Emily Belz
Forward From Where We Came
“I have long held an interest in photographing domestic spaces. When my son was born seven years ago, my relationship to my home—to the light, space, and time within it—changed dramatically; time crawled by in the early hours of the morning as I watched the sunrise and the light dance around the walls of my home. The different times of day and the quality of the light I experienced provoked strong emotions— a shadow could turn from daunting to comforting within a matter of minutes. I began imagining and experiencing photographs everywhere in my home, only occasionally taking my camera outside to make an image. This confinement of space pushed me inward and sharpened my eye towards recognizing the details of my environment and the underlying emotions they evoke.
My most recent body of work, Forward From Where We Came, is a series of digital color photographs taken in three houses: my husband’s childhood home, the home my parents shared until my father’s death, and my current home in Cambridge MA. This two-year project is an inquiry into the immaterial aspects of inheritance. As I photograph I think about the lives lived in these homes, and the stories that survive. Many of the images bear traces of the people who occupy, or occupied, these spaces: hairpins, a handprint on a chalkboard, a piece of paper taped to the wall about to fall down. I investigate these intangibles through the language of the lens.” -Emily Belz
Laura Chasman
Barely Visible
“For more than 40 years I have been a painter of people, looking closely at their faces and what they reveal. Perhaps that’s why I found myself bemused when visiting Chelsea art galleries, where my encounters were no longer face-to-face. High walled reception areas, along with computer screens, blocked from view the faces of those working within these spaces. All one generally can see is the top of a head punctuating through these barriers. Using my own photographs as reference, I was inspired to make a series of paintings of people who are barely visible.” -Laura Chasman
Kimberly Witham
On Beauty
“My work is strongly influenced by natural history dioramas, cabinets of curiosity, still life painting and other manifestations of humankind’s attempt to categorize, comprehend and ultimately control the natural world. All of my photographs are informed by my studies in art history and my love
of nature. I am an avid gardener, wanderer, and collector of bones, shells, seed pods and other ephemera.
My images are a very personal meditation on beauty, fecundity, fragility and the inevitable march
of time. The visual language of these images is borrowed from classical Dutch still life painting. In these paintings flowers, fruit and flesh are represented in varying states of ripeness and decay. These paintings serve as both a celebration of beauty and a reminder of the inevitability of death. They are simultaneously seductive and grotesque. The materials used in my images are all culled from my surroundings. The flowers and vegetables are from my garden. The animals and birds are all road kill found close to my New Jersey home. The fleeting nature of my subject matter requires me to work only with what is available on any given day.” -Kimberly Witham