Photographer's Showcase: Amy Friend's Dare alla Luce

photo-eye Gallery Photographer's Showcase: Amy Friend's Dare alla Luce photo-eye Gallery is pleased to announce Dare alla Luce by Amy Friend, new to the Photographer's Showcase. Friend's series explores the reclamation of found photographs and the family snapshot.

Amy Friend, It Seems Unreal – Archival Pigment Print
13"x19" Edition of 10 – $675

photo-eye Gallery is pleased to announce Dare alla Luce by Amy Friend, new to the Photographer's Showcase. Friend's series explores the reclamation of found photographs and the family snapshot. Friend gives these objects new meaning by piercing the original photograph and then re-photographing them with light coming through each of the tiny holes. They are then reproduced as archival pigment ink prints and available in small editions.

Erin Azouz:  Tell us what inspired the Dare alla Luce series.

Amy Friend:  The Dare alla Luce series began like much of my work. I start in a specific direction, but I prefer to experiment and play with the possibilities of my ideas in order to let them form in a manner that is natural.

It Could Be Anywhere – Archival Pigment Print
17"x18", Edition of 10 – $675

My previous work presents a particular interest in the "family album" and this continual interest led to my focus on what I like to call the "lost images" – photographs that are without a home. In my own albums (some quite old and given to me by my Nonna) hold images that are lost despite being housed in the albums. Nobody can identify the people in the photographs. I wanted to make these photographs precious again, to somehow validate that loss.

Initially, I began by embroidering on the photographs. I aimed to transform them into a new object. While sewing I would hold the photograph to the light in order to determine the placement of the pinholes. I recognized that the pinholes themselves were far more interesting to me and decided to work toward exploring that avenue in the work. My process often flows this way. I start 'somewhere' and allow it to happen, rather than control every aspect along the way.

Afterglow – Archival Pigment Print
10"x16" – Edition of 10 – $575

After working on a few photographs from my personal albums, I thought it important to look for images that did not directly relate to me. I began to search in vintage markets and online. Sometimes the photographs would have minor notations that indicated a place, person or timeframe and at other times their history was completely lost. This presence and/or absence of history became an important part of the work.

I feel that the titles are extremely important to the work. I aim to play with the way we encounter these images through the titles; I want the viewer to wonder about the discrepancy in description and detail.

Late Summer Evening, Ontario, 1927
Archival Pigment Print
14"x9" – Edition of 10 – $575

EA:  The ocean seems to be recurring theme in this work. What is the significance?

AF:  The sea/ocean (and water in for that matter) creep into my work consistently, (this is evidenced in my previous bodies of work). I think there are several factors at play for my continual reach toward this watery territory. First, I grew up at the foot of Lake St. Clair in Ontario; I was always surrounded by water and I spent much of my childhood at the beach. I am intrinsically attracted to water; it has a specific "shape-shifting constance" that fascinates me.

There are moments when I interpret the photographic medium from a comparative standpoint. It is constant, but there is a possibility of an ever-changing view, a perspective that is familiar, that you can revisit, but it is changed and you are changed every time you see it, every time you experience it.

On another, more specific note, the abundance of water imagery that was at my fingertips was too tempting to pass up. Through my photographic search, I noticed (to no surprise) that my fascination was not unique.

Jack's Cat – Archival Pigment Print
12x20" – Edition of 10 – $675

In the end, I see water as a memory bank – when it shifts just a bit, everything changes. The same happens with these "lost" photographs that I have found.

View the Dare alla Luce series on the Photographer's Showcase

For more information about Amy Friend's work or to purchase a print, please contact Erin Azouz at 505-988-5152 ext. 114 or by email.