Language and Image: A Photographic Exhibition. Old Dominion University Gallery, March 28-May 9, 1982.

Essay by Linda F. McGreevy, "The Postmodern Photographic Image." Wraps, 12 pages. Exhibition of a series of projects by five contemporary American photographers (Eileen Berger, Scott D. Engel, Martha Madigan, Silvia Malagrino, and Marguerite Welch), curated by Betsy Fahlman. Statements and illustration by each photographer. Fine. Summary:

Language and Image: A Photographic Exhibition is a 12-page exhibition catalog published in 1982 by the Old Dominion University Gallery in Norfolk, Virginia. Prepared for a dynamic spring exhibition (March 28 – May 9, 1982), this publication documents a crucial moment in early 1980s contemporary art, showcasing a group of American photographers who actively rejected traditional documentary photography to explore the conceptual, semiotic, and text-based boundaries of the medium.

Core Themes and Content

• The Postmodern Photographic Image: The catalog features a central, anchoring essay by art historian Linda F. McGreevy titled "The Postmodern Photographic Image." In it, McGreevy analyzes how mid-century "straight" photography was giving way to a more complex, conceptual movement where images are decoded like language and often rely on mixed-media, multi-layered storytelling, or literal typography to construct meaning.

• Five Contemporary Visionaries: Curated by Betsy Fahlman, the publication spotlights a series of experimental projects by five contemporary American photographers: Eileen Berger, Scott D. Engel, Martha Madigan, Silvia Malagrino, and Marguerite Welch.

• Synthesis of Word and Visual: Each artist is given dedicated space in the pamphlet to display their work alongside personal artist statements. The featured projects showcase varied avant-garde techniques, ranging from Martha Madigan’s expressive, solarized photograms that treat the human body as a symbolic alphabet, to complex mixed-media narratives where text is layered directly over or alongside the photographic negative.

• A Snapshot of Academic Curation: As an academic gallery publication, the thin volume captures the exact era when universities and independent curators were instrumental in legitimizing postmodern, theory-driven photography—shifting the focus of the camera from an objective tool that records outer reality to a subjective tool that examines inner consciousness and cultural systems.

Though brief in page count, this catalog serves as a highly targeted historical record of the 1980s conceptual photography movement, mapping out how the fusion of linguistics and imagery reshaped modern fine art.