Ghostlaw Karen

 

Karen Ghostlaw | Arte Laguna PrizeKaren Ghostlaw
Poughkeepsie, United States 1962


Scattered Clouds

Art section: Photography

Dimensions: 70 x 100 cm

Year: 2020-2021

Materials: Digital photography, pigment inks, archival paper

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Description

As a student in photography I began a study called “between Painting and Photography,” that continues today. This series of photographs were ta ken during the pandemic. I reconnected to the landscapes I am familiar with and that I have made significant and valuable impressions and memories throughout my life. I live in the Hudson Valley in New York State, home to the 19th century American art movement the “Hudson River School.” The movements aesthetics were influenced by romanticism of that period. The explorations of these landsca pes have helped me see through many discoveries the connections to the natural world in the intricate layers of color, light, and shadow that I apply to all my work, even in the urban environment and street photography. I do not see a photograph or finished image through my viewfinder, but I see an idea. These abstracted reflected landscapes make unique connections in our forever changing universe. The rocks in the river become clouds in the sky, turning our world upside down or inside out without gravity. They represent the fluctuating dynamic universe We live in, with all the delicacies and fragilities we must balance and respect in this revolution of evolution. These are listed here as separate images, but I eventually see the series as a single narrow strip of archival paper, with an accordion fold. The images would be printed in pigment inks on the pages of the accordion, when hung on the wall, the accordion would undulate with the peaks and valleys of the folds to mimic the mountains and river valleys of New York State. Eventually the series would become its own landscape of New York State. These are all single exposures and all the abstractions are achieved through the lens.

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