To the average viewer, photography consists of still images, blandly depicting a mere moment. It is easy to gloss over the details within a photograph. This has led viewers, and for a time it led artists and critics, to dismiss photography as an art form. Moreover, in a stimulus-seeking society, what can photography offer that more abstract or traditional media do not already substantially provide?

Rhona Bitner’s “Resound” show at the Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art on campus best answers that question. Upon entering the gallery, one feels the reverberations of something young and new, poised to tell a story. Bitner takes good advantage of the space, with seven different exhibits that span her entire career, each in conversation with the other: Circus, Stage, Listen, Pointe, Ghostlight, Headshot, and Tour. Except for Pointe, each exhibit was created with film, depicting a moment Bitner experienced.

To best understand “Resound,” one must proceed through the gallery in chronological order. In Circus, Bitner strategically paints each subject in conjunction with another, presenting something of a conversational motif. Acrobats and other masters of entertainment contort their bodies facing each other, so when the viewer steps back, a larger picture appears. The viewer is quickly “wowed” by the performers’ seemingly motionless leaps, but the eye begins to travel in order to understand how the apparent dialogue continues between each photograph.

As the eye continues to wander, what seemed to be a conclusion actually begins Bitner’s next exhibit, Stage. At first glance, it is difficult to make out what one sees as its several large photographs are overwhelmed by stage lights, like the ones illuminating a dark theater. Yet that is exactly what Bitner wants. Each photograph encapsulates the moment of silent hushes and holding of breath so characteristic right before each show. Or some suggest, instead, the show-stopping end when the lights go out in the theater.

This immersion in the image’s moment, and in the sensations and experiences of the room, leads the viewer to Bitner’s most extensive exhibit, Listen, on the other side of the gallery. It highlights many culturally significant stages, recording studios, and settings of rock, funk, soul, and jazz. One can almost smell the beer-sticky floor of the CBGB club in New York, the birthplace of many musicians’ careers in rock, folk, and punk. Perhaps one can feel the crisp wind in the field of Woodstock, or the echoes of Johnny Cash’s recognizable voice throughout Folsom Prison. Without a doubt, Bitner’s Listen series ranks among her best work.

Photography’s most important characteristic as a medium is its ability to illuminate reality. Other mediums have this ability as well, but with the simplicity of adjusting the camera, photography – especially with film – creates a forever-immortalized moment more thought-provoking than other mediums. Furthermore, when one learns context about the artists and the photographs, the images become more powerfully illustrated. As Bitner demonstrates in “Resound,” photography can spark conversation about reality’s performance. In Tour, her most recently produced series, the audience experience is highlighted, demonstrating finally how reality is perceived through a photograph, which also conveys a reality. The profundities of photography should not be overlooked, and Bitner’s show impressively exemplifies it as one of the most visually stimulating and appealing mediums.