| For more information about this article or gallery, please call the gallery phone number listed in the last line of the article, "For more info..." |
May Issue 2010
Charleston County
Public Library in Charleston, SC, Features Works by Micheline
Callicott
The
Charleston County Public Library in Charleston, SC, will present
the exhibit, South: A Personal View of Region, featuring
photography by Micheline Callicott, on view May 1 - 31, 2010 in
the Library's Saul Alexander Foundation Gallery.
A diverse collection of 35mm format digital and large and medium format film photographs explore how the southern location shapes the view through the camera. Recalling the people we meet and the experiences that shape us, the exhibit reflects on living and the vivid landscape of memory.
Callicott offered the following statement about her work: "A trip to New Zealand in 2007 was the starting point for a realization for me: some of my most important life events have taken place in the geographical south. I was born in Arkansas, lived in southern Arizona, southern Ohio, southern England, southern Germany, and now I am in South Carolina. New Zealand is incredibly far south and is noteworthy for its geographical isolation. Being near the 'bottom' of the planet shook up my orientation to the notion of 'south' because, really, what is bottom relatively speaking?"
"I got to experience winter twice that year and I was amazed at how the quality of light remained so consistent throughout the day and then it would suddenly be dark," adds Callicott. "The New Zealanders that I met were similar to their land's lighting conditions - mostly light-hearted, kind, generous with strangers, and surprisingly frank about their dark moments. I used my camera to take in as much as I could while I was there. I attempted to visually catalogue how what I saw and experienced was shaped by where I was."
"Since my trip, I have continued exploring how being in a southern location shapes who and what I see with the camera. I empathize with my subject as much as I can. I feel really proud when a person I photographs says that I have really captured something about them that casual observers don't know. Ultimately, I have found that the way the south appears in my images ranges from the humid light seen in the verdant landscapes to the subtle expressions of my human subjects. There really is no 'superior' North - it seems to me to be a construct that simply organizes the chaotic nature of our planet. The photographs presented are from the New Zealand trip and from my current south of South Carolina, Georgia, and North Carolina and are in 35mm digital and large format black and white film."
For further information
check our SC Institutional Gallery listing, call the Library at
843/805-6803 or visit (www.ccpl.org).
Carolina Arts is published monthly by Shoestring Publishing Company, a subsidiary of PSMG, Inc. Copyright© 2010 by PSMG, Inc., which published Charleston Arts from July 1987 - Dec. 1994 and South Carolina Arts from Jan. 1995 - Dec. 1996. It also publishes Carolina Arts Online, Copyright© 2010 by PSMG, Inc. All rights reserved by PSMG, Inc. or by the authors of articles. Reproduction or use without written permission is strictly prohibited. Carolina Arts is available throughout North & South Carolina.