It’s an all-too-common assumption that humor has to be inherently light-hearted and unserious.

The Phoenix Art Museum’s exhibit, “Funny Business: Photography and Humor,” smacks attendees with a stark reality—that behind the strikingly hilarious and odd photographs lie deeper purposes and intricate details.

Comprised of about 70 different photographs, the exhibit walks the public through four different sections, each with a specific theme: All the World’s a Stage, Inside Jokes, Context is Everything, and Comic Relief.

“All the World’s a Stage” features “slapstick and observational” comedy communicated by the use of street photography, with many printed as gelatin silver prints (a method popularized in the early 20th century and used for black and white prints). These photographs are captured through the very careful art of perceiving diverse surroundings. The photographers were able to accentuate the oddities of everyday occurrences and freeze a single comical moment in one frame.

“Inside Jokes” takes on a less direct form of humor and uses ironic witticism to combat the medium’s conventionalities. The acceptance of photography as an art form throughout the 1970s brought the rejection of old standards that were previously enforced upon the artists. Through the use of “tongue-in-cheek” humor, these artists encourage the viewer to question the standards of what truly makes a photograph “good art”.

“Context is Everything” pushes the viewer even further outside of their comfort zone of knowledge by delivering confusing and even shocking images that leave them questioning what they are truly laughing at and why.

“Comic Relief” uses humor to explore and interact with important elements of life in a society. Through forms of self-expression, mockery, and defiance, these photographers isolate important issues in our world and offer a striking new way to perceive them.

Northeast Valley News spoke with the exhibit’s curator, Emilia Mickevicius, PhD, who works as the Norton Family Assistant Curator of Photography between the Phoenix Art Museum and the Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona.

When asked about her choice of humor as the exhibit’s theme, she said, “It’s a topic I’ve been passionate about for a long time,” and “I really love to laugh and humor is really important to me.”

She defined humor as “A very human thing that unites all of us” and something that “can illuminate what we have in common”. These qualities also fell under Dr. Mickevicius’s definition of photography as a “sophisticated” art, able to perform the powerful “civic work in our society of bringing people together” and “helping people think about difficult things.”

Her hopes were to explore these connections and similarities between both mechanisms of expression throughout the progression of the exhibit.

Dr. Mickevicius said her goal is “To get people to think beyond this notion that a photograph is funny because of what it pictures” and explained that “Both photography and humor can suffer from this assumption that they’re very simple and straightforward and, really, both can be so complex and nuanced and do really important work.” These understandings guided her journey in finding the right images and artists who were able to convey this greater message.

Bri Mayes and Ash Auchincloss, both from Arizona, decided to spend their time at the art museum together as a fun activity after not visiting for many years. They found the comically absurd pictures “entertaining” and enjoyed looking at photographs which were “amazing” yet made them wonder “why” they were taken and what their purpose was.

One attendee, who chose not to be identified, and a first-time visitor of the Phoenix Art Museum, was excited to attend as the location was her “first choice”. Concerning the exhibit itself, she was told that “you can’t miss this one” and as someone who “loves photography”, found “some really cool stuff” that she enjoyed.

She described her interest in the range of emotions between different pieces, saying some gave her “a ton of anxiety” and “messed with her head” while others were “really interesting” and “made her think” and “go deep”.

Traveling through the four sections of the exhibit, viewers will initially find images that elicit an immediate reaction of laughter, contributing to one’s own knowledge of what is seen as funny.

As the curious attendee makes their way through the exhibit, some images will provoke questioning either due to an initial discomfort or perhaps confusion over the photo’s message.

A message that ultimately belongs to each observer.

Besides the individual purpose the photographers hoped to convey, every photo aims to lend itself to a greater and deeper understanding of what truly makes something funny, and how we can use humor to unite, educate, and change our world.