Hand-Altered Images Reveal Photography’s Personal and Historical Layers
June 9, 2025
Minneapolis—The Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) presents “Annotations,” a photography exhibition that explores how artists across time and place have intervened in the photographic process—not just with the click of a shutter, but with the deliberate touch of a hand.
On view July 12 through November 30, 2025, in Mia’s Harrison Gallery, “Annotations” brings together approximately 50 works drawn largely from the museum’s renowned photography collection. Spanning the 19th century to today, the exhibition features daguerreotypes, inkjet and gelatin silver prints, photogravures, and contemporary experimental processes, including photographs made with flour and water from the Mississippi River.
In an age when photography is often equated with digital immediacy, “Annotations” invites visitors to see photographs as physical objects—surfaces to be retouched, painted, marked, and even embroidered. The exhibition includes works by artists such as Tom Jones, Anselm Kiefer, and Hulleah Tsinhnahjinnie, alongside vernacular and historical examples, many recently acquired or newly gifted to Mia.
Photography’s mechanical origins have sometimes relegated it to being considered a tool. Yet the impulse to alter or embellish soon became standard photographic practice. Photographers applied colored pigment to the metal surfaces of daguerreotypes, painted on paper photographs, and wrote directly onto prints and negatives. In sum, they annotated their photographs. Drawing primarily from Mia’s collection, “Annotations” considers an array of hand-applied interventions on and within photographs, across the medium’s history and through different processes. These additive gestures bring viewers closer to a photograph’s role as an object made at a specific time and by a particular person.
“The artworks in ‘Annotations’ remind us of the tactile, expressive, and deeply human interventions that have always shaped the medium of photography,” said Leslie Ureña, Associate Curator of Global Contemporary Art at Mia. “These works compel us to reconsider photographs as layered objects—marked by history, identity, and intent.”
Exhibition Highlights Include:
- Selections from Tom Jones’s Dear America series, in which the artist beaded or inscribed historic images of Native Americans to bring forward stories long left untold
- A rare early artist book by Anselm Kiefer, Operation Sea Lion, which combines photography and painting in a cinematic critique of Nazi war plans during WWII
- Through text and image, Hulleah Tsinhnahjinnie’s “Would I Have Been a Member of the Nighthawk Snake Society or Would I Have Been a Half Breed Leading the Whites to the Full-Bloods” annotates her self-portraits to make visible the connections between systems of commerce and as a critic of colonial systems of identification
Mia’s long-standing commitment to photography makes “Annotations” especially resonant. With recent acquisitions, this exhibition celebrates the breadth of photographic practice and the museum’s dedication to preserving and expanding it.
Exhibition Details
Exhibition Title: “Annotations”
On view: July 12–November 30, 2025
Location: Harrison Photography Gallery, Mia
Cost: Free
###
About the Minneapolis Institute of Art
Home to more than 100,000 works of art representing 5,000 years of world history, the Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) inspires wonder, spurs creativity, and nourishes the imagination. With extraordinary exhibitions and one of the finest art collections in the country—from all corners of the globe, from ancient to contemporary—Mia links the past to the present, enables global conversations, and offers an exceptional setting for inspiration. Learn more about Mia in our latest Impact Report.
General admission to Mia is always free, but some special exhibitions charge a nominal fee.
For more information, call + 1 612 870 3000 or visit www.artsmia.org. Everyone is welcome. Always.