:: Dan Burkholder’s Shadows of Lives and Loss Exhibit
:: Press Conference call for "Shadows of Lives and Loss"
We are pleased to announce Dan Burkholder's exhibit, Shadows of Lives and Loss: Decaying Memories of the Gulf Coast is scheduled to open November 16 through December 31. The Artist Reception with Gallery Talk is scheduled Saturday, December 9, from 6-8 pm CST at TCC PHOTO | GALLERY, located at 207 N. Center St., Longview, TX 75601 and on the web at http://www.tccphotogallery.com
Join us for a Press Conference Call discussing Dan Burkholder's body of work Shadows of Lives and Loss: Decaying Memories of the Gulf Coast with the University of Texas Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center's, Curator of Photography, Roy Flukinger, scheduled for Tuesday, November 21 at 10:30 am CST.
Call 1.712.432.4015, enter room number: 5218228.
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Dan Burkholder’s Artist Statement for
Shadows of Lives and Loss: Decaying Memories along the Gulf Coast
Seeing New Orleans’ destruction in person was very different from watching it on TV at home. Mile after mile of neighborhoods were devastated. My first goal in making these photographs was to personalize the destruction and loss -- to give the images a “ you are here” feeling that was intimate and personal for the viewer. Every place I photographed had been under at least ten feet of water for more than a week. The way building materials, fabrics and personal items were affected by this soaking in filthy salt water was like nothing I’d seen before. It was like 300 years of aging had taken place in the ten months since the storm.
On my first visit to New Orleans I had formal consent to visit homes that had been flooded. I quickly discovered that permission was hardly needed. “No trespassing” signs were few and doors were wide open. Authorities who saw us with our cameras never questioned my presence.
The camera never ventures outdoors; these "portraits without people" graphically illustrate the interiors where the citizens of New Orleans lived, worked, learned and worshipped. There is nothing “pretty” about the aftermath of hurricane Katrina. Certainly not the lives it claimed, the city it changed forever, or the property that was lost. If you feel a tinge of guilt at being drawn to the “beauty” of these images, that?s perfectly normal. You can be drawn into the scene by the natural design and intrigue, only to be finally confronted by the destruction and loss.
This is my goal, to give you, the viewer, a way to better understand how nature and governmental failures conspired to create the loss these photographs portray. With this awareness, each of us should hear the call to help New Orleans on her return, not only as the lively, romantic “Crescent City” as known by the revelers of the French Quarter, but as the true home for generations of Louisiana families rich in history and character.
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About Dan Burkholder:
Dan Burkholder was one of the first photographic artists to embrace digital technology in the early 1990’s. True to his love of the traditional photograph, Dan uses digital technology to build images that still look and feel like real photographs, not like something from a graphic designer’s portfolio. Melding his unique vision with mastery of both the wet and digital darkrooms, his platinum prints are now included in many museum and private collections.
Originating the digital-negative process in 1992, Burkholder has helped open doors for all black and white photographers interested in moving into the new electronic technologies. His award-winning book, Making Digital Negatives for Contact Printing, is regarded as the most authoritative work in the field. Dan has taught classes and workshops at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, the lnternational Center of Photography in New York, the University of Texas at San Antonio, the Museum of Photographic Arts in San Diego and others. Active with the Texas Photographic Society for many years, he is currently serving on the Advisory Board for this organization.
Dan Burkholder was born in Hagerstown, Maryland, an agri-industrial community in the Appalachian Mountains. He attended Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, California, where he received his BA and Masters Degrees in Photography. Dan lives in Carrollton, Texas, with his wife, Jill Skupin Burkholder, and their six cats. Besides photography, Dan enjoys spending time with Jill and motorcycling.
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The Upcoming Book
University of Texas Press is publishing a monograph of Burkholder’s New Orleans images with a scheduled release date of early 2008.
You can order Dan's fabulous prints here at TCC Photo | Gallery brick and mortar gallery located at 207 N. Center St., Longview, TX 75601 and/or online securely at http://www.tccphotogallery.com, click on store, then click on the button Shadows of Lives and Loss. Purchase Dan’s prints safely and securely from our online store.
Many prints are about to enter the next pricing tier, so if you are thinking about ordering, order now!
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