Open Every Satuday 11-4 or by appointment
Join us for the Artist’s Reception, November 12, 5-7 PM
Description of Show:
Red Album is comprised of twenty-seven constructed images. These take the shape of temporary collages made from natural ephemera and photographs from an actual red photo album left behind by my mother.
Statement:
Red Album aims to make sense of my family’s past through the creation of temporary collages made out of natural ephemera and original photos from my family albums. The slow cathartic process of selecting and layering pieces of the natural world serves as a meditative homage to the memories that have been left behind in a physical state. Placing flower petals and dried up leaves acts as a way of acknowledging both memory and the passage of time. The collages are then photographed before being discarded. Another form of physical remnant that, not unlike memory, exists temporarily. This project came about while I was thinking about my mother, who I lost to cancer when I was eight years old, as well as my grandmother who has just recently passed. I struggle to remember much about my mother’s life, and because of this I’m thankful for the photographs in albums that she and my father kept. The photographs preserve these exact moments in time, and in turn serve as physical records of memory. Most of the photographs are confusing to me; the faces are foreign and I will not be able to understand the larger context behind many of them. Regardless, it brings me joy to be able to peer into this past life that has been lived.
Bio:
Charlie Pott is a photographer based in Iowa City, Iowa. Born and raised in Kansas City, Charlie received his bachelor’s degree in photography from the University of Kansas and is currently teaching and pursuing an MFA at the University of Iowa. His work explores themes of time, memory, and dreams, with a particular interest in using photography as a concerted means of preserving personal histories.
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