Mirror with a Memory is an exhibit of works by the artists and craftsman who have taken back the chemical and physical qualities of the photographic medium. Photography as a medium has always been driven by the needs of the consumer, pushing companies to change to the medium to make their products faster, cheaper and easier. These changes were rarely dictated by the wants or demands of
the artist, but for monetary concerns. Since the rise of digital imaging there has been a push back from a new generation of photographers that seek a tangible object; something that can be held, touched and treasured. We live in a flood of imagery, from Instagram feeds to Facebook, and most of us have come to fully embrace our cellphone screens as our primary means of grasping at the fleeting image; pressing “like” and letting it pass us by. These immaterial encounters with the digital have changed fine art photography for better or worse; the medium has shifted our consciousness from the print and to the screen. Never more has the physical object stood out from the rest of the medium and declared itself art. Mirror with a Memory is a half juried, half curated show that features the works
of established and emerging artists.
All of the artists in the exhibit utilized an alternative photographic component including Wet Plate Collodion, Experimental C-Prints, Manipulated Polaroids, Cyanotype, Vandyke, Albumen, Platinum, Digital-Alt Hybrids, 3D Works, Salt Prints, Encaustic, Experimental Silver Prints, and more.
About the Curator, Brett Henrikson
As an artist-photographer Brett is strongly based in the craft and alchemy of the process. He believes that the hands-on aspects of working in the darkroom and large format gives the artist a real sense of physical creation over their work. His main body of work “Chaotic Forms” uses the physicality of the photographic object in a new and unconventional way, as he creates large collodion contact prints
from multiple cut geometric glass negatives. Henrikson has shown his work in galleries nationally as well as given numerous wet plate collodion demonstrations at institutions like RISD, AS220, the New England Archivist Symposium and the Chrysler Museum Glass Studio.