Miraculous Photo

Patrick A. Nagatani, artist

1945–2017

Miraculous Photo, 1994

Where object was made: United States

Material/technique: Polaroid print; mixed media

Dimensions:
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 832 x 691 mm
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 32 3/4 x 27 3/16 in
Frame Dimensions (Height x Width x Depth): 32 1/2 x 27 x 2 in
Weight (Weight): 10 lbs

Credit line: Museum purchase

Accession number: 1996.0024

On display: Long Ellis Gallery

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Images

Label texts

Street Nihonga: The Art of Jimmy Tsutomu Mirikitani

In this collage-based photograph, Japanese American artist Patrick Nagatani examines the intersection of faith, media, and race. Nagatani surrounds a supermarket tabloid reporting a miraculous vision of Jesus with layered images of politics, film, and global conflict, revealing how belief and spectacle intertwine in contemporary culture. Like Mirikitani, who used collage to weave together personal and historical narratives, Nagatani reassembles photographic fragments to question authenticity, representation, and the persistence of myth in a media-saturated world.

Exhibition Label:
"Contemporary Photographs: Rethinking the Genres," Oct-2000, Rachel Epp Buller
Nagatani examines the intersection of contemporary issues with age-old religion. Choosing his religious subject from a supermarket tabloid, Nagatani plays on the fact that while church attendance is in decline, many people are still drawn to reports of miracles and visions, no matter how absurd they may seem. As a Japanese-American whose parents were confined to internment camps, Nagatani also addresses issues of race within religion. Whilte the face of Jesus has been reported over Somalia, the white face in the clouds is in stark contrast to that of the presumably Somalian woman adjacent. The power associated with white skin is further attested to by the photograph of the artist shaking hands with Bill Clinton and by the advertisement for a film featuring the “primitive pageantry” of African natives.

Exhibition Label:
"Signs of Faith: Photographs from the Collection," Oct-2001, Elissa L.Anderson
The Japanese-American photographer Nagatani exploits the popular fascination with miracles in this image of a supermarket tabloid surrounded by a collage of other pictures. The tabloid recalls the many visions of saints witnessed since the Middle Ages and the sustained interest in the socio-religious phenomenon.