Date of Submission

Spring 2024

Academic Program

Photography

Project Advisor 1

Bryson Rand

Abstract/Artist's Statement

gentle river

The Division of Arts of Bard College

by Harrison Edington

Annandale-on-Hudson, New York May 2024

In March 2023 I took a photo of my friend Violet’s room. I left this image untouched until August later that year, when I realized the interaction between light, detail, and color expressed a profound level of intimacy. This became a thread and foundation for my project, gentle river. Looking to my previous work I found that light and color act as a way to reveal queer expressions and multiplicity. To which the process took form, as an expression of this multiplicity, I began thinking of how the environment influences this process, and the ways light interacts with or emerges from the body. Acting as a force of revelation rather than obstruction, Nan Goldin’s usage of color and Lola Flash’s extreme worlds of light acted as influences. I began to think about ways light can embody these themes and reveal the multiplicity we hold.

Through these photographs I focus on the weight of emotion through color as a means of having dramatic yet soft moments that cascade and layer, creating a grounded yet still energized expression and presence. These processes are also affected by how I myself perceive light and color, as well as my interaction within the photos both present and past.

The people in my photographs are like family to me. Because of the close relationships I have with the people in my work we are able to express ourselves free of the burdens placed on us by society. I project myself onto these photos through both my process and interactions within the photos.

I began creating Inverts, portraits with inverted and manipulated colors, as a way to introduce fantasy and world building within the work. I work to establish an environment when photographing that allows people to feel at ease and able to reveal their inner selves without pressure. They are the most energized and stripped back versions of themselves. By taking the term ‘Invert’ which has been a derogatory phrase applied to queer people and utilizing it as a means of reclamation, the photos remove all pre existing notions of reality, revealing beauty and complexity within.

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