Critical Collection (Image Intelligence and Empire)

Images mediate political operations, public and covert. It is difficult, if not impossible, to imagine the most significant events of the last century without the photographic forms in which they were captured. Lesser known and suppressed activities that have greatly impacted modern global power dynamics also leave photographic traces, and in many cases, photography has been at the center of clandestine actions by state and parapolitical actors. Critical Collection is an assemblage of declassified archival photographs and other found images processed and re-contextualized by artist and researcher Evan Hume. He obtains this source material primarily from the Central Intelligence Agency, National Archives, and National Reconnaissance Office. With photographic intelligence gathering at its core, Hume’s work expands centrifugally, making unexpected visual and conceptual connections that form a complex web of fact and speculation. Hume employs experimental imaging methods to alter and combine the amassed photographs, exhibiting the malleability of images and historical narratives. At a time of AI proliferation and heightened global tension, Critical Collection encourages viewers to look closely at remnants of the once-secret imaging systems that have shaped the world and imagine what remains unseen.