CURRENTS 2021: NOPA Members Showcase
December 10, 2021-February 6, 2022
Opening: Friday, December 10, 2021, 6-9 pm
It was a pleasure and an unexpected challenge to look through so many stand-out examples of photography being made today. A pleasure in that I love looking at work; a challenge in that I had to choose ten above the rest.
I self-imposed two qualitative parameters when selecting what you see. First, I was looking for continuity within the work. Do the images flow together, one leading to the next, each new picture adding something to the previous one? Second, was I asked to see something differently, revealing a truth, regardless of how familiar the subject might be?
I cannot tell you what is true for each artist represented here, but the work that stood out, the images I remembered after dozens of passes, revealed something each time I encountered them. How do we get our photographs to stick, with so many photos passing by us each day? It’s something to do with revealing a truth. It’s when a person calls out the obvious in a roomful of strangers. Everyone recognizes it, but no one has dared to address it. The truth in photography is just that. It’s a lot more than good light and composition with an engaging subject. It’s taking something true and revealing it to us again and again in the most unexpected of ways.
I invite you to take a closer look at each of these artists and see the truth they seek and share in their work.
-Michael Foley, Juror
CURRENTS is an annual exhibition that highlights the diverse photographic work being created by New Orleans Photo Alliance members. It is a showcase exhibition designed to give an overview of contemporary photographic practices and projects. The exhibit will open in December at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, in conjunction with the PhotoNOLA festival. CURRENTS 2021: NOPA MEMBERS SHOWCASE is curated by Michael Foley, an educator at the School of Visual Arts faculty and the International Center of Photography.
Elijah Barrett
JoAnn Chaus
Pamela Connolly
Margo Duvall
Jon Feinstein
Camille Lenain
Melissa Lynn
Mary Anne Mitchell
Ellen Rosenberg
Sue Palmer Stone
