25 Sep The Curve: CENTER Grant & Award Winners
Artists: Adam Reynolds, Guy Martin, and Jeanine Michna-Bales
Dates: September 4 – October 11, 2014
Opening Reception: Thursday, September 4, 6.30 – 8.30 pm
6.30 – 7.30 pm: Gallery Talks by Laura Pressley, Director of CENTER Santa Fe, and exhibition artist Jeanine Michna-Bales. Reception follows. Both events free.
This traveling show from CENTER brings together three award-winning photography projects. The Curve was originally exhibited in June 2014 at the Contemporary Art Center, Santa Fe.
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Adam Reynolds: Architecture of an Existential Threat
Since its creation in 1948, the State of Israel has felt itself isolated and beset by enemies seeking its destruction. By law all Israelis are required to have access to a bomb shelter and rooms that can be sealed off in case of an unconventional weapons attack.
These shelters are the architecture of an existential threat – both real and perceived. In them can be seen Israel’s resiliency as a nation, and its inability to come to terms with itself and with its neighbors in a volatile region. The resulting images offer a window into the collective mindset of the Israeli people, how they have normalized this “doomsday space” into their daily lives.
Adam Reynolds is the recipient of the 2014 Project Development Grant, which offers financial support to fine art, documentary, or photojournalist works-in-progress. The 2014 Juror was Lisa Hostetler; PhD, Curator, George Eastman House; formerly Curator at the Smithsonian
Guy Martin: City of Dreams
Turkish soap operas are drawing in tens of millions of viewers from Athens to Riyadh. Their rise in popularity across the Arab world and Balkan countries has made them a huge commercial success, and a vital component of Turkey’s soft power strategy. It is a way for Turkey to export its culture of secularism and wealth to an audience dying to know more about its close neighbor.
In May 2013, as these shows were in their final weeks of filming for the summer season, thousands of young, secular Turks took to the streets to demonstrate against overzealous construction projects. These rallies quickly grew to wide scale protests against a series of government-backed policies that were seen to curb civil liberties and promote Islamic conservatism. City of Dreams blends fiction and non-fiction to create a fascinatingly ambiguous narrative of modern day Turkey.
Guy Martin is the 2014 Project Launch award winner. Project Launch is granted to an outstanding photographer working in fine art series or documentary project. Jurors: Roger Watson, Curator, Fox Talbot Museum, England; Fred & Laura R. Bidwell, Bidwell Foundation / Transformer Station; Patrick Witty, Director of Photography, Wired magazine
Jeanine Michna-Bales: Through Darkness to Light
Between 1830 and the end of The Civil War in 1865, an estimated 100,000 slaves chose to embark on a journey of untold hardships in search of freedom.
Under the cover of darkness, ‘fugitives’ traveled roughly 20 miles each night traversing rugged terrain. From the cotton plantations just South of Natchitoches, Louisiana all the way north to the Canadian border, this series of photographs can help us imagine what the long road to freedom may have looked like as seen through the eyes of those who made this epic journey.
Jeanine Michna-Bales is the recipient of the 2014 CHOICE AWARD/Gallerists’ Choice. The Choice Awards recognize outstanding photographers working in all processes and subject matter. Juror: Steffi Schulze, Gallery Management, Camera Work, Germany.
