Why do we look at what we look at, and what does the act of looking entail? Can we look without truly digesting what we're seeing? And if we are making an image of what we see, is it mediated by the object-making tool? These are questions contender Jordan Tate asks in the series New Work, a collection of images where "the photograph functions not as an object, but as a conceptually transparent representation of a reproduced reality rather than an object loaded with historical and functional contexts."

New Work #43, 2010 by Jordan Tate

The works, including images of other images, captures of computer and television screens, and visual puns of faces within other objects of faces, suggests that seeing (the act) and what we're looking are not simply the sum of 1 + 1 (the looker and what's being looked at), but poses a new question unto itself: what is the relationship between the two parties? In the act of looking at a medium in which other objects are projected—we are not seeing the object, but the screen or device which contains it, whether this is an iPhone, iPad or television. Our relationship to said objects is then a relationship to the representation—and in our age of ever-increasing technological dependency (and growth), Jordan might suggest that our "experience" with what we see is also an increasingly mediated one.

New Work #2, 2009 by Jordan Tate

Tate also manipulates the images, adding glare, flare, filters and pixelation, thus distressing the existing image into one that is conscientiously "digital" or man-made. In doing so, the work critiques and examines the idea of an image-itself and their intangible boundaries.

See more from the series New Work on Jordan's website.