“ROLLER COASTER” by Aimee McCrory | Photographic Performance GalleryTalk
The Photographic Performance was created to feature the works of artist with completed bodies of work and a strong narrative. Aimee McCrory’s exhibition “ROLLER COASTER“ is the second of four performances to be exhibited during 2024. Aimee’s exhibition is discussed in this GalleryTalk.
Artist Statement
ROLLER COASTER / Scenes from a Marriage is a cinematic exploration of the complexities and challenges that arise in long-term relationships. It began during the height of the pandemic when I was overwhelmed with a perhaps irrational fear of losing my husband Don to the virus. Photography was a way to express my emotions.
At first, Don was hesitant to participate, but gradually I enticed him. I paid close attention to our environment, our day-to-day activities and how we interacted. My observations revealed a variety of scenarios ranging from comical to concerning.
Through storyboards, staging, lighting, and wardrobe, I began to plan each photograph, drawing on my background in theater. The process of creating these pictures was emotionally and physically complex, but it brought us closer together as a couple. We laughed, cried, fought, and loved through the experience.
Overall, our project has been an extraordinary ride that has allowed us to grow as individuals and as a couple. What started as a single experiment soon evolved into a much larger project that aimed to capture the ordinary and extraordinary moments of our four-decade-long marriage.
Bio
Aimee B. McCrory’s photography centers on self-portraits, feminist themes, aging, and complex family dynamics. Her current project, “ROLLER COASTER / Scenes from a Marriage,” forms the basis of this potential exhibition.
Recent achievements include her recognition as a Top 50 in Photolucida’s Critical Mass 2023 competition, an Honorable Mention in the Julia Margaret Cameron Awards in July, and a similar mention in the 19th Annual Pollux Awards held in Barcelonain February. In May 2023, her work was featured at the Kolga Tbilisi Fotofest in Georgia, and she participated in The Houston Center of Photography’s 40th Annual Show in June 2023. In 2022, she received a Special Merit award from the Texas Photographic Society and secured second place in TPS’s New Visions 2022 competition.
Aimee’s work has been showcased in several publications, including Huck Magazine in May2023, Pictura Gallery’s blog in August 2023, and the Texas Photographic Society’s Member News newsletter.
McCrory has been engaged in an intensive mentorship with Chehalis Hegner since 2020. She has participated in workshops with Keith Carter. She also studied with Lynn Lane.
Her current affiliations include membership in Jane Alt’s critique group, enrollment in the Advanced Photo Workshop with Peter Brown at Rice University since 2021, and participation in an ongoing critique group led by Jason Langer.
Through her Photo Forum membership at the Houston Museum of Fine Arts Houston she maintains a vital relationship with the photographic arts community in Texas and beyond. Born in Houston, Texas, Aimee McCrory remains rooted in her hometown.
Directors’ Statement
Aimee McCrory’s project is a photographer riffing on the truth of domestic Joie de vivre: the wonder, reality, sadness, humor. All fearlessly, beautifully, and skillfully made with a camera held by a lover and life partner expressing, with raw insider’s empathy, the sweetly tangled waltz that is the complicated dance – marriage.
Enough said – the images speak for themselves. The theme is universal. Profundity wrapped in a wink.
Amanda Smith and Kevin Tully
April, 2024
website: aimeemccrory.com
instagram: @mccroryae