Susan Barratt
Healing for Hands

Being In BOdy
National Juried Photography Exibition
Mary Elizabeth Dee Shaw Gallery
Weber State University

Weber State University Department of Visual Arts and the Mary Elizabeth Dee Shaw Gallery are pleased to announce our upcoming exhibition: Being in Body, January 9 - February 4, 2006. The opening reception will be held Thursday, January 12 from 5:00 - 8:00 p.m.

Being in Body is a national juried photography exhibition that explores the relationship between physicality and self, how identities are contained in and conveyed through the body. Artists were encouraged to think broadly in their approach to the theme. The exhibit will feature the photography of 32 artists from around the country who work in a variety of processes, from daguerreotypes to video.

The exhibit was juried by Leslie Bellavance, Professor of Art and Director of the School of Art and Art History at the James Madison University in Virginia. Ms. Bellavance is an internationally recognized artist who has exhibited her work since the late 1970's.

Juror's Statement
The interesting thing about the title of this exhibition is that it provoked a broad spectrum of interpretations of the concept of "being" and the meaning of "body". For many artists it was the body as object or subject of visual interpretation that was foregrounded. In this case the traditions of figurative representation played an important role even with a contemporary or metaphorical content. For others the ontology of being and the interface of existence with physicality was the important question. The most demanding issue in all cases is the notion of identity being bound by the edges of the physical body. In what ways can "being" extend past those boundaries or compress physicality? The work included in this exhibition presents a comprehensive view of this topic as expressed by contemporary artists.

Rather than approaching the topic and the work with a preconceived notion of the answer to the question, as juror I observed what the artists were accomplishing. All of the work was very strong, making the decision process difficult. However, the works I chose to exhibit offer challenges to the viewer in considering the deep philosophical question of how one negotiates their own subjectivity through time and space. The body as the locus for affect and intellect, transcendence and contingencies, the particular and the universal is the paradox confronted by this collective body of work - Leslie Bellavance.

Gallery Hours are Monday - Saturday 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. All events are free and open to the public. For more information visit our website at: dova.weber.edu. This project is sponsored by the Weber State University Department of Visual Arts and is supported by a grant from the Browning Lead Cultural Trust.