UH Photo/Digital Blog

In its inaugural year, the Community Arts Fellowship at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center is intended to offer a graduate-level candidate or an exceptional undergraduate candidate the opportunity to gain professional experience in a nationally acclaimed arts environment. The Fellow will be primarily responsible for all day-to-day functioning of the ARTery space—a hands-on, drop-in, collaborative art-making gallery. The ARTery was designed to explore the exhibition themes and content of Arts Center programming through creative, collaborative arts experiences. The ARTery serves as the main “artery” to the programming and mission of the Arts Center. The Fellow will be responsible for developing interactive projects that promote collaboration amongst a broad community. Projects must be designed to be accessible for active participation by people of all skill levels and ages. The fellow will also be responsible for basic ARTery administrative duties such as training ARTery volunteers, contributing to marketing strategies of the ARTery, maintaining inter-departmental and community communication relating to programming, ordering supplies, tracking participants, and others as assigned.

The Fellow may be involved in other Community Arts Programming, including Connecting Communities residencies and Community Gallery exhibitions, as well as other Arts Center programming as it intersects with programming in the ARTery. Opportunities will be available for the Fellow to develop projects specific to her/his area of interest and to be exposed to the workings of all areas of an arts institution.

The Fellowship is a full-time, ten-month commitment with regular weekend hours as well as some evening hours. The start date is August 1, 2008. The fellowship will carry a stipend of $18,000. Housing is not provided, however the Arts Center will assist the Fellow in finding affordable housing.

Go to http://www.jmkac.org/CommunityArtsFellowship for more info and application info.

The UH Photo/Digital Media Program is pleased to welcome faculty search candidate Ken Fandell (http://www.kenfandell.com) to campus on Tuesday, April 22.

He will be presenting a lecture at:
1:00pm in Room 110, Visual Arts Building

All Block student are required to attend this presentation.

Thank you for your help in welcoming our guest.

”

I visited the John Cleary Galley, the “Dancing Walls”, by Thomas Kellner last week and had likes and dislikes on the show as a whole. I found it amusing as first that he presented his photos as a contact sheet, an assignment that was given to me in my second year of photo class. Even though you would think of it is an easy shooting assignment, it needs to be well thought-out or sketched before you attack it and use up a lot of film. The main photo itself is the process, by taking this route you can tell how important it is to the photographer to show an image as a shot and not cropped. Uniquely produced as flat sheets, the photos are surprisingly 3dimintional and geometric. As these everyday calm and beautiful structures stay put, they are presented as jungle jims. You grab a presence while viewing the images and it makes you excited!

I continued to walk through the gallery of tourist attractions, as I realize how he shows and depicts Houston as a colorless and ugly refinery. The image of Houston was the only one I really disliked, but only because he made every other image there look so colorful and cultured. I can’t help but look past the aesthetic graphics of the photos, and find it the same old mundane places as a very attractive place to visit. The Dancing Walls piece, however, as a whole lacked. The space also felt empty, even though the images were a big size I would of liked to see them bigger. Plus the show is still up and there is already missing photos, which I hate and believe is very rude. Because I can only say that I was impress with the quality of the photos. The colors especially in the night shots were very vibrant with color and well printed I would say. The images were made smart and done in high contrast to attract the black contact sheets that glistened with energy. Another thing I noticed is when tilting a camera that works with an image you need to draw out the image in your heard before you approach it and begin to buy many rolls it will take to get it done.

http://www.johnclearygallery.com/

http://www.tkellner.com/

WARNING: If you don’t want to hear anyone’s opinion about your work and just want to graduate and don’t care, then don’t read.  With this review, I wanted to challenge myself to be as objective a viewer as possible. Dissonance was the senior show for the UH block program at Space125. When I first walk in, you are greeted with a beautiful single image taken by Larry Horn. I can breathe a sigh of slight relief to know that this student work will be at the very least decent and hopefully not cry-me-a-river student art. Larry’s image is a nice welcoming into a very nice space. I mostly wish there were more of them. I turn around and Paul Kim’s work kind of negates the feelings I had before. They look very student. But, to be fair, it is a student show. There is dust and the framing is a poor choice for the way the prints have been handled. “First Crush”es and guns are probably some of the first things that come to my mind when I think student work. Ratmany Kang’s work needed a little reading from the pamphlet on the table. At first I thought, “Oh okay an outsider photographing black people.” Then after reading, realized that he was somehow a part of this community, however I am still not convinced through the images. I think this body of work has a lot of potential but needs to be pushed more. He speaks of it as a personal relationship and issue but the viewer is left as an observer. On the adjacent wall is Shu Latif. She is obviously interested in light and color for this series of work. Honestly, it looks like really nicely printed club scenes and thats it. When you turn around, images of shadows and bugs catch your eye. This is work is some of the most subtle and successful of the group. It doesn’t beat you over the head, yet the aesthics lead you into a surreal world of banal fears. Alex’s work next to this is a series of physically altered canvas pieces connected together by thread and nails, complete with giant holes in the wall with objects hanging from the work. Words like “Mission Statement???” scrawled across the emulsion show either a frustrated artist or someone who just wants to show that they’re in the-know. Either way, the play on words and combinations of imagery seem very honest. At this point, I am more distracted and into the space and the amazing lighting as well as some overbearing noise from the video reel at the end of the room. I go over to see a very Bruce Naumann video of skin and hands and overbearing violin or some such instrument. It is very well shot and lit but also again, very Bruce Naumann. I go back and kind of glaze over things that don’t really interest me. The polaroid transfers are very nicely presented but almost seem like craft class. The work of food and numbers seem like they came from needing an idea that would give you an A – I do think that there were at one point test tubes here though and I think having that part missing was a big part of the piece as a whole. I wish that the old monitor with the mice music was tall enough to where I don’t actually have to bend down and flash everyone to listen. I like the idea of this install a lot but wish that what was GOING to be done hadn’t been told. Even if the piece isn’t complete, I’d rather think of it as it’s own entity. I like the consistency of the way everything in this piece was presented. Now, I round the corner back to the videos and I must say that I really don’t like video displayed like this. I know I know – Don’t get so defensive. You did the best you could, only had so much room for everyone etc etc, but as an objective outsider, I don’t want hardly any of the videos and all they do is cancel out the sound for all of the other works with headphones. Some are very pretty but after a while, the music just becomes grating and annoying. Candy’s work is of scenes of religious themes. The work looks really nice and the lighting is always gorgeous, but I think that this is one of the cases where the title really informs the image. At first, it is just naked people embracing. For the image to stand alone, without its title, the images themselves need just a little bit more information. Jenny Westbury’s video was VERY hard to hear because of the big monitor. I like its playfulness and that it went beyond just flat photos or just video work. The sculptural element makes it stand out in the crowd. At this point I really just kind of skim a lot of the other work and jet. I don’t mean any of this to be mean, so don’t get overly defensive about it. I just had to do an assignment and thought that any reasonable art student would like as much feedback as they can get. If I even commented on your work, it means that I care. If I didn’t comment, I may care and just have gotten lazy or I just may not care. I give this a review a GO SEE if you’re a student artist or a collector of undergrad student work but I don’t know how many of that kind of person there may be.Dissonance Space1253201 Allen ParkwayHouston, Tx 77019 

by Chuck Ivy

For me, the most impressive show affiliated with FotoFest this year was Lu Nan’s documentary photography shown at the Winter Street Studios. Three bodies of his work were shown, representing his documentary photography in China and Tibet over a twenty year period. The work that resonated most for me was his series The Forgotten People: The State of Chinese Psychiatric Wards. His other collections presented were On the Road: The Catholic Church in China and The Four Seasons: The Everyday Life of Tibetan Peasants. With no formal training, Lu Nan’s compositions and sense of light and space are breathtaking. Some of the more recent prints were inkjet, while the rest were traditional silver gelatin prints. The quality of both was good, but the depth and grain of the silver prints was very rich.

I had the honor of meeting him at the FotoFest Meeting Place and was humbled by the volume of work he brought to the table. Under the shadow of the communist regime he was able to borrow funds from friends and family to self-publish three books representing these series.

Links:

• Winter Street Studios


• On the Road: The Catholic Church in China @ Magnum

 By Gregory Whittaker

I had the pleasure of walking into an exhibit at O’Connor Studios where I was the only visitor.  The work “Swimmers and Climbers” I assumed was a continuation of photographs I saw the day before at G Gallery.  The space was not ready for visitors for that day and two individuals were readying it for my walk through as I waited.  One of these Individuals was the artist Pok Chi Lau whose work I had come to see.  The large room was dark and in one corner a map of China wrapped around two walls and a third of the way onto the floor.  The map was a collage of recycled Chinese newspapers a last minute revision from the red material that had originally been decided upon.  On either end of the map there were to LED displays that rotated through the images I had seen the other day.  At the base of the map that would be closest to Hong Kong a topographic of land features had been created.  This area represented a mountain range and the body of water that separates China and Hong Kong.  Beneath the vinyl construction that was holding water of the simulated bay LED rope lights were lit up showing the pathways used by the people to leave China.  This nighttime journey would take weeks of hiking and no obvious possessions or objects could be taken with you.  If you were caught you would be sent to jail.  After traversing the Chinese landscape you last task would be to swim to Hong Kong.  A feat that was more dangerous than many feel is worth risking.  Before swimmers would enter the water they would inflate makeshift floating devices for the crossing.  Usually these flotation devices were condoms, which would be inflated and tied or grouped together to keep the swimmer afloat.  These methods were not fool proof and is common for the swimmers to drown due two shifting currents and exhaustion.  Some of the refugees are captured on the water by the military.  Where they are returned to their villages and imprisoned.  Again this journey takes place at night and after the swimmers are in the water their guide to Hong Kong is to follow the lights of the city.  For those individuals who are caught and imprisoned their jail time is brief and once free they make preparations to make another escape.  As Pok Chi described the details of this current issue and answered my questions I was again reminded on how lucky we are in this country.  Without Pok Chi’s interaction I question how much time I would have given to his work.  The flat work displayed at G Gallery was nice, but it was a wrong assumption of what I was going to see that brought me to O’Connor Studios.  It turned out to be one of the best experiences of Fotofest. What began as a quick trip to look at work turned into a two hour opportunity to get to know the artist, his work, and his view on current issues that affect all of us.  In the end I found Pok Chi Lau’s work to be a great humanitarian effort where things can and will change.

http://ggalleryhouston.com/ 

 http://people.ku.edu/~pclau/artist.htm

I found the show currently on display at the Station museum to be half excellent, and half horrible.  The black and white work was gorgeous… even if the message had not been as striking, the beauty of the prints themselves was definitely worth the trip.  Then on top of that, the way in which he posed the amputees was gorgeous as well.  Although I sensed an awkwardness in the females models a majority of the time, which made me slightly uncomfortable as well.  This was the only downside to this group of work.The most memorable image was one by the photographer Jesús Abad Colorado, in which the very large black and white print consists only of a sea of soldiers, all of which stand in the same position, almost saluting the audience. The soldiers are so perfectly in sync with one another it looks almost choreographed.  Then in the background you can see civilians saluting as well…I also enjoyed the series of portraits of women who had been assaulted. The work would not have been as moving had it not been displayed the way it was. The ornately gaudy gold frames added the perfect touch to their conservative old-timey dresses. The photos were so well edited, they almost looked like paintings, which I believe was the artists intentions, as they were displayed as if they were paintings almost. What I did not find enjoyable about this show was the majority of the digital color work. I found much of it had been enlarged past the point of looking good.  From afar the prints looked fairly decently color balanced, and were very large. However upon close inspection, most of the digital color work was extremely pixelated, and sometimes the grain was so severe I could see dots of color all over the entire print that obviously did not belong. If the prints had been taken with a larger format camera, or had the artists limited the printing size, I think the message would have come across more clearly. However I was so distracted by the “crappy” quality of the work, I didn’t even bother looking into the message. If you can’t take the time to make a perfect print (especially for a gallery showing during fotofest) then you must not want your message to be heard strongly enough.

Victor Matsumura

 I have had the privilege to visit many of the exhibitions in the Fotofest 2008 Biennial in the last few weeks. The Discoveries of the Meeting Place located at Erie City Ironworks is probably the most challenging for me to write about.  There is a large amount of work being displayed by ten artists from all over the world.  The work hanging on the walls is quite diverse. As I walked inside I was confronted with the work of Michelle Sank.  Her work, titled Young Carers, was displayed on both sides of the hallway leading to the open area.  In most of the images the viewer is confronted with the intense gaze of children who have been rejected by their peers. Each one of the children photographed in this series has to the responsibility of caring for younger siblings or sick parents.  The images struck me as powerful, but I did not understand why until I read the artist statement. Seung Woo Back’s work hangs on the corner where the hallway meets the open area.  His work, titled Blow Up, has obviously been influenced by his political standpoint.   It deals heavily with the death of Kim Il Sung, the former North Korean president, and life in North Korea.  While some of the images seem simple, they give a strong feeling of the way life was a long time ago for many of us. The strongest work I found in this exhibition was the work of Vojtech Slama. Wolf’s Honey, as he titles his series, seems to be a tribute to melancholy.  Each one of the prints is black and white with a very beautiful depth in tonality.  The aesthetic he uses in some images captures a single silhouette in frame while its surroundings are completely distinguishable.  The figure is there, but who is it? Where is it going?  Slama’s work raises many questions and gives us little clues to the answers. I highly recommend this exhibit for those who wish to see diverse photography under one roof.   http://www.houstonarchitecture.info/Building/2285/Erie_City_Iron_Works.php  http://www.michellesank.com/  http://www.portfoliocatalogue.com/41/index.php  http://www.photography-now.com/artists/K12267.html 

Christopher Pickett

(Left: LI Lang – Yi Boy Dressed as Cha’erwa, Butuo, 1995)

The Fotofest show being held at Winter Street Studios, Independent Documentary Photography, 1985–2008 CHINA, exhibits the work of three artists – WU Jialin, LI Lang and LU Nan. As the title suggests, all three photographers are documentary photographers that represent the shift from tightly controlled and censured documentary photography (which was dominant from the 1950’s until the 1980’s) to the much more open, independent documentary photography, where the photographer chooses his or her own subject matter. Each artist represented in the gallery space represents, in turn, one of three generations of these independent photographers who emerge from the 1980’s onward.

As a side note, I have to say that the show was very well mounted, with plenty of room and lighting for each of the artists work. I know a lot of complaints about Fotofest is that they tend to crowd the gallery walls, but I felt that this show was handled very well.

WU Jialin is the oldest of the three artists, shooting independently from 1985 to the present day. His work is appropriately placed right as you come up the stairs, and makes a good entry point for the show. I say this because you can see, in WU Jialin’s work, that there is an almost reluctant shift in his way of shooting. While it is true that he now has free range over his subject matter (the Yunnan Mountain People of China, a minority group who live in third or second class conditions), he is still very distant from the subject and trying to be very, very objective about who and what he is shooting. My saying that he is reluctant to change how he was shooting may be a personal read, but I think that it is a valid way of looking at the work within the context of China’s photo history. Everything is very superficial, in a way… While we are shown scenes of terrible poverty and deplorable living conditions, we are shown it in a way that is very much from the “outsider’s” point of view. There is no real delving into what is happening, merely a surface level representation. Not to say that this is necessarily a bad thing, or that this work is any less important in a documentary sense, but for my tastes the work falls flat because of this separation. The most interesting images are the most current ones from 2007 where we see the contrast between how we, as Americans, and the more metropolitan areas of China live and how the Yunnan people who WU Jialin is photographing live. The photographs that show billboards advertising “modern” living to these people, the use of cell phones by men that by our standards are considered beggars, and other such things that we share in common make the images more accessible for an American audience who does not, and cannot, have the pretense of hostility or superiority to the Yunnan Peoples that it would seem some other Chinese would have towards them.

The next artist that you come upon in the gallery space is LI Lang. This is really the only gripe that I have about how the show was mounted… LI Lang is the youngest of the three photographers, and in a sense, the most contemporary (at least in his approach). I felt like having him in the middle really breaks up the sense of movement through history that you could otherwise get if LU Nan were in the middle of the space. Perhaps it was an issue of available space, but it is still irksome.

For historical continuity’s sake, I’ll continue the review with LU Nan’s work, and then jump back to LI Lang. The first work that you see of LU Nan’s is a series of images that document the Catholic Church’s movement throughout China – images of priests giving the sacrament, nuns, people at mass, monks making pilgrimage, etc. This particular set of images is interesting because we get to see a very Western tradition interjected and mixing into one of the countries that epitomizes the Eastern world for Westerners. However, these images fall prey to the same flatness of WU Jiang’s work, in that they are still from the perspective of the outsider. LU Nan also photographs peasants form Tibet, which is a very, very sensitive subject, seeing as how this issue lives on into current events. Because of this, the work strikes a resonating chord for me, but it is still a bit too much on the fringe. We see poor living conditions and people living in them, but there is a sterile feeling, even among the dirt and grime of these poor, sad peoples. This feeling of sterility comes from the photographer’s own separation and objectivity, away from the subject. Finally, in a room all to itself, is body of work consisting of images of patients from Chinese mental hospitals. Here is where I began to feel more of an intimacy with the subjects. The photographer is able to represent the terrible, painful lives that these people are forced into leading in a way that is both documentary and emotionally impacting. In this series of images, I can really begin to feel the pain of these people- I can feel how the photographer went into their spaces of living and made a connection with these men and women, and the stories they had to tell, that allows his images to transcend the distant attempt at objectivity that I feel that his earlier work, as well as WU Jian’s work suffer for. I have to go ahead and admit that it may be my own separation and ignorance from and of Chinese culture and events that causes me to be so cold when it comes to the earlier work, but I can only write what I know, and I know that the mental hospital images are what really get me excited. And although LU Nan’s earlier work does not necessarily excite me, to see that progression is what is really interesting about his part in this exhibit.

Now, back to LI Lang. As I have said, LI Lang the youngest of the three photographers represented in this show, and I really feel that it shows through his work. By the time we get to LI Lang, there seems to be a real shift in the way that documentary work is shot. Though we cannot use LI Lang to represent all contemporary documentary photographers in China, he is certainly an interesting case in the context of the other two image makers in this show. His images are able to document the living conditions and lives of the Yi people, who like the Yunnan peoples are a minority group in China who live in great poverty, while still employing a much more intimate, poetic style of shooting. The camera man is obviously physically closer to the subject in some cases, there is great use of ambiguity and of action and play… it even says in the wall text that he was unable to keep his objective distance to the people he shot and became very much involved in their lives. I think that this shows through in his images. I am particularly fond of his use of ambiguity in his images, because he is able to maintain a balance between documenting the conditions around him while still implying more of a personal narrative into the scene.

LI Lang also has up a series of portrait shots that are able to be humorous while representing the poverty and grave conditions of the people he is photographing. Somewhat well dressed villagers stand in front of the facades of buildings which have been covered in backdrops painted with scenic, ideal views of China. The overall dirtiness still shows through as you see the building around the backdrops and the grime on the subject’s clothing and faces. What is so interesting about these images is this forced duality between the imagined world, imaged by foreigners to China and probably by Chinese, as well, and the real world for these people. No matter how you try to cover up the reality of these people’s lives, it is impossible to wipe away all the poverty, all the suffering, all the pain these people feel. It’s even apparent in some of their faces!

Another series that LI Lang hung is a body of landscapes that have all been altered by man in one way or another. I think this touches, again, on the ideal China and the real China, in the sense that he presents us with beautiful, rolling hillsides and glorious vistas that are sometimes subtly, and sometimes abruptly interrupted by signs of construction, industry, and even man himself. While the work is technically less impressive than his other bodies of work (this one is in color, while the other two are in black and white, and it shows that he has not been doing color for very long…), it is an interesting concept that once again maintains that balance between documentation and the creation of a personal voice.

I think that I can use LU Nan as a model for the entirety of the show and reiterate that while not all the work, particularly by the older artists, that was displayed in this show excites me and strikes a resonant chord with me, the historical progression of the documentary photographer is an interesting arc to follow. From the very objective, distant photographer of the 1980’s to the much more poetic, involved, personal photographer of today, we can visually trace a slow, but drastic and constant, change in the way that documentary photography was approached in between a time of censorship to a time of relatively wide freedom. And while I do admit that much of the work falls flat, the show is definitely worth checking out to see this historical progression take place.

http://www.winterstreetstudios.net/

Lindsey Bryan 

I went to the show “Apertura Colombia” at the Station because Camilo kept on pressuring me to go :). I guess I did not want to go see a bunch of political work that I really did not have any interest in.  I have only heard little about the political turmoil in Colombia so I really did not know what to expect when I got there. I must say that in the end I was very impressed with the show. There was a wide variety of work, from landscapes to battered women, which complimented the show tremendously. The variety of artists was able to deliver different views of Colombia and has giving me a nice view of life in Colombia.

            In the “Karma Sutra” series I find the juxtaposition between beauty and power to be breathtaking. Andres Sierra in some light gave the amputees power and control over their lives again. I viewed this as the strongest work in the gallery.

I think many of the artists gave a unique way of seeing Colombia, yet with a nice twist like the artist, Luz Elena Castro. She presents a circular room in which you sit in the middle and as the photographs rotate around you, you get to experience a part of Colombia. You get to see the faces that have been devastated by the war in which invades Colombia. She shows the aftermath of devastating violence and political eruption as the human presence that remains constant in their spirits. I think the conceptual and documentary work gave a nice balance to the show. It was also very nice to experience a lifestyle that I had not really seen or given much thought too. It definitely gave me a different point of view to think about.

Just from the show, I can gather that Colombia’s political turmoil is hurting its people tremendously. Just from viewing the work I can gather that people who were hurt in the war were not taken care of, innocent people were killed, some of the Colombians are fighting in a war they do not want to. Some artists pointed out that war in Colombia has become a way of life; it is something that is done without even noticing. I felt like the show gave me a wonderful taste of what Colombia is experiencing.

 

Andrés Sierra at the Station

From the series “Karma Sutra”

2007

This year at Foto Fest was a good one with one gallery that really caught my attention. New World Museum at 5230 Center Street is a gallery usually shows only the greatest of Latin and Hispanic artist out there today. For Foto Fest this Gallery has made some exceptions. Last Foto Fest New World had the Starn Twins and this year for Foto Fest China artist Cang Xin had a one man show.  Cang Xin born 1967 in Heilongjiang Province, China and currently works out of Beijing. Cang Xin is one of China’s most celebrated artists. Cang Xin mediums include photography and performance art together. Xin’s main purpose of his work is to promote man’s connection to nature and how we are all really one. He believes all things have spirit and we should all have a constant communication with nature.At the New World Museum part of Cang Xin’s  Man and Sky as One Series, 2007 and part of Xin’s Unification of Heaven and Man, 2002-2004 is on display. The room is filled strongly with Xin’s concept of man and nature intertwined into beautiful landscape images of Xin performing out on the landscape be it in water or on land. My favorite print at the gallery is titled Trance,2007, from the series Man and Sky as One. It’s Xin sitting naked a top of a hill looking out over this beautiful grand landscape.  All the prints are about the size of 40×60 inches and beautifully printed. This work really brings into perspective how grand and beautiful this world really is and how we are all truly connected to it.   http://www.newworldmuseum.org

 Shauna Martin

 

In participation with Fotofest, Houston Center for Photography is currently showing, Mined in China, a focus on the coal industry responsible for China’s economic development.  Seventy percent of China’s energy is obtained through burning coal.  Though they are dealing with economic success, the pollution is risking environmental disaster.Susan Meiselas collaborated with Orville Schell to curate this exhibit that includes fourteen Chinese documentary artists using photography and video.  Meiselas is a long time Magnum photographer and Orville Schell is the author of over fourteen books on China and has publications in various magazines. The work is exhibited in one small room that has been painted a dark gray.  The use of dark color and the convergence of fourteen artists displayed really made that already small room, miniscule.  I had the privilege of viewing the work alone, but feel for anyone who had to share with at least two other people.  Additionally, the applications are not labeled with adequate credit of artist to work.  However, when isolated, the work includes beautiful images of reality and provides an inside look at the families of the miners all the way back to the 1950’s.  The large format photographs of the miners and their spouses and children are some of the most intriguing images.  One can get lost in the eyes of the wives and mothers.  They seem to tell of years of love and fear, as well as stories that personify the industry as an inescapable captor.  Unfortunately, with four projections of video and two projections of factual texts, the layout overpowers the work that otherwise deserve praise.   www.hcponline.org 

by Camilo Gonzalez

The Sicardi Gallery is currently presenting  a “must see” work by Colombian artist Miguel Angel Rojas until May 15th. In the gallery we will confront a critical approach to the violence and the complex situation that Colombia is going trough. Trough different mediums; such as photography, video or even sculpture, we see the aftermath of the intense roots of drug traffic and guerrilla warfare, and the many ways it has damaged this country.

All of his approaches although historically apart from each other, become a multilayered imagery that causes hopelessness all throughout the show. In his piece called Broadway we see small pieces of coca leaves all over the walls. As we start to contextualize the piece and think about what the materials stand for and how the piece is installed we begin to see the ethereal analogy between the ants and the drug carriers. Latin America moving up as working ants bringing up “food for their queen”. This material is then mixed up with dollar bills to create another series called Mula. In this series we see how the artist uses both of the materials in his advantage to exemplify the trip that any people decide to take with their bodies full of cocaine and their trip back full of dollars. The awareness of how the materials symbolize and represent so many things in a culture is remarkable.

In addition, one of the pieces that mainly captured my attention was a series of photographs called David. The six images depict a Colombian soldier in a pose that resembles Michelangelo’s famous sculpture, the David. The playfulness of the soldier becoming art but at the same time having to struggle to pose without his limb, which was lost due to a landmine, is disturbing. It is not just an image of a soldier it exemplifies much more deep conflict and shows violence trough beauty. One could say that there will always be something to read from this imagery, specially in the times of war that the country is going trough; most probably making these set of photographs timeless.

Overall the show holds these emotions palpable to the viewer during the visit. Not only does he show powerful political imagery but also creates a sense of social awareness we regularly forget. It is a show definitely worth visiting to not only see art but to also understand the complex structure of third world countries and their relationship to the states.

http://www.sicardi.com/

http://www.photography-now.com/artists/K15235.html

Directed by Various Directors
USA, 2008
Color
70 Minutes

Show Times:

Sat., Apr. 5 7:00 PM
MFA-H Brown Auditorium

Free admission

Come see the winning entries in this short-film showcase inspired by the two themes of FotoFest 2008: “China” and “Transformations.” Coordinated by the Southwest Alternate Media Project (SWAMP) and selected by a professional jury, the lineup is certain to entertain, challenge, and delight. The filmmakers have been invited to attend and introduce their work.

WINNERS

ADULT - Transformation
Basic Wire and Cable – by Chuck Ivy
Clean 2 – by Sarah Sudhoff
Environmental Justive in the USA – by Tammy Cromer-Campbell
The Fall – by Adam Cruces
Lover of the Lord - by Jack Otis Moore
Mitosis Remix – by I-AoI
Reveal – by Travis Reed

ADULT - Imagining China
Chinaaah! - by Jeanie Low and Stephanie Saint Sanchez
China Hot: Factory 798 – by Quin Matthews

YOUTH - Transformation
Andrea and Ann Present Farggeano – by Andrea Wistuba & Ann Henson
The Buggie – by Katy Bogar, Sophie Creede & Caroline Galliano
The Green Transforming Blob – by Rick Gordon, Adarsh Nednvr, Sydney Tidwell & Justice Magourick-Baker
Mix and Match – by Brea Aikens, Imogen Van Der Werff & Taylor Russo
Origami - by Christian Behrend
Siddhartha – by Kate Montgomery
Solved - by Boe Kim and Corey Martin
The Walking Water - by Dylan Siemann

YOUTH - Imagining China
Bridge to Dragonithia – by Maddy Lopez, Maryanne Sapon, Athena Rodriguez, Acara Turner, Mary Margaret Worley & Cory Summers

SPRING 2008 Photo/Digital Media
Block Review Meeting

11:30am, Thursday, April 3, 2008
216 Fine Arts (Lighting Studio)

There will be a mandatory meeting for all students planning to participate in the Spring Photo/Digital Media Program Block review on April 10, 2008.  This meeting will be at 11:30am Thursday, April 3, 2008 in 216 Fine Arts, the photo Lighting Studio.  This is a mandatory meeting and students will not be able to participate in the review if they do not attend.