In the galleries: In 'Narrative,' 14 artists have personal tales to tell - Washington Post

By Mark Jenkins

Every picture tells at least one story in “Narrative,” a Studio Gallery show that illustrates the many ways cameras can spin a tale. The 14 participants practice traditional documentary photography, delve into history or simply use the lens as a sort of mirror.

The self-portraits include Iwan Bagus’s large-format nude, posed ominously with an animal trap. Langley Spurlock (with L.J. Aron) depicts the back of his own head in colorful environments that appear synthetic but are actually artworks in Miami museums. The context is even more electric in Steven Marks’s photo of a moving figure in a blur of red and aqua.

Gail Rebhan’s superimposed-text pictures depict Jewish children who lived in, and fled from, Nazi Germany. Soomin Ham continues to investigate family history with multilevel pictures of a site in Korea, grounded by her grandfather’s 1930s photos. Rania Razek photographs a scarf thrown into the air twice — with very different results — to commemorate two sisters who succumbed to breast cancer.

Gary Anthes offers crisp, evocative scenes from a Navajo reservation. Kim Llerena documents everyday roadside phenomena in the American Southwest, honoring each non-landmark with a plaque. Most intriguing in form is Shaun Schroth’s view from inside a Japanese train, a two-frame composition that at first glance seems to be just one. The juxtaposition may have been serendipitous, but here it looks inevitable.

Narrative: Contemporary Photography and the Art of Storytelling Through Dec. 1 at Studio Gallery, 2108 R St. NW.