Wed 24 Jun 2009
Cultural Intersection Art Exhibition - My first show!
Posted by Richard under Photography
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Suspended, 24×36 archival print face-mounted on acrylic, Cultural Intersection Exhibition, Calgary, June -July 2009
originally uploaded by sixfoot8.
Here is my submission to the Cultural Intersection Art Exhibition that runs from June 25th to July 3rd. They selected “Suspended” and it is hung in the Atrium of City Hall to the left of the main entrance. I like the rhythm of this image. It was taken deep within Lower Antelope Canyon in Arizona where the light reflects against unseen canyon walls to paint different colors at varying depths. This is a half second tripod mounted exposure in the very dusty and dark canyon.
I’m excited as this is my first public show! Here are the details… Cultural Intersection Art Exhibition Poster
The website can be seen by clicking through at http://www.calgarymulti.com/
What follows is the propaganda that accompanied my submission along with a couple of images that didn’t make the cut this year. Read at your own risk.
BIOGRAPHY
As a grade school student, my fascination with Africa was apparent in every essay and presentation. I wrote about leopards and cheetahs and listened endlessly to Kipling’s Jungle Book. I was born in Durban, South Africa in 1973 and it seemed such a magnificent and vibrant place so far removed from the stark white of the Canadian winter. However, I was also aware of the negative undertones of being a white South African. After the Soweto riots of 1976, my parents deliberately removed my sister and I from the Apartheid regime they despised and emigrated to Canada. To the tune of “Free Nelson Mandela”, I watched the world unite against a racist regime that tarnished my birthplace. However, from my multi-cultural Canadian upbringing, I never understood how such a system could sink such deep roots. Shortly after the release of Mandela in 1990, I returned to South Africa for the first time. I was struck by a world of razor wire fences that didn’t protect anyone from an ever-present fear of an unknown face but was similarly moved by the joyous love shared amongst friends and family of all backgrounds. The discovery of such a different world outside of Canada’s borders ignited a passion for travel that I have happily fed through trips to Europe, Japan, and Turkey. However, as a citizen, I am always proud to wear the Canadian flag and to return home to the country I love.
Professionally, I graduated from the University of Calgary in 1996 and received my Chartered Accountant designation in 1998. I am currently on a one year leave of absence from my position at ConocoPhillips Canada in an effort to pursue my love of photography and travel.
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
I have learned how the world can be seen differently through a changing of perspective. Like literature, photography’s power lies in its ability to allow others to pause and share your view for an instant in time.
“This recognition, in real life, of a rhythm of surfaces, lines, and values is for me the essence of photography.” Henri Cartier-Bresson
The submitted images are from my “Rhythm” series and were all taken on a tour of the American Southwest in October to December, 2008. All of these places have a presence that draws you in and almost compells the tripping of the shutter. The bilateral symmetry of the images helps to uncover some of this natural rhythm. Medical studies have shown that symmetrical images promote activity in different areas of the human brain and have a role in pattern and object recognition. This mirroring is seen throughout nature and serves as the root of the largest Linnaean group classification of animals, the Bilateria.
As your brain scans to find secondary images within the reflection, I hope that the complex beauty of nature and the interplay of light and shadow are more clearly revealed.
“Suspended” – Lower Antelope Canyon near Page, Arizona, November 2008
“Two Roads” – Grand Staircase – Escalante National Monument, Utah, October 2008
“Solar Flare” – Grand Prismatic Spring, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, October 2008
These images were not included in the exhibit this year but come from the same series…
Two Roads












