February 10, 1976: Theodore Wan
Theodore Wan exhibited Two 120 Rolls and Six 35mm Negatives, Photographs not by Theodore Wan, at the Anna Leonowens Gallery, February 10 - 15, 1976. For this project Theodore wrote away to a classified ad in a men’s magazine, I’m not sure which one, to purchase exposed rolls of film negatives of nude women taken by a unnamed photographer who was selling them through an ad placed at the back of the magazine.
Theodore was researching authorship, what was socially acceptable and in this case: what was considered erotica or pornography.
He became increasingly interested in vernacular photography. He did extensive work as a medical photographer and as a performance artist, he used himself as a subject for medical self-portraits. Exhibiting his photographs in hospitals- illustrating draping procedures and bridine scrubs for nurse training. These photographs were understood very differently than when shown in an art gallery context.
