Nave Gallery
Clarendon Hill Presbyterian Church
155 Powderhouse Blvd., Somerville, MA
May 2-21, 2009
Reception May 7, 7-9 p.m
During times of change, there are always those who rebel. In the current era of digital media, many photographers are reaching for ways to create work that is relevant in the world today, but by using manual processes that have enriched photography since it's inception. Be it with taped up plastic toy cameras from the 1970s, to making their own pinhole cameras, to creating cyanotypes outside in the sun—these are not photographers who simply want to plug in their memory card and click away to create an image. There is a lot of trial and error, duct-tape and elbow grease in making each of these images.
Many alternative photographers live by the mantra “don’t think, just shoot”. There are minimal options and settings in the cameras, and much is is left to chance, intuition and happy accidents. The process takes on a life of its own--be it light leaks in the camera, one frame overlapping to the next, or variations in environment and chemistry-- the intentional loss of control over the medium gives the artist an ability to let go of what might be sacred, as what is being captured through these mediums many times is unknown until the film is processed. It is a balance of give and take between the artist and the medium.
These photographers portray work that is whimsical, nostalgic and engrossed in their respective mediums to create the work that has been chosen to display. With polaroid, cyantope and other analogue techniques falling to the wayside in this digital age, we hope to celebrate these artists and their unique processes at the Nave.
Artists include Leslie Bastress, Heather Blakney, Kayla Brenes, Mark Richard Brown, Derrick Burbel, Christina, Myriah Leshea Douglas, Erica Frisk, Alice Grossman, Mellisa Gruntkosky, Janisha, Theresa Kelliher, Ariel Kessler, Mary Kocol, Cassandra Martin, Karen Molloy, Natasha Moustache, Dana Mueller, Denyse Murphy, Eric Nichols, Cade Overton, O Gustavo Plascencia, Serrah Russell, Shayna, Erika Sidor, Annie Smidt, Roberta Stone, David Strasburger, Andy Takats, Tricia, Molly Van Nice, V VanSant, Ann Zelle and Lexie Zippin.
Wicked Local Somerville article
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