Stories
A juried international photography exhibition
September 2–22, 2014
Click on the thumbnail to view the image. Click on the image for a larger view and information.
Photographs are often associated with the concept of freezing time. Nevertheless, photography has always been a sensitive storytelling medium as well. Looking at a photograph may allow for understanding much about the past leading up to the captured moment; it may also enable the viewer to imagine the possible futures evolving from the frozen record of the here and now. Photographers portraying people, objects, and places can tell us inspiring stories, provided that we take the time to study and interpret the photographs. A narrative told with a single image is a most exciting challenge for the photographer and the viewer alike, and hopefully we appreciate these works with the care and curiosity they deserve.
Exhibiting photographers:
Sarah Borst (Savannah, GA, USA), Fabiana Novillo Diaz (Buenos Aires, Argentina), William Wesley Douglas III (Chesapeake, VA, USA), John Eaton (Aptos, CA, USA), Britta Egebjerg (Aarhus, Denmark), Johan Entchev (Helsinki, Finland), John Flury (Zurich, Switzerland), Julie Hamel (Loudon, NH, USA), Trotter Hardy (Williamsburg, VA, USA), Amy Karki (Portland, OR, USA), Susan Keiser (Ossining, NY, USA), Thomas W. Kuppler (London, UK), Chi Yan David Lam (Leicester, UK), Karine LaRocque (Montreal, Canada), Lodiza LePore (Bennington VT, USA), Steven Lopez (New York, NY, USA), Szymon Madejski (Bristol, UK), Nicola Jayne Maskrey (London, UK), Michael Mirabito (Forty Fort, PA, USA), Christine Pearl (Washington, DC, USA), Roberto Pestarino (Gavazzana, Italy), Anatoly Rudakov (Munich, Germany), Prashanta Kumar Saha (Dhaka, Bangladesh), Mihaela Savu (Jonesboro, AR, USA), KR Scelfo (Lambertville, NJ, USA), Willem Wernsen (Amersfoort, Netherlands), Dan Zukowski (Los Angeles, CA, USA)
We were pleased to have been invited by Werk Academy to show our Stories exhibition at their new exhibition space.
Please click on the names to see contact information (website or e-mail) where available.
Exhibition Catalogue
High quality (ProLine Pearl Photo paper) exhibition catalogue is published with Blurb Books. (Please note that for some reason Blurb's preview is low resolution. It is suitable for studying the design and layout of the catalogue, but it does not always present the photographs faithfully. The print catalogue, however, is professional high quality.)
Stories
Juror’s review
As evidenced both by the quality and the diversity of the responses, photographers have clearly been inspired by the theme Stories. Given the inherent creative possibilities of the medium this is not very surprising; nevertheless, it is reassuring to see how persistent and successful photographers are in reaching for these creative possibilities and making use of the potentials in the most interesting ways.
Willem Wernsen’s Brother and Sister is the juror’s choice of this exhibition for its depth of meaning and uncompromising compositional strength. One of the most striking aspects of this image is the sensitive portrayal of human vulnerability, and how this vulnerability is eased by connectedness, care and trust. What we can see in the photograph is a frail man and a caring woman. The lack of context beyond their relationship, specified by the title, encapsulates them in a tranquil microcosm of there and then. Yet, the there and then is the outcome of a rich human story of a brother and a sister. He needs to be taken care of, and care is offered in the most emphatic way. The concentrated and loving attention of her transforms the thumbnail to be clipped into the single most important focus of their world. The calm devotion of his attitude reveals how natural it has become for him to entrust his vulnerability to her. The attentive focus on her face is in beautiful contrast with his freedom to look up and out of their concentration in response to the onlooker peering into their quiet moment. The horizontal rhythm of their clothes and the vertical rhythm of the background and the table powerfully emphasize the enclosed focal point of the image. Her arms and gaze and the line of his arm all lead down to the tip of his thumb as we hold our breath, waiting for the clipping sound.
Sarah Borst’s honourable mention work is the first photograph in her series “410 East Gaston”. Two other pieces of this spirited series are also shown in the exhibition. The portrayal of the dame in her home is bold and provocative; this is certainly not our stereotypical image of the elderly. Yet, despite the pronounced and unapologetic grandeur, we can, in her eyes, also see the need for compassion for her story. Mihaela Savu’s Next Day’s Sunrise captures the bleak hope of a new dawn in our stories of struggling through our lives. Dark and geometrical, yet with just the touch of warmth, the image invites us to pick up the pieces and continue the story that is bound to be as beautifully contrasty as Savu’s photograph is. The third honourable mention of this exhibit went to KR Scelfo’s Joy. This photograph cleverly and effectively combines rigorous composition with world-defying breeziness. All the other shadows, even all the pigeons are so solemnly stuck to the ground; yet, she and her shadow are flying in the face of all, with all the joy of a little girl with a great story.
The three photographs from the series "Inner and outer landscapes" by Britta Egebjerg tell a complex story of the land through wondrously austere images. Johan Entchev’s Untitled makes us want to join the father and his son through their journey in geometrical space. Seamstress of Her Own Destiny by John Flury transports us to an imaginative story of transformations with stunning harmony of shapes and colours. Susan Keiser’s surrealistic Fire and Ice No. 12 invites us to construct a myriad of possible interpretations, all embedded in a fascinating story. Szymon Madejski’s Sterile is a strong portrayal of a complicated human affair in an environment that is sterile indeed. At the Supermarket in Blue. Not that Boring... by Fabiana Novillo Diaz is a creative testament to the possibility of storytelling through the insightful depiction of common objects around us. Anatoly Rudakov’s On the Tour takes us on a tour not only in a Greek street but also in the life of the tourists.
Although we could only mention a few of them here, the photographs making up the body of this inspiring exhibition provide strong evidence of the storytelling potential of photography. It is a most pleasant journey to get lost in studying them.
Zsolt Bátori