Primary Sources are documents that were created by witnesses or first recorders of events. We’ve come to expect that photographs are reliable and reveal the truth about moments in time. It has been said that photographs do not lie, however we all know they can. But so can a written record. A photograph can be altered through manual and digital means. The validity of a photo can also be changed to communicate a photographer’s point of view rather than the reality of the situation. A subject in a photograph may have alternative motives for being photographed. Photographs taken for marketing purposes are meant to influence public opinion and behavior rather than truth-tell.

This exhibition was meant to depict the photograph as document or as proof to phenomena or  happenings. The photographer was meant to be seen as witness. I asked the submitters to interpret that instruction fluidly. Was I only  interested in documentary photography? That was one way to answer this call. I asked them, however, to use their imaginations to come up with answers to my query. It is your responsibility, dear viewer, to determine fact or fiction in these 67 primary source materials.

The 67 photo chroniclers are:
Mildred Alpern
David Anderson
Roger Archibald
Jan Arrigo
Anne-Laure Autin
Carson Barnes
Karen Bell
Meg Birnbaum
Edward Boches
Sally Bousquet
Valerie Burke
Joy Bush
Erin Carey
Davida Carta
Bill Chapman
Sally Chapman
Annie Claflin
Dawn Colsia
Lee Cott
Allison Dinner
Alex Djordjevic
Richard Dweck
Diane Fenster
Kev Filmore
Carole Glauber
Steven Gentile
Scott Gordon
Lauren Grabelle
Michal Greenboim
Law Hamilton
Silke Hase
Sandy Hill
Yoko Ishii
Leslie Jean-Bart
Jamie Johnson
Marcy Juran
Amy Kanka Valadarsky
Ken Kartes
Gioia Kuss
Bree Lamb
James Lattanzio
Sunjoo Lee
Susan Lirakis
Marcia Lloyd
Joni Lohr
Bruce Magnuson
Vicki Margulies
Olga Merrill
Yvette Meltzer
Judith Montminy
Ruth Nelson
Nancy Nichols
Jane Paradise
Katherine Richmond
Tony Schwartz
Sam Scoggins
Sara Silks
Zachary Stephens
Vicky Stromee
Neelakantan Sunder
Donna  Tramontozzi
Inna Valin
Dianne Yudelson
Mara Zaslove
Joanne Zeis
Mike Zeis
Charlyn Zlotnik