Arts & Life

Capturing a group effort

A final thesis exhibit titled After Image will showcase nine students in the photography Bachelor of Fine Arts program on Sunday.

“It’s two-fold… you have an imprint in you head of that image and also that reaction of that image and how it impacts you,” said Rosa Vazquez, a senior photography MFA student.

Artist Catherine Vu’s project, titled “Apophenia,” uses the dark side of the moon as a metaphor for the human experience of translating abstract internal impressions into collectively coherent concrete expressions.

Vazquez said her own work is meant to question viewers’ stance on immigration reform.

“Photography is very open, and you can make anything,” Vazquez said. “My work is more about political social activism. I like the medium because I can do that through it.”

Other art to be featured in the exhibit will explore a variety of other topics including self-image, identity and photographs that question the art of photography.

“Photography is not just a photograph,” said I Tan Wong, one of the featured artists in the exhibit. “Fine art photography is more about the concepts; the concept behind each photograph is more important than the subject itself.”

Wong said her art is more about performance and her personal psychological state.

According to the introduction of the show’s program guide, each piece stems from “individual subjectivities,” and they are distinct by their “collective time and place.”

The art at the exhibit is not traditional photography and uses video installations. Vazquez said a lot of it is very conceptual.

Artist Katsumi Gibo’s untitled piece intends to challenge the expectations of structure, according to the piece’s abstract.

“Through image and projection, I create a space where the viewer becomes immersed,” Gibo said. “My work challenges the viewer to experience and interact in a space…”

Artist Colin Thompson’s piece questions the logic and atmosphere of the city.

“My approach to photographing these spaces is to enhance the strange variations that are apparent, and to explore space itself within these spaces,” Thompson said. “I am separating these spaces visually by using sharp lighting, and am separating experientially by bending the photographs themselves.”

Other artists featured at the exhibit are Kristina Baird, Jessica Bardales, Alyssa Bierce and Candace Wakefield.q

After Image will open Sunday with a moderated walkthrough with the artists at 5:30 p.m. in the Gatov and Melino Galleries in the Fine Arts Building. Art will be on display until Dec. 4.

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