11.25.2009

KEITH CARTER: Fireflies

Fireflies
Photograph (c)
Keith Carter /All Rights Reserved


Sunglasses
Photograph (c)
Keith Carter /All Rights Reserved


White Owl
Photograph (c)
Keith Carter /All Rights Reserved


Pram
Photograph (c)
Keith Carter /All Rights Reserved


...in 1992, Keith made “Fireflies,” in my view his first truly great, truly transcendent image. It is a photograph of two young boys in a creek bottom. They are leaning over a jar held between them. Light glows from inside the jar – the magic light of the fireflies the boys had captured at dusk on that warm summer evening. It is a picture of your brother and you. It is a picture of all of us when were still new in the world, still able to be mesmerized by the most ordinary and daily of things. It is a picture to conjure memories that in most of us have lain dormant for an eternity – remembrances of having once been at one with the natural world. Only a glance at “Fireflies” and we’re back there again, our eyes full of wonder, walking barefoot through that continuous miracle that is life, and we are exalted by the experience. That is what art at its most sublime can do –from an Essay by Bill Wittliff
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KEITH CARTER was born in Madison, Wisconsin in 1948. He holds the endowed Walles Chair of Visual and Performing Arts at Lamar University Beaumont, Texas, and is the recipient of a 2009 Texas Metal of Arts Award and the Lange-Taylor Prize from the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University. In 1997 Keith Carter was the subject of an arts profile on the national network television show, CBS Sunday Morning. In 1998, he received Lamar University's highest teaching honor, the University Professor Award, and he was named the Lamar University Distinguished Lecturer.

Carter has been called "a poet of the ordinary" by the Los Angeles Times. His haunting, enigmatic photographs are included in numerous permanent collections, including the Art Institute of Chicago; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; the J. Paul Getty Museum; the George Eastman House; the Museum of Fine Arts of Houston; and the Wittliff Collection of Southwestern and Mexican Photography Collection. He is author of From Uncertain To Blue, 1988; The Blue Man, 1990; Mojo, 1992; Heaven of Animals, 1995; and Bones, 1996. A mid-career survey, Keith Carter Photographs - Twenty Five Years was published in 1997; Holding Venus, Natural Histories and Ezekiel's Horse, 2000; A Certain Alchemy, 2008; and the recent monograph Fireflies, 2009.

FIREFLIES: Photographs of Children: "In Fireflies, Keith Carter presents a magical gallery of photographs of children and the world they inhabit. The collection includes both new work and iconic images such as "Fireflies," "The Waltz," "Chicken Feathers," "Megan's New Shoes," and "Angel" selected from all of Carter's rare and out-of-print books. When making these images, Carter often asked the children, "do you have something you would like to be photographed with?" This creative collaboration between photographer and subject has produced images that conjure up stories, dreams, and imaginary worlds. Complementing the photographs is an essay in which Carter poetically traces the wellsprings of his interest in photographing children to his own childhood experiences in Beaumont, Texas. As he recalls days spent exploring in the woods and creeks, it becomes clear that his art flows from a deep reservoir of sights and sounds imprinted in early childhood. –from the University of Texas Press

KEITH CARTER WEBSITE
FIREFLIES

14 comments:

JMW said...

Love the Fireflies photo - it captures those youthful summer days, when one was curious and full of wonder. The image of the baby and the geese is great, too.

frenchie said...

wow...the translucide on the picture gives such a nice result. the last one looks out of a dream.

Caio Fern said...

his work is really unique for me . there is not one single image you can say : " oh , this is good " .
they are all exellent and perfect .

Ange said...

We all need to spend a bit more time looking at the world through a child's eyes... Brilliant photos - especially the fireflies.

Carol Guerra Hidalgo said...

Nice result in this photographie, excelent photo!
BYE ELIZABHET

PJ said...

I'm always at a loss as to what to say when I see something here. The photography is so varied and I don't know anyone persoanlly so all I can think to say is, "Wow." and wonder how I can do something like that. I've recommended this blog to lots of friends. It's wonderful.

Gillian said...

I love this work. Thanks again Elizabeth for introducing me to another photographic poet. I've recommended this blog to all my students and hope they're availing of the exposure you provide to such varied and interesting work. Also feeling very inspired to begin producing more work myself!!!

amatamari© said...

Truly a wonderful series monochrome!
Thanks!

Unknown said...

What a fantastic set of b&w photos! Hard to choose a favourite...
Thank you for your visit and comment on the Seychelles post.

EDUARDO POISL said...

Lindíssimas imagens!!!

"... E de novo acredito que nada do que é
importante se perde verdadeiramente.
Apenas nos iludimos, julgando ser donos das coisas,
dos instantes e dos outros.
Comigo caminham todos os mortos que amei,
todos os amigos que se afastaram,
todos os dias felizes que se apagaram.
Não perdi nada,
apenas a ilusão de que tudo podia ser meu para sempre."

Miguel Sousa Tavares

Abraços com todo meu carinho.
Um lindo final de semana com muito amor e carinho

Mary said...

oh what beautiful images, truly capturing the magic of a moment!

Lisa Holtzman said...

Keith's images are indeed enigmatic, beautiful. The excerpt from Wittliff is so perfect. I also love that Carter collaborated with the children he photographed. Wonderful images and words on your blog, thank you. And thank you for visiting my blog!

-K- said...

What a distinctive style he has.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing... Do you know the french Photographer Cantero ? Nice black and white (www.js-cantero.com)