Wes Phillips

"While in residence at the Baltimore Museum of Industry during the last two years, Catherine Wagner was given access to their 50,000+ collection of historic light bulbs, one of the premier collections of vintage and antique light bulbs in the United States, with lights dating from the early 19th century. The resulting series of photographs titled A Narrative History of the Light Bulb embodies both sculptural installation and photography. Wagner creates arrangements of bulbs that she then photographs with an 8 by 10 view camera in order to record the glass enclosures and the delicate filaments in stunning detail. Wagner’s work has long been noted for its investigation of the dissemination of knowledge and the construction of culture and these new works follow in her trajectory of providing access to the close scrutiny of scientific objects."