The open | unleashed exhibition, juried by Darren Ching, was in the online gallery from August 29 to October 9, 2025. The jurors selected forty images from thirty three artist for the exhibition. Laurie Peek’s For Austin received the Juror’s Award. Peggy Reynolds image Parallel Universes received the Director’s Award.
Juror’s Statement
Unleashed an open call by the A Smith Gallery—an open the gates, no holds-barred-call to unleash the creative instincts to show the unexpected, challenging the norms photography, challenge the viewers visual comfort zones, run with an inspiration, and rein it all in with exceptional photographic technique, execution and authorship.
Photography’s roots in the 19th century were innately utilitarian, initially a tool for documentation, rather than for artistic expression—early examples being the medical daguerreotype by Southworth & Hawes; rogues’ galleries used by law enforcement; Eadweard Muybridge’s motion studies or the botanical cyanotypes by Anna Atkins. Much photography operates within the parameters of either commercial, documentary, or editorial objectives—in addition to the technical limitations of the medium. The sense of experimentation and artistic expression in Unleashed appreciated more when seeing the counterpoint of photographic history in the rearview mirror.
Standout photographs included a portrait entitled Transpinay in front of a Funeral Wreath // Fatalism by Bienyl Huelgas. Anchored by the subject of Transgender Filipinas, the directness of the subject’s piercing gaze leaves the viewer not knowing it’s defiance, vulnerability, or sadness; while the handwriting around the image amplifies the humanness of the artist’s voice. The historical context of this photograph is difficult to ignore, given the current stripping away of trans rights, and villainization of diversity in the United States.
Another piece of note captures the viewer’s imagination through an inventive use of presentation and form—a multi-exposure, abstract cyanotype with brushstrokes in black and gold referencing East Asian calligraphy, the thick paper with rough torn edges, vertically hung in the manner of a scroll. In FC Scroll 1 by Lisa Tang Liu, the different components come together as a well considered expression of cultural identity and the hand of the artist.
For my Juror’s Pick I selected a dynamic composite of angiosperms—a cacophony of twigs, petals and leaves, in grays with accents of soft blue hues. For Austin by Laurie Peek is a playful romp, visually weaving the viewer through flower symbology, affording glances of recognition within the textural richness. The photograph flirts with the space that separates abstract and representational photography. Exceptional craftsmanship and authorship evident in this flower-centric homage.
The Awards Collective was created to feature the works of artist who have received either a Juror’s Award or Director’s Award in ASG’s Online exhibitions. Pat Brown’s hand sewn exposed-binding book of cyanotype and mixed media images, Benabbio ,received the Jurors’ Award in the unique: alternative processes exhibition juried by DorRae Stevens, Kevin Tully and Amanda Smith. Pat’s exhibition Blue Moves is discussed in this GalleryTalk.
Artist Statement
“My current body of work, Blue Moves, consists of digitally manipulated dance photos, both singly and paired with other images, mostly botanicals, contrasting and comparing the forms and movements of dancers with those of leaves, flowers, and trees. There’s one where the dancer is portrayed against a Japanese temple wall, and another with the dancers and a map of the cosmos.
The dance images are from slow-shutter-speed photos taken at dance recitals, digitally inverted positive-to-negative, and presented in tones of blue and green. The botanicals are somewhat abstracted by their presentation as negatives rather than positives as well as their presentation in blue-green tones. The title of the series, Blue Moves, alludes to the rapid movement of the dancers, captured as blur, and the imperceptibly slow movement of the botanicals, all tied together in tones of blue. Each, though, is captured by the camera in one still moment.”
Pat Brown
September, 2025
Bio
Pat Brown is an artist and fine-art photographer residing in Austin, Texas. She is a liberal arts graduate of the University of Texas at Austin. Her work has been exhibited in numerous juried shows throughout the U.S., and her photographs are included in both private and public collections. She is included in an exhibit currently on view at the Annetta Kraushaar Gallery at Texas Lutheran University in Seguin, TX. Her work can be seen online via Instagram.
Artistic Career
I fell in love with photography in 1989 when I took my first photography workshop, a University of Texas informal class. Over the next several years, I carried on an intense personal study of photography through numerous workshops and seminars, reading, and looking at many images.
I started with 35-mm. color slides, then began to realize that my colors were becoming more and more muted and monochromatic and that I really belonged in the black-and-white world. Getting a Mamiya 6 camera and my own darkroom in 1997 launched me into that world of medium format images and silver gelatin printing.
After the wet darkroom came digital imaging, editing, and printing, as well as the exploration of “alternative” photography forms such as wet plate collodion, platinum, cyanotype, lumen, encaustic, Polaroid transfer. Lately, there has been watercolor, mixed media, and collage. Most of my photographs these days are taken with the iPhone, edited in Snapseed and Lightroom, and printed on various papers with pigment inks.
I have always been drawn to bookmaking and have made many artist books through the years. This gives me the opportunity to explore things thematically and allows for the creative juxtaposition of images and ideas as well as the tactile joy of photos, threads, and papers.
The Awards Collective was created to feature the works of artist who have received either a Juror’s Award or Director’s Award in ASG’s Online exhibitions. Tim Christensen’s image Rosalia lameerei received the Directors’ Award in the art + science exhibition juried by Linda Alterwitz. Tim’s exhibition Neotype is discussed in this GalleryTalk.
Artist Statement
Neotype: Definition: a specimen designated as the defining specimen for a species that replaces a preexisting “type” specimen that has been lost or destroyed.
Before I grew tall enough to clearly see the ground benign neglect was the open-ended algorithm that shaped my interactions with the natural world. Out of the house away from the cries of my younger siblings I’d roam. Climbing fences, opening closed doors, peering down abandoned wells, spelunking the irrigation pipes running under the road, poking at dead carcasses, and stuffing overalls with my finds. More than once my collections were thrown away. I still feel the loss of some of those things. Insignificant to adults but full of meaning and curiosity for a child brought up on benign neglect.
I’m older now, a scientist but also an artist. Still collecting insects. I see how our invention of chemistry has decimated the natural world and deprived us of our insect companions. I ask myself what I am missing with my trained eye as I walk through the woods. I know that science is not the way we remember it is only the way we document, these are not the same. With all this swirling in my mind I create my artistic practice. Borrowing the now ancient chemistry of early photography and merging it with modern digital techniques I capture my insects so that I will remember them. I seek to create a ritual of engagement with my work that evokes the sense of wonder I felt as a child as I conversed with the insects but comments on the way science puts the living world in boxes. It seeks a new way of knowing by creating a conversation between wonder and reductionism. A conversation between the past and the future of these disappearing creatures of wonder.
Each of my works starts with an insect I’ve collected and carefully preserved. As a scientist I wonder at the beauty of these specimens as I focus up and down under the microscope creating a complete image in my mind of the whole insect. To share this image with you I take thousands of frames of each insect and create a super resolution digital composite. Insects are not digital. Converting the digital back into the analog I use the old process of wet plate collodion. Chemistry swirls and takes on a life of its own that results in a one-of-a-kind object that celebrates and remembers insects.
Tim Christensen, Ph.D., MFA
September, 2025
Bio
Tim Christensen finds inspiration in the nature surrounding him in North Carolina. He has a deep passion for all the life around him. This compelled him to get my Ph.D. in Genetics from Cornell and become a Biology professor at East Carolina University. He balances the preciseness of his scientific training with the handmade qualities of historical photographic techniques to create compelling images of the small things we often overlook.
The Photographic Performance was created to feature the works of artist with completed bodies of work and a strong narrative. Julia Arstorp and Leland Smith’s exhibition Ellis Island: Abandoned Echoes is the last of four performances to be exhibited during 2025. Julia and Leland’s exhibition is discussed in this GalleryTalk.
Artist Statement
In 2024, a shared fascination with the abandoned Immigration Hospital on Ellis Island became the cornerstone for this project.
As photographers, however, aim was never simply to document this landmark. We sought something more: a visual narrative that evoked the emotional resonance of the decaying hospital and the enduring immigrant experience.
We began without a predetermined outcome, sometimes working together, sometimes apart. We were not only captivated by the physical structure but equally by how our individual creative visions would emerge.
Would they mesh? Would they overlap? Would they tell different stories?
Ultimately, we discovered that Leland’s images — with their soft, rich textures, colors, and tones — evoke a sense of wonder, almost as if seen through the eyes of a newly arrived immigrant on their first morning.
In contrast –
Julia’s black and white collages and diptychs inspire narratives of the past that reveal the hospital’s enduring presence as both a physical and symbolic place.
For both of us, engaging with this historical place created a powerful link between the hopes and dreams of past immigrants and the contemporary issues we face today.
Abandoned Echoes invites you to walk alongside us, to listen to the whispers of history, and to bear witness to the enduring human spirit that once thrived within these walls.”
Julia Arstorp and Leland Smith, 2025
Bio Julia Arstorp
Based in Connecticut, fine art photographer Julia Arstorp explores memory, history, and impermanence through her black-and-white images. Her work evokes a sense of nostalgia, weaving together narratives that feel both deeply personal and universally familiar.
Arstorp’s creative process is heavily influenced by her research. She often incorporates historical artifacts like old photographs, letters, and maps into her layered collages and diptychs. These elements create a rich dialogue between history and her contemporary vision. Beyond her photographic prints, Arstorp also creates handmade books and intricate assembled pieces.
Her work has been shown in group exhibitions at galleries throughout the U.S. and featured in publications like Hand Magazine, Photo Trouvée, and Shots Magazine. Notably, her series, Coquettish Decay, was selected as a 2025 Photolucida Critical Mass Finalist, and her cyanotype work can be seen in the book Cyanotype Toning.
Leland (Lee) Smith is a photo-artist. In photographic circles he is considered a “generalist”. As such his images encompass a wide range subject matter – landscape, architecture, still life, abstract.
His inspiration and approach are grounded in the compositional moods of pictorialism and the subtle color gradations of tonalism. His final images are a blend of monochromatic stillness and delicate color shifts -they create a
dreamlike transactional feel that emphasizes the beauty of subject matter rather than the mere documentation of reality.
Coming from a background of directing high profile television commercials, his photographic style has been shaped by the masters of advertising photography and by the classic cinematographers that he has had the good fortune of working with.
Posted in News on 09/03/2025 | Comments Off on “Ellis Island: Abandoned Echoes” by Julia Arstorp and Leland Smith | Photographic Performance GalleryTalk
The Awards Collective was created to feature the works of artist who have received either a Juror’s Award or Director’s Award in ASG’s Online exhibitions. Honey J Walker’s image The Dance of the Waterlillies received the Directors’ Award in the botanical exhibition juried by Lee Ann White. Honey’s exhibition Are You Next To An Angel is discussed in this GalleryTalk.
Artist Statement
One never knows when something seemingly small and inconsequential can be a pivotal moment in one’s life.
Four years ago I was sitting in my car listening to 5 Live Radio, a segment with Naga Munchetty about a small charity called The Marylebone Project For Homeless Women And Those Facing Crisis. My husband and I were in the process of selling our family business and we had decided to give some of the proceeds to a charity. My husband wanted to focus on homelessness and I wanted to focus on women in crisis. We both agreed it needed to be a charity where we could see a direct impact. Call it serendipity but that interview changed my life.
Today I am the Ambassador for the Marylebone Project Charity, a role I am immensely honoured to hold. The charity provides life changing services for women facing homelessness and or extreme crisis. It is the largest and longest running centre of its kind in the UK. The centre has 112 beds on the Marylebone Road and also has the Sanctuary, the only 24/7, 365 days of the year drop in centre for women in the UK. My role is to raise awareness of the charity, the work it does and to raise funds and services for the charity. We need to raise £1.3 million per year just to keep the Sanctuary doors open.
All charities operate in a very overcrowded space. The ability to stand out and gain recognition and donations is increasingly difficult. Additionally, the public is much more receptive and empathetic to situations that they have either experienced or feel they might experience. Women and homelessness, domestic violence, abuse and trafficking are not on most people’s radar.
Yet reported abuse and violence against women has risen by 40% in the last 5 years and that is only what is reported. London has become one of the primary centres for trafficking, especially of women, who invariably end up being prostituted.
My first task within the charity was to redo their corporate sponsorship brochure. Their current one was very dry and text heavy. I had never designed a brochure for a charity, but I knew the importance of immediate impact and creatively standing out in a crowded market. It was a steep learning curve. I approached it by first spending 3 days at the charity and meeting some of the current residents. Listening to their life stories. Their stories were truly harrowing but the shining light was the strength, safety and dignity that living at the charity had given them. Having completed the brochure, the first corporate recipient doubled their original pledge.
Fast forward to Christmas 2023 and the charity’s staff party. I made a speech to the staff about how important they were and the work they were doing. In essence they were all Angels.
Several of the staff approached me afterwards to say how their roles had never been spoken about in those terms before and how it had made them feel very proud. It was a lightbulb moment. I decided to pitch a photographic project to the charity, which required taking the charity staff out onto the streets, wearing enormous angel wings, which I just happened to already own.
The idea was to:
…Recognise the staff and to shine a light on all the care givers in society, who are largely underappreciated and go unnoticed.
…To elevate awareness about the work of the Marylebone Project.
…To raise much needed funds for the charity.
I now realise the easy part was coming up with the concept!
There were several challenges, firstly the charity had to sign off on the idea.
Secondly, having pitched the idea I needed to find a central London gallery that would host the images for free! Unbelievably, Yield Gallery in Eastcastle street, W1, embraced the idea and refused to take any commission. They gave me the most incredible space for 10 days at the end of November 2024. Perfect timing for an Angel themed event. This is a gallery that normally sells everything from Banksy to Richard Hambleton so I felt suitably in awe and frankly terrified. I now had the responsibility of not only representing the charity and the staff in a good light but also creating images that were worthy of such a prestigious gallery.
My normal photographic and creative practice is very different to what I envisaged for this project. I create using multiple exposure a bit of ICM, mixed media, gold leaf, collage, whatever interests me at the time. I always say my images find me, my subconscious finding oxygen. There is no conscious planning, I simply play. Colour is always an integral part of my images. However much I try to restrict my colour pallet colours seem to explode out all over the place.
ARE YOU NEXT TO AN ANGEL? was going to be completely different:
…Black and white
…Street photography
…Inexperienced, self-conscious models.
…Public reaction.
…The weather, it rained a lot!
…Dodging security, it is difficult to photograph anywhere with giant angel wings and not get picked up on a security camera.
…Very limited shooting time per model as they were being given a total of one hour paid time from work, including the travel time to locations.
…The models had to wear giant wings and look totally comfortable in them.
The project took nine months to shoot but what became apparent from day one was that the public really were blind to the angels in their midst. Almost without exception, people did not notice the angel next to them on the tube, or in a café. As the photographer I was further back from my subject so I could see people’s eye line. Literally nobody noticed.
At a time in history where we are more digitally connected globally, through our smart devices, we are also more polarised and more isolated from each other. By constantly looking down at a screen we are becoming more insular and self-absorbed.
I shot the whole project with my trusty Canon R5 and a 24-105 Canon lens. I absolutely hate Photoshop, any editing I do is in Procreate which feels more intuitive to me. As much as possible I like to capture everything in camera.
A decision I made early on was that I needed a second pair of eyes, someone with a wealth of black and white, documentary experience. I am a huge fan of Paul Sanders and with his previous position being head of the Picture Desk for News International, he appeared to be perfect for the task. Paul’s input was invaluable. He made me raise my game. When you greatly admire someone, you strive to produce work that is worthy of their time. Just the pressure of knowing I had to show a body of work to Paul made me really judge the images. I would do an initial, drastic cull. At that point I would present to Paul. My instincts were good and we pretty much agreed on the next culling. There was one image that we disagreed on, I felt very strongly about. It is really important to fight for your own work and also be open to objective criticism. Ultimately art is always subjective, but that particular image was one I was very connected too and I just knew it worked.
Additionally, the images had to work both cohesively as a body of work and individually. The amount of wall space, size of framed prints, pricing, all had to be carefully considered. To raise the maximum for the charity I had self-funded the printing and framing. 100% of the sales price went directly to the charity.
There was also the PR, social media, opening party and invitation list to decide on.
The social media and PR part was excruciating!
Pointless having an exhibition that no one knows about or comes too!
I had set myself a target of raising £12,000 as this is what it had cost to print and frame the images, host the party etc. Any less than that and I might as well have written a cheque to the charity a year before and sat on a beach. We raised £43,500 with additional promises of services and potential grant funding.
I was interviewed by Naga Munchetty which gave me the opportunity to thank her for being a catalyst in my journey and felt like completing a circle. My 5 Live interview has also brought new sponsors to the charity with offers of help and has further promoted knowledge of the services and help the charity so badly requires. I always say, “you drop a pebble and you never know where the rings will reach”.
I have been supported in this whole endeavour by incredible friends and wonderful companies offering to discount their services or offer them for free. Along the way I have met some truly generous Angels. The experience has been a complete privilege.
Honey J Walker
August, 2025
Bio
An international award-winning photographer who initially had a successful career in fashion and interior design. Her interest in photography started with candid portraiture with a deeply personal nature. She was always interested in the human within the exterior shell, the story that was not immediately obvious to the casual observer.
Her images have become increasingly multi layered both in camera and as part of a mixed media process. She is always experimenting and pushing her own learning and creativity through experimentation.
“Within my photographs there exists a converging of two scales; the physical world, things in themselves as they are and the interior world, lying hidden in all things.
A synchronism of the internal and the everyday.
My interior world is expressed externally through my lens, the layering of images that find me, that reveal themselves as I work.
My subconscious finding oxygen”
Her role as Ambassador for the Marylebone Project Charity For Homeless Women And those Facing Crisis has further influenced her exploration of a woman’s position in society and the female gaze.
Walker has been exhibited internationally and her limited edition prints are held is various international, private collections. She is represented in the UK by Yield Gallery and is the recipient of several prestigious awards including, Abstract International Garden Photographer Of the Year 2024, LACP 3rd prize Street Photography, Global Photography Awards, Silver winner.
The Awards Collective was created to feature the works of artist who have received either a Juror’s Award or Director’s Award in ASG’s Online exhibitions. Laura J Bennett’s image Path for Pain received the Juror’s Award in the she exhibition juried by Polly Gaillard. Laura’s exhibition Dames of Anatomy is discussed in this GalleryTalk.
Artist Statement
“I am a collector. My treasures include glass negatives, antique botanical prints, old medical books and other curiosities. Many of the glass negatives I choose to keep are of women from the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. After scanning the negatives, I digitally combine them with medical ephemera to form new environments. The women command attention, calling the viewer to enter a place that may feel vaguely familiar. It is a woman’s place. Although anonymous, I feel deeply connected to them. They are compelling and unafraid. There was a time when they actually existed here on earth, hearts beating. They looked up at the same stars and felt the earth beneath their feet. But through time they shifted into memory and slowly into oblivion, until my rummaging hands found them. Some are peppered with a bit of satire, but there is an underlying presence of struggle and submission. My experience as a woman is a far cry from the fairytales I heard as a child. I tell my daughters, “you are your own prince charming, so saddle up and find yourself.”
Laura J Bennett
August, 2025
Bio
Laura Koskinen-Bennett earned her MFA from the University of Houston in Texas. Much of her work focuses on the female experience and her life as the mother of nine children. Her internationally exhibited Dames of Anatomy was a winner in the Helsinki Photo Fest 2021 citywide exhibition titled “Fearless.” It also won the first Texas Photo Society Nat’l Photography Award, the Soho Photo International Portfolio Competition and the 5th Julia Margaret Cameron Award. Uncontrollable things, a more recent body of work, won the 2024 Hariban Juror’s Choice Award, selected by Tomoko Aya. Bennett’s work has been published in SHOTS magazine, MANIFEST 7 Photography Annual, The Hand Magazine, Woven Tale Press and The Book of Alternative Photographic Processes, by Christopher James. Bennett prefers shooting with film and uses an old Gundlach 8×10, a Zone VI Field camera and an early Hasselblad. She also enjoys scanning antique negatives, interesting objects, medical illustrations and vintage ephemera for transformation in the computer. Bennett is a former college instructor and has taught all levels of photography, history of women artists, photo history and photojournalism. She is currently living a quiet life on a farm in rural Tennessee with her 4 cats, 2 dogs, a rooster named Javier and a bunch of ornery chickens.
The Photographic Performance was created to feature the works of artist with completed bodies of work and a strong narrative. Susan Isaacson’s exhibition We Share The Same Breath is the third of four performances to be exhibited during 2025. Susan’s exhibition is discussed in this GalleryTalk.
Artist Statement
As my daughters move on, I wrestle with the loss of their physical presence in my life. It’s as if we have traded places; they are looking forward while I am looking back. In this work, I reflect on generations past, tracing the memories of my maternal lineage through familial artifacts and handed-down apparel. I contemplate my connection to the cycles of nature. While navigating this passage, these images emerged as an expression of the invisible bonds that endure.
Susan Isaacson, 2025
Directors’ Statement
Diptychs are hard to make successfully. We first want to congratulate Susan on how well and beautifully she combined the images. In this group of images she has advantageously seen, with a clearly artful eye, both the complimentary and disparate elements in the paired images that make diptychs compelling.
There were two things we noticed in the images immediately — the choice of an autumnal color palette and elements that appeared to be generational, familial. The subject of the work being about daughters leaving the nest was perfectly alluded to with the images of dried grasses, the stuff of nests. The use of the colors yellow and ochre and buff, the colors of an autumn landscape, give the diptychs a wistful, slightly melancholic, or contemplative feel. An emotional response familiar to any parent with grown children. The addition of generational artifacts further bolstered the emotional impact of the work.
In our discussion of the images with Susan she used the words “Ephemeral and Eternal” as descriptors of the project. These two words perfectly explain the images and also remind us of their undeniable, and universal quality.
Thank you Susan for giving us all the opportunity to peek a bit into your world and see some of our own.
Amanda Smith and Kevin Tully
August, 2025
Bio
Susan Isaacson is a photographic artist exploring themes of time, memory, and the emotional topography of life transitions. She is drawn to the natural landscape as a means to connect with and represent her inner world. Following a twenty-year career in strategic marketing at a Fortune 100 company, Isaacson established a dedicated photography practice in Chicago, Illinois and Laguna Beach, California. Her work has been exhibited in galleries across the U.S. and internationally. Isaacson is a represented artist at Perspective Gallery in Evanston IL, where she has mounted three solo exhibitions. Isaacson was recognized as a Critical Mass Top 200 Finalist in 2023 for her series, We Share The Same Breath and again in 2024 for her project, At Silver Lake. Isaacson’s work has been featured in Black + White Photography (UK), SHOTS Magazine, NewCity Art and Lenscratch. Her work is held in private collections within the United States.
The landscapes exhibition, juried by Wendi Schneider, was in the online gallery from July 18 to August 28, 2025 . The jurors selected forty seven images from thirty seven artist for the exhibition. Susan White’s Caddo Lake 3 – Maenam, Mother of the Water received the Juror’s Award. Jānis Miglavs’ image Magic on the Oregon Coast received the Director’s Award.
Juror’s Statement
It was a privilege to revel in this striking collection of landscape interpretations. The depth of emotion and the wide range of creative approaches in the submissions were truly inspiring; each a testament to vision and craft. My selection process involved viewing every image multiple times over several days, a practice I find essential to gain new perspectives and deeper insights. The final phase of decision-making was particularly challenging, as many powerful and moving works shifted in and out of consideration. Ultimately, my selections prioritized images that, together, formed a cohesive exhibition — one that showcases the breadth of interpretation, balances exceptional quality, and represents the myriad ways artists experience and respond to the landscape.
This collection showcases a diverse range of artistic visions. From the stark, graphic beauty of abstract sand dunes and cracked glass compositions to the tranquil serenity of misty forests and peaceful lake scenes, each piece offered a unique perspective. I was transported across varied terrains—dramatic coastlines, rolling Tuscan hills, arid deserts, and ancient ruins—captured through vivid colors, delicate sepia tones, and timeless monochrome palettes. These works embody thoughtful composition, strong visual storytelling, and distinctive creative voices.
I selected Susan White’s Caddo 3 – Maenam, Mother of the Water for the Juror’s Award. The warm tones evoke a sense of history and nostalgia, enhancing the image’s mystical swamp atmosphere, and transporting us to a timeless and ethereal realm. A central Bald Cypress tree, draped with Spanish moss, stands as an ancient sentinel, its intricate textures beautifully rendered, anchored in the foreground’s reflections. The surrounding mist softens the background, building layers of visual interest and drawing the eye deeper into the scene. The light subtly illuminates the moss and water, endowing a dreamlike glow. Caddo 3- Maenam, Mother of the Water is a powerful depiction of the profound wild beauty in the untouched corners of nature.
The Awards Collective was created to feature the works of artist who have received either a Juror’s Award or Director’s Award in ASG’s Online exhibitions. Ali Hasbach’s image Cat’s Chateau received the Directors’ Award in the expressionism exhibition juried by Doug Chinnery. Ali’s exhibition Weaving Expressionism is discussed in this GalleryTalk.
Artist Statement
I am a St Pete-based photographer, visual artist, and traveler inspired by textiles, music, portraiture, and urban landscapes. These inspirations often intersect and manifest themselves in my photography in abstract ways. This woven imagery gives me the greatest freedom and improvisational expression.
Leveraging my camera’s multiple exposure functionality and playing with rhythmic movement while shooting gives me the tools to weave the images and layers like the fabric of new and unexpected destinations.
This collection of images was shot primarily in the Loire Valley of France, as well as in Istanbul and Rajasthan, and reflects the bursts of color, local textiles, and architecture and how they intersect in amazing ways, all the while hearing a lyrical soundtrack as I meandered the streets.
Ali Hasbach
April, 2025
Bio
Alison Hasbach is a St Pete-based photographer and visual artist who graduated with a dual master’s degree in late 18th-century and early 19th-century poetry and the study of portraiture in England. She translated her passion for all things ‘faces’ into a dedicated portrait studio, photographing musicians and, in particular, guitar players. As a founder of the largest library of guitar lessons on the planet, this has given her work a channel for finding and celebrating the unique transaction between a sitter and a portraitist. When not shooting people, she loves to travel, using her camera to weave new images of distant shores, creating her own photographic textiles. In many ways, she has come full circle and stepped back into the world she once studied, but doing so in a modern way with a fresh interpretation. You can find her work online, in galleries, and on myriad album covers around the globe.
The Awards Collective was created to feature the works of artist who have received either a Juror’s Award or Director’s Award in ASG’s Online exhibitions. Eric Zeigler and Aaron Ellison’s image Polypores, Allerton Park and Retreat Center, Monticello, Illinois – Infrared Light, 2024 received the Juror’s Award in the art + science exhibition juried by Linda Alterwitz. Eric and Aaron’s exhibition Instability is discussed in this GalleryTalk.
Artist Statement
The “state of emergency” in which we live is not the exception but the rule. Walter Benjamin, Theses on the Philosophy of History, VIII
Watch for long enough, and anything that appears to be stable will reveal its true perpetual state of instability. Imaging devices record single moments: Crack! Trees fall, shutters snap, photographs are fixed. We expect these moments to be decisive, but when we combine the static objectif-icity of still images on film, paper, and glowing screens with our expectations of how the world “works,” we disregard its true dynamic nature.
Using contemporary versions of 19th-century dry collodion glass plates, 20th-century film, and new digital technologies, we challenge the assumption that photographs and digital images portray an objective reality. We reclaim the aesthetics behind the myths of the Westward Expansion, the American Frontier, and similar colonialist activities that have occurred throughout the world, and illuminate contradictions in 21st-century narratives of environmental stability and preservation. Modern ecosystems deemed healthy and stable only because we’ve left them alone are shown to be far from stable, unchanging, and, as the US National Park Service would have it, “unimpaired.” Are these tiny islands of nature within a vast ocean of unchecked development ecological reserves or fading theme parks? The essence of their ongoing and essential decay, normally hidden behind an opaque, yet gossamer fog, is unveiled in instability.
Eric Zeigler and Aaron Ellison
April, 2025
Bio
Eric Zeigler is Associate Professor of Art at the University of Toledo. His research and artistic practice interrogate the underpinnings of the history of the photographic process by purposefully exploiting problematic contemporary Western cultural categorizations and presumptions that are placed on photographic and lens-based imagery. Aaron Ellison is a Boston-based photographer, sculptor, writer, and Senior Research Fellow Emeritus in Ecology at Harvard University. His research and artistic practice focus on the disintegration and reassembly of ecosystems following natural and anthropogenic disturbances. Working together, Eric + Aaron explore unknown worlds beyond our current understanding. Their joint work currently centers on non-anthropocentric/posthumanist aesthetics and creative photodocumentation of forests and deep time.
