Artificial Life from the Laboratory

Barbara Morgan was an American photographer and printmaker whose work bridged modernism and documentary practice across seven decades. She pioneered light-abstraction photography in the 1930s and 1940s, creating dynamic compositions through multiple exposures and experimental darkroom techniques. Her photographs of Martha Graham's dance performances rank among the most significant visual records of modern dance. Morgan's practice also encompassed lithography, drawing, and photomontage, often addressing themes of human movement, labor, and social transformation.