Photography is a peculiar medium, an idiosyncratic mix of strengths and weaknesses. It is extremely good at documenting our everyday reality, and yet it is only capable of capturing the mute surface of our world. It merely shows the external appearance of things, not their essence. This is a question of interpretation, a matter for the viewer’s discretion. To compensate for this failing, photographs are mostly presented in an explicit context, often with explanatory captions. Tillesen’s “superficial images” also document our everyday reality, in combination with titles that seem to offer an explanation of their content. But on closer examination it becomes clear that neither the photographs nor the captions are reliable. The book appears in conjunction with the solo exhibition Peter Tillessen — Superficial Images, Centre de la Photographie Genève, 25, November 2016 to 22, January 2017.

Photography is a peculiar medium, an idiosyncratic mix of strengths and weaknesses. It is extremely good at documenting our everyday reality, and yet it is only capable of capturing the mute surface of our world. It merely shows the external appearance of things, not their essence. This is a question of interpretation, a matter for the viewer’s discretion. To compensate for this failing, photographs are mostly presented in an explicit context, often with explanatory captions. Tillesen’s “superficial images” also document our everyday reality, in combination with titles that seem to offer an explanation of their content. But on closer examination it becomes clear that neither the photographs nor the captions are reliable.