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International Art Treasures Web Magazine March 2006 |
RyersonPhotojournalism, Landscape and dramatic scene work in the ilk of Henri Cartier-Bresson, Ansel Adams and Annie Leibovitz were among the individual styles and subject matters selected by the current third year class at the Ryerson University School of Image Arts in their recent exhibit at the Ryerson Gallery. Where will the art of photography travel? Here are a select few of the artists who contributed their talents in their own words. Daniel Garcia
"The industrial landscape is symbolic of the permanent impact man kind has on nature. The markings on the surface of the image serve as the photographic manifestation of the damaging elements. The deep colors and vast sky is simply nature’s beauty. This combination forms a contrasting image of the harm done to our planet." "This image was created using 6x4.5 color transparency which was then scanned and printed on archival matte paper. The image was then 'marked' using black ink around the industrial elements within the photograph." Mandy Howick
"With each visit to Cuba, and each new town or city I see, my admiration of its people grows. It has little to do with whatever living conditions they might be enduring and more to do with the colors that fill their daily lives amongst these conditions. Walking down an ordinary street in Trinidad, a city inside the province of Sancti Spiritus, homes are proudly painted in bright greens, pinks and yellows. Under the blazing sun, the only things brighter are the smiles on its residences faces. And the children’s are the brightest of all. These colors are what I like best about photographing Cuba. This photograph of two children was taken quite candidly as they played on the street outside their home. They quietly paused for me and faced the camera, almost as if they were used to having their photo taken. Then I left them to return to their game, and barely three words had been spoken between us. Whenever there’s a camera, words often seem useless. Emily Lockhart
"I took this photograph on a hill in upstate New York one autumn day last year. The sun was warm on my neck and I had to kneel in the mud to get the shot. I used a twin lens reflex camera from the early 1970s and a roll of film from E-bay." "My work is about discovery. I comb my city in search of the remarkable - the out-of-place, the surreal, the humorous - and photograph anything that strikes me. Nothing I show is exotic; I just photograph everyday sorts of things in ways that make them seem more extraordinary. I hope that in doing so I can demonstrate the complexity of our environment. Every back alley is full of secrets, every street radiant with possibility." James Kachan
“The bed and the connotations of sleep that surround it act as a metaphor for the bastions of peace and solace that we all have tendencies to cling to. A problem is easily excused or set aside, people say 'I'll sleep on it', or prefer dream worlds where a difficulty doesn’t need to be faced. However, the cold reality is that escapes from the issues that affect us so profoundly exhaust our character more so than any amount of sleep would ever offer to fix. It is only when one fights the easy lulls of turning a shut, sleepy eye to the problems inside that any progression foreword can be made.” Christine Morton
"I come from an anthropological and zoological background. Basically, I have spent a great deal of time studying both humans and animals. Throughout my studies I have been taught that anthropomorphizing animals is detrimental to science; by placing human characteristics on animals we lose our scientific objectivity. In order to study something, we have to see it as it really is and not as it appears through the emotional vale that we place on it. My belief is that this cold, scientific approach is detrimental to conservation and empathy for the natural world. As long as we consider animals to be less important species than humans, we will never be able to protect them. It is through empathy that we are able to understand animals, and hence, develop the desire to save them." "This image is part of a larger series that tries to create portraits of animals that have a human quality. I am attempting to cause an emotional reaction in the viewer in order to highlight the beauty of the animal and the sense of humanness that can be seen within them." Ryerson GalleryFaculty, students and alumni present their work at the non-profit Ryerson Gallery. |
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