REFUGE
Bside6 building | Portland, Oregon | DEC, 2010 - JAN, 2011
A photographic inquiry of what it means to be alone in an empty space seeking refuge, hiding or emerging, enticing. Becoming one’s other self, an inner struggle...observed.
The installation featured apertures or "peep holes" left in a painted glass storefront on E. Burnside and 6th Avenue. Light boxes were suspended inside the space aligned with the apertures. The viewers would crouch, stretch and help each other to view each of the 14 images. The installation changed dramatically from day to night.
a collaboration with William C. Tripp. Text by Timothy Dean Roth
INSTALLATION PHOTOGRAPHY
"As with any other photography exhibit, one wants to take time to examine the image, to be immersed in it, to explore the beauty of the object, the texture and tone of the photograph, and its spatial and ambient dimensions. But when you’re standing on the sidewalk of East Burnside, you are not just having an inwardly private and strictly subjective moment; there is the awareness that other people on this busy intersection are observing you. You feel like someone with a magnifying glass staring at cracks in the sidewalk; the longer you linger, the more odd you look. Add to this that you’re peering into the showroom glass of a retail building, blurring the line between art and commerce, flesh in hiding and flesh as commodity."
