It’s been a while since I started my FotoFest ramblings, but I realized that I never finished posting them, so here’s a short piece to help wrap things up. Since I’ve yapped on and on about some of the “way cool” work I’ve seen at FotoFest, I thought it *finally* time to talk about some of the good stuff I know I missed and I thought it might be a good idea to do this today, while some folks were returning back to work (and wanted something a bit more substantial to read.)
I hinted at the Keith Carter exhibit-I managed to catch some of it, but missed seeing it in full swing. We did manage to catch a few leftover prints and a few odds and ends though and I’m sorry I missed the entire exhibit.
Some of my friends, had some work up at the Museum of Printing History. In a show called “Photography: Printing with Light” that explored alternative processes, there was work included by several folks I know, including Ed Buffaloe, Chricel E. Portela, Michael Rigby, Terri St. Arnauld, Ann Texter, Spiffy Tumbleweed, and Kathryn Watts-Martinez. I’m really sorry I did not make it over to see this show, by all accounts it was a must see and I’m really sorry I missed it.
Allison Hunter’s “Zoosphere” looks like it was really cool-it was a multi-channel video installation with sound that captures zoo animals in gallery spaces.
The Lawndale Arts Center is always good and I missed going there. Shelley Calton’s “Traces of Her” is an interesting series-it’s one I have encountered on the gallery circuit before, but I did miss seeing it at FotoFest. The DeSantos Gallery had an exhibit by Austin’s own Sarah Sudhoff, called “At the Hour of Our Death” that explores the last mark’s people make as they die-stains on textiles. This work looks a bit gory but interesting and also ranks high on the “sorry I missed it” category.
David A. Brown’s “Unfiltered, trying to find my way…” 3-D series looked absolutely stunning and I’m sorry to miss this as well. Michele Wambaugh’s “The String Theory of Cities” looked really interesting too.
And then there’s Steve McCurry. You might not recognize his name, and you might not even know his face, but it’s not his face that makes up his most iconic image. No, it’s a face he once photographed-a face in Afghanistan in 1984 that makes this show worthy of a look. From the blurb in the book, “Afghan Girl appeared on the June 1985 cover of National Geographic. The image-she wears a red scarf draped loosely over her head and her piercing sea-green eyes stare directly into the camera-became a symbol both of the 1980’s Afghan conflict and of the refugee situation worldwide. The image itself was named “the most recognized photograph” in the history of the magazine.” All that and I missed it. Damn! (You can see a “virtual tour” of the image at this link.)
Geoff Winningham and Loli Kantor both had exhibitions that I would have liked to have seen. Laurie Lambrecht presented “Inside Roy Lichtenstein’s Studio” and “Re-Imagining Place” by Rusty Scruby and Susan Wides looked really interesting. There was a show on “New Visualism: Abstractions in Photography” and also one exploring social media, called “Poke!” that looked really interesting and finally, there was “International Discoveries II” to showcase talent discovered by curatorial staff from events across the world. Looks like some really interesting work in that, so I’m sorry I missed it.
FotoFest has tons of work and I’m really glad I got to see as much work as I did, but there’s always more. Every year I swear I say the same thing-next time, I’m going to stay for longer than a day and get out to visit more stuff. Maybe one year, I’ll make it to visit Meeting Place while it’s in full swing and not just stop there for iced tea on my way around. Yes, yes, I know, here’s hoping, right?
Until next time…
