Between the Bylines

At its core, the exhibition Between the Bylines investigates one crucial issue – that of absence. It looks at who gets represented in the newspaper and how that representation takes shape. It takes as its medium one that is disappearing. The featured artists undertake interventions into newspapers by concealing, obstructing, redacting, or disguising elements of the medium to highlight this representation (or lack of it). This invites the audience to contemplate issues of subjectivity, trust, and control in press coverage.

The artists employ diverse strategies to achieve this aim. Some work directly with the physical newspaper itself, altering or transforming the printed pages. Others intervene through press photography, manipulating or recontextualizing images originally intended for publication. Others utilize the very apparatus that stores and disseminates press information, such as microfiche archives.

Their approaches underscore the fact that the cultural status and importance of the newspaper is undergoing a profound transition. This flux reflects larger technological, cultural, and economic shifts reshaping the media landscape. The paper version of the newspaper can seem like an anachronism alongside digital platforms and the rise of ‘citizen journalism’ enabled by new technologies. As such the exhibition has a subtext of the disappearing medium itself.

Crucially, these works raise fundamental questions not just about the evolving definition of what constitutes a ‘newspaper’, but also its very function and role in society. They shine a light on communities and individuals who are often misrepresented or rendered invisible by mainstream press narratives.

Through their works, the artists prompt us to reflect on the physicality and materiality of the newspaper medium itself. How does this tangible form relate to the power dynamics inherent in deciding whose stories get told and amplified, whose get suppressed or marginalized, and who gets remember