Conner got his fame in his early career with his assemblages and short-films. During 1973-75, he collaborated with his friend Edmund Shea in creating a series of photograms collectively known as the Angel. Arguably, credits should be given to Shea, in particular it was his idea to employ photogram rather than Conner’s original thoughts on using lens-based photography.

 

Photograms, typically those of Man Ray or László Moholy-Nagy, were often page-size images with an assortment of objects, transparent or translucent, placed on top some photographic sensitive material to expose a black-and-white image without the use of any camera. Sometimes a contact print image of relatively flat objects, like a magazine page, a leaf or palms, but never as huge as Conner’s having his entire body registered.

 

Conner stood in front of life-size photographic paper and had his silhouette registered with empty projectors lit from behind. This is comparable to shadow puppet dances of the Orient, with the silk screen replaced by photographic paper, recording a “transmuted” image of Conner.

 

The resulting images follow an iconic pattern -- a pitch-black in the background, suddenly a grey human figure appears, faceless, with subtle shades revealing his contours but lacking any textural details of his clothing, then a stark-white silhouette of one hand, sometimes two, shows right at the middle. From far to near, the photograms traverse space, and seemingly break the barrier of the media, connecting directly with the audience, virtually touching their faces, their hearts. 

 

To some, the Angel series may be interpreted as a record of performing art rather than portrait photography. By crouching or standing his body, raising or lowering his arms, overlapping his legs, or unfolding his palms, Conner was able to express a sense of spirituality with his various posure. 

 

To me, Conner’s images near half-century ago connect to the modern 2020 while the lethal coronavirus is looming, devastating the globe with 1.7 million people infected, and more than 100 thousand perished. It is not uncommon to find thermal sensors installed at the entrance of malls and transport hubs. The thermal images of people, perhaps, are unfortunate reminiscent of Conner’s Angels.

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