From Nowhere Near,

1999

The focus of this series of twenty photographs, each taken in front of a large living-room window that overlooked the artist’s backyard, was not the view through the window but rather the process of photography. Set at an oblique angle, the camera captured light streaming through dust-streaked panes of glass as well as halos produced by the rays of light bouncing off its lens. Each photograph becomes a record of a transient moment, a combination of phenomena that cannot be recreated. For Barth, photography’s capacity to freeze ephemeral effects of light and atmosphere, allowing for extended contemplation, functions as a metaphor for the reflective nature of human consciousness.