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Altered Realities
Prints of most of these images are available for purchase. Please inquire.
All photographs are the copyright of the individual artists and may not be reproduced without their permission.
Juror: Brooke Shaden
Gallery exhibition: April 11 - May 11, 2019
Deadline for exhibition prints: March 29, 2019
Juror's Statement
"Altered Realities" is about seeing in new ways, and the chosen photographs exemplify what it means to surprise, redefine, and recalibrate our view of the world. Surprise was key in making selections; in each image, something made me look longer and harder at the scene, and developed in me a story that I wasn’t expecting to find. The ability to draw a story from a viewer is the way we connect through art, and to do that through the surreal, supernatural, and the unknown presents an added challenge. How do we surprise while staying true enough to the world around us, such that the art is grounded in reality yet runs away with our dreams? That was the challenge of Altered Realities, and each image selected exemplifies those ideals.
The winning images presented an added challenge – to incorporate simplicity and intrigue together. In the Juror’s Award image, we see classic, painterly lighting, mixed with a most unusual character. It poses questions to the viewer, and does so in a way that is unexpected because of its classic appearance. In the Director’s awarded image, the scene itself grabs us and evokes an emotion: that of loneliness and isolation. We are then asked to see ourselves in this scene, as a mirror is held up, questioning what it means to be whole. Because of the narratives these images present, as well as the emotional and technical choices that were made, I am proud to present them with the top awards.
About the Juror
Within the space of a square frame, I try to build a world that is undeniably separate from the one we live in. I explore death and surrealism in order to show that reality has intricate ties with fantasy. Our world is not so different from the disturbing worlds I create within my frames. It is my goal in photography to make beautiful that which others find disturbing, to take a simple concept (be it birth, death, or something in between - life) and mold it into something complex and magnetic.
There is a particular feeling to all of my photographs, one that touches on the juxtaposition of the real and surreal, a fantasy and a dream riddled with reality.
Brooke is represented by the JoAnne Artman Gallery.
Visit her website here.
The Call for Entries
Photography is wonderfully capable of altering reality to suit the photographer or, as juror Brooke Shaden puts it:
“An artist’s task is to see differently—to create work that shows our common reality with a twist. We don’t necessarily create something entirely different or unfamiliar, but use our lens to skew what is expected. Photographs in Altered Realities illustrate the photographer’s manipulated world to accommodate their artistic vision. In them, our equilibrium is disturbed, the characters are unpredictable, and we rethink our bearings.”
All capture methods and processes are welcome.
We are very pleased that photographer Brooke Shaden will jury and curate this exhibition. She will select approximately 35 images for exhibition in the gallery, and 35 for our Online Gallery Annex. The recipients of the Juror’s Award and the Director’s Award will each be entitled to a personal portfolio review by Ms. Shaden.
All 70 selected images will be reproduced in the exhibition print catalog and remain permanently on our website, with links to photographer’s URL. Gallery exhibition April 11 to May 4, 2019.
Information about our printing service and free matting and framing here.
