WATTS INDEXThe canonical database of visual culture

Artists›Allan Sekula

Allan Sekula

Allan Sekula

1951–2013

WA-00000067

Photography

Representation

None documented

0

Institutional Exhibitions

30

Works in Collection

76

Assets Indexed

7

Authority-backed Facts

0

Publications Referenced

70%

Profile Completeness

Cultural Positioning

Influence Graph

No influence edges encoded yet.

Authority Records (2)

WikidataQ324864

Field Verification (6 fields)

4 cross-verified · 2 single-source

Birth yearArtsy + Duplicate Merge· 85%✓
Death yearDuplicate Merge· 85%✓
BiographyDuplicate Merge· 85%✓
Primary mediumDuplicate Merge· 85%✓
NationalityArtsy· 85%
LocationGallery Generic· 72%

Source Registry (2)

Marian-Goodmanhttps://www.mariangoodman.com/artists/
Tier 3 · Scraped/inferred100%
MoMA bulk 2026-05-04https://www.moma.org/artists/31040
Tier 1 · Institutional92%

About

Why this artist matters now

Allan Sekula worked across photography, film, and critical writing to document the material and economic infrastructures of global capitalism. His practice treated the photographic image as inseparable from text and argument, producing long-form documentary sequences that examined ports, shipping routes, and industrial labor as sites of political analysis. A faculty member at California Institute of the Arts from 1985 until his death in 2013, he was equally influential as a theorist and critic. His project 'Fish Story', a multi-part photographic and written work on maritime trade, remains a landmark of documentary practice.

Source: Marian Goodman · Trust score: 100% · Updated 2mo ago

Graph relationships

Taste overlap and adjacency

Movement

—

Medium

Photography

Related Artists

6 in graph

Institutional

Museum Collections

Art Institute of Chicago

Canonical record

Artworks (30)

The Forgotten Space

2010 · Digital cinema (color, sound)

Museum of Modern Art

Shipwreck and Workers from the Museum in Progress project Worlds of Work

2005 · 19 lithographs, printed in color

sheet (each): 18 1/2 x 12 3/8" (47 x 31.5 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Waiting for Tear Gas (white globe to black)

1999 · Eighty 35mm color slides

Dimensions variable. Continuous projection. 12:15 min.

Museum of Modern Art

Dead Letter Office - Fábrica de Caixões, Tijuana

1996 · Silver dye bleach print

Museum of Modern Art

Seventy in Seven (from Fish Story: Chapter 4)

Seventy in Seven (from Fish Story: Chapter 4)

1993 · 23 dye-destruction prints and 4 gelatin silver prints

13 framed prints; each: 61.6 × 78.2 × 4.5 cm (24 1/4 × 30 3/4 × 1 3/4 in.); 5 framed diptychs; each: 61.6 × 142.9 × 4.5 cm (24 1/4 × 56 1/4 × 1 3/4 in.); 4 text panels; each: 101.6 × 71.2 × 3.2 cm (40 × 28 × 1 1/4 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Inclinometer, Mid Atlantic & Panorama, mid Atlantic from the series Fish Story

Inclinometer, Mid Atlantic & Panorama, mid Atlantic from the series Fish Story

1993 · Silver dye bleach prints (diptych)

26 × 62 3/4" (66 × 159.4 cm) and 33 1/2 × 62 3/4" (85.1 × 159.4 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Remnants of a movie set. Abandoned shipyard. Los Angeles harbor. Terminal Island, California from the series Fish Story

Remnants of a movie set. Abandoned shipyard. Los Angeles harbor. Terminal Island, California from the series Fish Story

1993 · Silver dye bleach print

32 1/8 × 22 5/8 (81.6 × 57.5 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Testing robot-truck designed to move containers within automated ECT/Sea-Land cargo terminal. Maasvlakte, Port of Rotterdam, the Netherlands from the series Fish Story

Testing robot-truck designed to move containers within automated ECT/Sea-Land cargo terminal. Maasvlakte, Port of Rotterdam, the Netherlands from the series Fish Story

1992 · Silver dye bleach print

24 1/8 × 30 5/8 (61.3 × 77.8 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

"Pancake," a former shipyard sandblaster, scavenging copper from a waterfront scrapyard. Los Angeles harbor. Terminal Island, California from the series Fish Story

"Pancake," a former shipyard sandblaster, scavenging copper from a waterfront scrapyard. Los Angeles harbor. Terminal Island, California from the series Fish Story

1992 · Silver dye bleach print

Approx 24 1/8 × 30 5/8 × 1 3/4" (61.3 × 77.8 × 4.4 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Abandoned shipyard used by Marine Corps Expeditionary Force for "counter-terrorist" exercises. Los Angeles harbor. Terminal Island, California from the series Fish Story

Abandoned shipyard used by Marine Corps Expeditionary Force for "counter-terrorist" exercises. Los Angeles harbor. Terminal Island, California from the series Fish Story

1992 · Silver dye bleach print

24 1/8 × 30 5/8" (61.3 × 77.8 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Hammerhead crane unloading forty-foot containers from Asian ports. American President Lines terminal. Los Angeles harbor. San Pedro, California from the series Fish Story

Hammerhead crane unloading forty-foot containers from Asian ports. American President Lines terminal. Los Angeles harbor. San Pedro, California from the series Fish Story

1992 · Silver dye bleach print

24 1/8 × 30 5/8" (61.3 × 77.8 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Koreatown, Los Angeles from the series Fish Story

Koreatown, Los Angeles from the series Fish Story

1992 · Silver dye bleach print

32 1/8 × 22 5/8 (81.6 × 57.5 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Workers cleaning up chemical spill after refinery explosion. Los Angeles harbor. Wilmington, California from the series Fish Story

Workers cleaning up chemical spill after refinery explosion. Los Angeles harbor. Wilmington, California from the series Fish Story

1992 · Silver dye bleach print

32 1/8 × 22 5/8 (81.6 × 57.5 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Remnants of a Roman harbor near Minturno, Italy from the series Fish Story

Remnants of a Roman harbor near Minturno, Italy from the series Fish Story

1992 · Silver dye bleach print

24 1/8 × 30 5/8" (61.3 × 77.8 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Welder's booth in bankrupt Todd Shipyard. Two years after closing. Los Angeles harbor. San Pedro, California from the series Fish Story

Welder's booth in bankrupt Todd Shipyard. Two years after closing. Los Angeles harbor. San Pedro, California from the series Fish Story

1991 · Silver dye bleach print

32 1/8 × 22 5/8 (81.6 × 57.5 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Pipe fitters finishing the engine room of a tuna-fishing boat. Campbell Shipyard. San Diego harbor from the series Fish Story

Pipe fitters finishing the engine room of a tuna-fishing boat. Campbell Shipyard. San Diego harbor from the series Fish Story

1991 · Silver dye bleach print

24 1/8 × 30 5/8 (61.3 × 77.8 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Pipe fitters finishing the engine room of a tuna-fishing boat. Campbell Shipyard. San Diego harbor from the series Fish Story

Pipe fitters finishing the engine room of a tuna-fishing boat. Campbell Shipyard. San Diego harbor from the series Fish Story

1991 · Silver dye bleach print

32 1/8 × 22 5/8 (81.6 × 57.5 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Welder's booth in bankrupt Todd Shipyard. Two years after closing. Los Angeles harbor. San Pedro, California from the series Fish Story

Welder's booth in bankrupt Todd Shipyard. Two years after closing. Los Angeles harbor. San Pedro, California from the series Fish Story

1991 · Silver dye bleach print

32 1/8 × 22 5/8 (81.6 × 57.5 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Fish Story: Walking on Water (Chapter 9)

1990 · Eighty 35mm color slides

Dimensions variable. Continous projection.

Museum of Modern Art

The rechristened Exxon Valdez awaiting sea trials after repairs. National Steel and Shipbuilding Company. San Diego harbor from the series Fish Story

The rechristened Exxon Valdez awaiting sea trials after repairs. National Steel and Shipbuilding Company. San Diego harbor from the series Fish Story

1990 · Silver dye bleach print

24 1/8 × 30 5/8 (61.3 × 77.8 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Shipyard-workers' housing--built during the Second World War--being moved from San Pedro to South-Central Los Angeles from the series Fish Story

Shipyard-workers' housing--built during the Second World War--being moved from San Pedro to South-Central Los Angeles from the series Fish Story

1990 · Silver dye bleach print

24 1/8 × 30 5/8" (61.3 × 77.8 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Boy looking at his mother. Staten Island Ferry. New York harbor from the series Fish Story

Boy looking at his mother. Staten Island Ferry. New York harbor from the series Fish Story

1990 · Silver dye bleach print

32 3/4 × 23 5/16" (83.2 × 59.2 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Shipyard-workers' housing--built during the Second World War--being moved from San Pedro to South-Central Los Angeles from the series Fish Story

Shipyard-workers' housing--built during the Second World War--being moved from San Pedro to South-Central Los Angeles from the series Fish Story

1990 · Silver dye bleach print

32 1/8 × 22 5/8 (81.6 × 57.5 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Boy looking at his mother. Staten Island Ferry. New York harbor from the series Fish Story

Boy looking at his mother. Staten Island Ferry. New York harbor from the series Fish Story

1990 · Silver dye bleach print

32 1/8 × 22 5/8 (81.6 × 57.5 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

View all 30 artworks →

Artwork sources (2)

30 published of 59 catalogued · 52 with image

MoMA
29 publishedof 58 catalogued51 img
Art Institute Chicago
1 published1 img

Record

Images

17 assets

Artsy artist portrait

Artsy

Seventy in Seven (from Fish Story: Chapter 4) (Art Institute of Chicago)

Art Institute of Chicago

Seventy in Seven (from Fish Story: Chapter 4) (Art Institute of Chicago)

Art Institute of Chicago

Seventy in Seven (from Fish Story: Chapter 4) (Art Institute of Chicago)

Art Institute of Chicago

Seventy in Seven (from Fish Story: Chapter 4) (Art Institute of Chicago)

Art Institute of Chicago

Seventy in Seven (from Fish Story: Chapter 4) (Art Institute of Chicago)

Art Institute of Chicago

Seventy in Seven (from Fish Story: Chapter 4) (Art Institute of Chicago)

Art Institute of Chicago

Seventy in Seven (from Fish Story: Chapter 4) (Art Institute of Chicago)

Art Institute of Chicago

View all 17 media items →

Relationships

1

Collections1

Art Institute of Chicago

Institutional

Representation & Collections

In collection

Art Institute of Chicago

Background

Education

University of California, San Diego

Visual Arts

Record

Exhibitions and timeline

No exhibitions or timeline entries yet