Present/Past: The Robert Polidori Photographic Archive

This exhibit at the Briscoe Center for American History highlights the large-scale photographs and archival materials from the library of world-renowned architectural photographer Robert Polidori. The exhibit design is organized into two primary spaces, focusing on recurring themes in Polidori’s work and exploring how architectural objects, urban spaces and interiors ranging from the monumental to the everyday reflect both individual and historical change. The Main Gallery houses finished photographs capturing remarkable detail and depth, held delicately in space by crystalline custom frames and accentuated by room colors selected to resonate with the work. The Exhibit Hall displays archival materials and proofs in custom display cases, offering a unique glimpse into Polidori’s artistic process and underlying themes. The two exhibit areas are tied together by a dramatic hall, subtly evoking the architectural space portrayed in Polidori’s works. McKinney York’s scope of design/build services included project management, exhibit planning and creative development, conceptual design, graphic design, custom frame design and fabrication, printing, and exhibit fabrication and installation. The resulting exhibit reflects on the human experience of space and the passage of time, growth and decay, and adaptation and physical reinvention – inviting visitors to reconsider how history is witnessed, preserved, and interpreted.