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1994-2004

Vanessa Albury

FRESH WORK: COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON ALUMNI EXHIBITION, 1994-2004

1994-2004

Vanessa Albury

FRESH WORK: COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON ALUMNI EXHIBITION, 1994-2004

Vanessa AlburyA. Bills-LeviGayle BrookerLisa ChouMargaret ClarkeT. DavidsonSteven DavisJohn DuckworthMeghan HenleyKrist MillsSue MurrayDorothy NetherlandsRachel O’NealLarissa PatelLynn PattersonMatt SmithsonJonathan Walsh

To create an exhibit drawn from works by Studio Art graduates may seem to be a daunting task; faced with so many choices, the result could become merely arbitrary or too disparate to cohere as an exhibition. But in fact, my experience was quite the contrary. All artists have at least one thing in common—they all have influences. And for all of these artists, one of their most influential experiences was the time they spent as Studio Art students at the College of Charleston.

In this exhibit, I see the influences as well as the individual accomplishments of artists who studied here at the College. Whether faintly or pronounced, the impressions of their Studio Art professors resonate in these works. The goal, however, of myself and Dr. Marian Mazzone was to choose a select group of Studio Art alumni whose works have continued to develop, becoming their own unique creations and contributions. By limiting the selection to Studio Art graduates of the past ten years, we were able to look at the work of artists who are still developing their sense of “self” in the art world, while also still having some identity with the College.

Vanessa Albury, originally from Nashville, TN, graduated from the College of Charleston in 2001 with a BA in Studio Art, a BA in French, and a minor in Art History. Currently she is attending graduate school at Florida State University in Tallahassee. Her photographs have been exhibited in galleries throughout the southeast, including a solo show at the Charleston City Gallery. She has also received various awards and honors for her work, the most recent being the Dean’s Award 2004-05 College Teaching Fellowship for the FSU School of Visual Arts and Dance. Vanessa sees her photographs as visual interpretations of an experiment with herself and the world around her.

Click here to view the artist’s website.

Vanessa Albury

FRESH WORK: COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON ALUMNI EXHIBITION, 1994-2004

1994-2004
ARTIST STATEMENT

I find maneuvering what people perceive as real into my own version of truth therapeutic. Drawing from a background rooted in two conflicting belief systems, I find my voice amidst the contradictions. I have a need to synthesize the world around me, to make my own world, thus balancing the seeming polar opposites in myself. The representational qualities of a photograph provide me with the tools I need to explore my perception of life and the world around me.

Place and the elapse of time have been reoccurring themes in my photographs. The series The Passages, one of my earlier series, invokes the presence of eroding buildings. There is a void, or a negative, of human influence in the neglect. I use both formal thinking about lines and light, and intuitive methods in selecting the framing of my subjects and the final prints. The series Elegies began with adding figures to my spaces. In this series, I more directly contrast living figures with the dying spaces. Long exposures allowed time for the figure to pass through the space; activity and transience contrasting with the slow degeneration of the building. My focus shifted more toward the moving figure as I shot Elegies.

Currently, I am shooting medium format black and white film, 4×5 color negatives and Polaroid prints as well as printing from both negatives and digitally manipulated Photoshop documents. My subject is the active figure in nature. With the current series In Place, I am exploring the relationship of the individual with his or her environment in both natural landscapes and artificial surroundings. I am fascinated by the way the human body moves through familiar spaces and the emotional bearing these environments have on the individual. For example, with the double exposed image Lauren and the Creek1, I return with my sister to a creek bed that we played in as children. In this image, I enjoy the effects of layering a scene upon itself, investigating the relationship between the actions within exposures and the void of action between exposures. With the series In Place, I explore personal curiosities about my specific surroundings, the nature of habitats, and the qualities of individuals interacting over time with the environment.

A Japanese film critic once came to the conclusion that “nature leads to thinking about how things really are,” upon contemplating the role of nature in Akira Karusawa’s film Rashomon. InRashomon, the characters investigate a murder. Each time the narrative is told by a witness, the facts are presented differently to the point of conflicting with the other characters’ versions. Nature has a multifaceted and layered role in society, from sustaining to decorative to threatening. The role of nature in society is also connected to the notion of how “things really are.” I am exploring these dual aspects in myself and in the world around me through photography.

Free For All
GALLERY HOURS (during exhibitions)
Monday - Saturday, 11am – 4pm
Open Thursdays until 7pm
843.953.4422


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