But the 11 artists featured in the N.C. Museum of Art's new exhibit take the concept of the photograph and turn it on its ear. "Is Seeing Believing?" opened Sunday with more than 30 photographs showcasing surreal photography.
The exhibit features works by artists including Chuck Close and William Wegman. From Laurie Simmons' shots of walking cameras to Cindy Sherman's modern spin on fairy tales, "Is Seeing Believing?" covers a wide array of thematic ground and is simultaneously eerie, entertaining and fascinating.
Dennis Weller, co-curator of "Is Seeing Believing?" and curator of European art for the museum, said the exhibit's photographs are meant to provoke both a good laugh and serious contemplation, causing its audience to ponder the question the exhibit's title poses.
"(With the exhibit's photographs) people can smile and be confused at the same time," Weller said.
The exhibit is the third collection of photography the N.C. Museum of Art has presented in the last few months, following last fall's successful Ansel Adams exhibit, "In Praise of Nature." Weller likened "Is Seeing Believing?" to the dessert following the Adams exhibit's main course. He said the two provide contrasting evidence of what photography can accomplish.
The series of photography exhibits signals the medium's growing acceptance in museums, Weller added. Photography was long dismissed as an art form since the pictures merely documented real life, but in the 1970s pop art and conceptual photography added a sense of creativity and interpretation to the medium.
The photographs in "Is Seeing Believing?" are examples of surreal photography as a serious art form, as the works in the collection take advantage of sets, film and development tricks, props, sculpture and classical art references.
"Previously, photography was seen as a poor cousin," Weller said. "Museums didn't want to take up space for photographs -- it was ghettoized to a large degree."
Weller added that photography has blurred the boundaries separating fine art, pop art (such as the work of Andy Warhol) and advertising because commercial photographers use the techniques of "artists who use photography."
