Lissa Rivera
The Peter Urban Legacy Award
Jennifer McClure
The Arthur Griffin Legacy Award
Rebecca Biddle Moseman
The Griffin Award
Statement for the 22nd Juried Exhibition
Juror: Elizabeth Avedon
“Garry Winogrand was, of course, an artist who practiced an art of having “something to say, sound or unsound.” In fact, I believe that he said more in his work than any photographer of his time.”– Tod Papageorge, Core Curriculum (Aperture)
I was honored to be invited to jury the Griffin Museum of Photography’s 22nd Annual Peter Urban Legacy Exhibition. With this call to entry, no boundaries were set, no requests were made to follow any particular theme, medium, style or schools of thought to participate. Traditional, contemporary, experimental and mixed-techniques were welcome and encouraged. I believe the unspoken commonality was our shared love of the medium and magic of the photographic image.
My introduction into the extraordinary world of photography began with the traditional study of Atget, Brassai, Cartier-Bresson, Walker Evans and Robert Frank, the ‘core curriculum’ as relayed by Tod Papageorge. Instilled with a high regard for black and white images and a passion for “street photography” early on, I was later thrown into the high fashion and fine art worlds of Saul Leiter, Richard Avedon, Diana Vreeland and others, cultivating a taste for an eclectic range of color, motion, glamour, and unconventional work, reshaping my aesthetic and wide-ranging love around the medium.
Decades later, I find my interests evolving away from the photography I’ve worked with most of my career. I’ve razed old rules, burned some bridges, set horses free, and am now open to be delighted by whatever lays on the road ahead. I believe there is an audience for everything; from the inexplicably mundane to the super electrifying. As before, as now, and as we continue – meaningful work resonates regardless of what camera you prefer, what lens you choose, what app you favor, or what paper you swoon over. “Real” photography finds its audience.
With this on my mind and an open heart I began to review the 2000+ photographs entered into this year’s exhibition. The images ranged from mysterious and evocative to realistic and naturalistic. I recognized many from portfolio reviews, including friends and colleagues I’ve viewed and worked with over the years. I had to edit known work as if seeing it for the first time, and to view new work as if they were familiar images I want to get to know better. I spent weeks going back and forth, whittling down only a few each day, until I finally narrowed the 2000 images down to 300. I then had to turn a ruthless eye on the remaining 300 to arrive at the last, and most potent 50 or 60.
While looking for that elusive essence – what moved me visually or emotionally, what seduced me with a new point of view, striking a fresh chord – I tried to imagine how I would feel in a room with this photograph on the wall, and how I may miss it by its absence there.
These final pictures, including the award winning images, sit well with me in the end. Each image has a different voice that takes me on a journey I have not been on before. They whisper and call for me to look again, and isn’t that all we ask and hope for from the medium we love, and the photographs that find us?
Elizabeth Avedon
July 1, 2016
Susan May Tell
Honorable Mention
Ashly Leonard Stohl
Honorable Mention
Ruben Natal-San Miguel
Honorable Mention
Ben Altman, Craig Becker, Sheri Lynn Behr, Norm Borden, Chris Borrok, Joan Lobis Brown, Anja Bruehling, Lynne Buchanan, Lauren Ceike, Tom Chambers, Keith Conforti, Francis Crisafio, Francisco Diaz Deb Young, John Delaney, K.k. DePaul, Norm Diamond, Nicholas Fedak II, Selma Fernandez Richter, Bill Franson, Jennifer Georgescu, Laurent Girard, Tessa Gordon, Tamar Granovsky, Meg Griffiths, Tytia Habing, Suzy Halpin, Amanda James, Yoichi Kawamura, Asia Kepka, Jung S Kim, Karen Klinedinst, Molly Lamb, Yvette Meltzer, Ralph Mercer, Jenna Miller, Andrew Mroczek, Toni Pepe Dan, Jaime Permuth, Zoe Perry-Wood, Camilo Ramirez, John Rizzo, Michelle Rogers Pritzl, Russ Rowland, Lee Saloutos, Wendi Schneider, Raphael Shammaa, Lacey Terrell, India Treat, Dawn Watson, Aaron Wax, Sandra Chen Weinstein, Guanyu Xu, Anna Katharina Zeitler
22nd Peter Urban Legacy Exhibition
Juror: Elizabeth Avedon
July 14 – Aug 28, 2016
Reception: July 14th, 7pm
67 Shore Road, Winchester MA
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