbsp;&nbsp;

077_Book_67050015_HR 001.jpg

073_Book_pantsdown_FLAT_v3 (1).jpg

In many images, Chetrit is her own subject, calling to mind the likes of Robert Mapplethorpe and Nan Goldin.

What link&nbsp;the&nbsp;visually disparate works&nbsp;together are&nbsp;Chetrit&rsquo;s&nbsp;stubborn reminders that images are performances. In&nbsp;Untitled (Outdoor Sex #1),&nbsp;2018,&nbsp;a wire connecting&nbsp;a&nbsp;remote button with the camera cuts a ragged line through the center&nbsp;of&nbsp;an image of&nbsp;Chetrit&nbsp;embracing her lover.&nbsp;The same button appears in&nbsp;Self-portrait (all fours),&nbsp;2017, in which&nbsp;Chetrit,&nbsp;with&nbsp;a stocking over her head, enacts a sexy image,&nbsp;rather than actually creating one. In&nbsp;Ever (Stairs),&nbsp;2016&nbsp;(which initially appeared&nbsp;in the magazine&nbsp;Hot and Cool)&nbsp;the model, a young girl, assumes a pose so unnatural that the viewer is immediately made aware that someone&mdash;the&nbsp;showrunner&mdash;directed her&nbsp;the&nbsp;purpose of composition.&nbsp;The origin&nbsp;of these explorations into the artifice of sexuality, femininity,&nbsp;and the act to posing&nbsp;can be found in&nbsp;Face #1,&nbsp;1994/2017. In the image, a&nbsp;teen licks a bright red lollipop;&nbsp;she is the simulacrum of&nbsp;Chetrit, who was 14 herself, and only beginning to explore her own sexuality.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

005_8270003 009.jpg

In slicing&nbsp;open&nbsp;various&nbsp;photographic&nbsp;tropes&mdash;the selfie, the pornographic image, the fashion advertisement, the&nbsp;family portrait&mdash;with the precision of a surgeon,&nbsp;Chetrit&nbsp;forces&nbsp;viewers&nbsp;to actually look at her work.&nbsp;It&rsquo;s a&nbsp;rare feat in a time&nbsp;when&nbsp;most photographs just wash over&nbsp;our&nbsp;dulled senses in a never-ending scroll.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

Talia Chetrit Wants You to Look Closer

Tags

Related Articles

Pop culture

Artist and Activist Yoko Ono's 10 Best Quotes

L'Officiel Art

Artist Maggie Lee Celebrates the Glitter of Youth in New NYC Installation for Nordstrom

L'Officiel Art

Meet the Artist Who Makes Floral Bouquets in Garbage Cans

Recommended posts for you

Fashion

Every Celebrity at Dior's Pre-Fall 2024 Show

Pop culture

Tom Brady's Complete Dating History

Pop culture

Remember NYC Prep? Here's What the Stars of the Controversial Bravo Show Are Up To Now

Music

Everything to Know About Taylor Swift's New Album 'The Tortured Poets Department'

Music

Funk Duo Chromeo Gets Into the Groove

Shopping

Unleash Your Wild Side With These Cheetah Print Bikinis

Pop culture

'Bayou Barbie' Angel Reese Sparkled on the WNBA Draft Orange Carpet

Fashion

Lana Del Rey's 15 Best Style Moments