'Alter-Ego'
Images Made with Toy Cameras and Alternative Photographic Processes
about the show • directions
Exhibit dates: 2-21 May 2009.
Reception 7 May 2009, 7-9 p.m.

ABOUT THE SHOW
Curated by Bridget Kane and Greer Muldowney.

Curators’ statement:
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, cyanotype 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
Leslie Bastress | website
Heather Blakney
Kayla Brenes
Mark Richard Brown
Derrick Burbul | website
Christina
Myriah Leshea Douglas
Erica Frisk | website
Alice Grossman
Mellisa Gruntkosky | website
Theresa Kelliher
Ariel Kessler | website
Mary Kocol | website
Cassandra Martin
Karen Molloy
Natasha Moustache
Dana Mueller
Denyse Murphy
Eric Nichols | website
Cade Overton
O Gustavo Plascencia
Serrah Russell | website
Erika Sidor | website
Annie Smidt
Roberta Stone | website
David Strasburger
Andy Takats
Tricia
M. L. Van Nice
V Van Sant | website
Ann Zelle
Lexie Zippin