Light Work announces the 2022 Art Photography Annual exhibition of photographs by seniors in the Department of Film and Media Arts in the College of Visual and Performing Arts.
The exhibition runs through Thursday, March 10, at Light Work, located in the Robert B. Menschel Media Center, 316 Waverly Ave. A reception with the exhibiting artists will be held on Thursday, March 3, from 6-7 p.m. and is free and open to the public.
Image by Tori Sampson, who took Best of Show honors
The exhibiting artists are Alice Adams, Luke Anaclerio, Lauren Bertelson, Marijke Pieters-Kwiers, Abigail Fritz, Corey Henry, Erik Liu, Qirui Ma, Paola Manzano, Tori Sampson, Keqin Wang and Sarah Winn. Artist and activist Jay Simple served as juror and selected images for Best of Show and Honorable Mention awards. Sampson took Best of Show honors, with Wang as Runner-up. The Honorable Mention award went to Pieters-Kwiers.
“Over the course of nearly two years what we have known as ‘normal’ has been disrupted, at times for better and for worse. Through these moments artists, like those included in this exhibition, have rededicated themselves to exploring, documenting, analyzing and engaging with aspects of the human experience,” says Simple. “Looking into these moments we find the breadth and complexity of our contemporary moment as we struggle and strive to come to terms with the mutuality of our isolation, the need for radical care of ourselves and the relationships and connections that we hold dear. Melancholy and joy resonate in this space and hint that we must abandon a didactic aesthetic to embrace the nuanced complexity that arises from what a friend once called ‘the bittersweet quality of being alive.’ This is far from a defeated stance, and it is a recognition of the power artists have to show us our resiliency through adversity.”
Laura Heyman, associate professor of art photography in the Department of Film and Media Arts, speaks to the importance of the annual collaboration. “Art photography’s close partnership with Light Work benefits students in so many ways. All of our students become members, with access to Light Work labs and their exceptionally skilled staff. In addition to giving students the space to imagine how their thesis work might develop over the following months, the Photography Annual show introduces their work to their peers, the local community and the renowned curators and critics who jury the exhibition,” she says.
“Light Work is an invaluable intellectual, professional, and technical resource for art photography students, providing them with an extraordinary and unique range of real-world skills and experiences,” Heyman says.
Many students work with Light Work throughout their undergraduate careers and become an integral
source of the energy, passion and excitement that define the organization.
Gallery hours are: Monday-Thursday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday and
Sunday, 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. Contact Light Work at 315.443.1300 or [email protected] to schedule a guided tour of the galleries or the Light Work Lab.