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Juror's Statement

Britt Salvesen

Britt Salvesen

In 1659, Thomas Pecke wrote: "I know the Medium to let you see A Wonder." In the 21st century, that medium is photography, and its potential-as evidenced by the contemporary southern photographers featured in this exhibition-is wonderful indeed.

At a primary level, medium refers to physical materials and techniques used in the creative process. Here we see artists using various kinds of cameras, choosing among digital and analogue methods, and determining scale in accord with their vision. John Elliott for example uses large format film and traditional darkroom techniques, creating panoramic scenes that envelop the viewer both spatially and atmospherically.

A medium is also a channel of communication, and photography-with its familiar, vernacular inflections-is eminently suited to that purpose. Two artists Dana S Kemp and Tammy Mercure deploy the snapshot in their work, tapping into our own experiences with this seemingly humble but powerfully evocative mode of photography. Whether retrieved from an old album or snatched in the present moment, snapshots testify to the unstoppable human urge to show and tell.

Finally, a medium is a portal between different worlds, alternate realities. Documenting a young woman's battle with cancer, Kelly Embry brings us painfully close to the threshold between the elemental states of life and death. Emily Gomez takes us through time to a world of the past, depicting southeastern and midwestern sites shaped by Native Americans and then reshaped by those who displaced them.

The artists in Contemporary Southern Photographers 2008 have taken up a powerful medium. Using photography with both skill and generosity, they let us see many wonders.

 

Britt Salvesen

Director and Chief Curator

Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona

August 14, 2008