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Ellen Garvens, Ribcage, 1998.
Spring Exhibition Preview
Light Work is pleased to announce its upcoming spring exhibitions featuring the work of Ellen Garvens and Admas Habteslasie. We invite you to schedule tours and gallery talks, attend our gallery receptions, and visit any time to see the exhibitions
Ellen Garvens—Prosthesis
January 14–March 5, 2009
Gallery Reception: January 29, 2009, 5–7pm
In Prosthesis, Ellen Garvens' photographs and sculptures intersect and magnify each other as they reference the ever-present, formidable, and magnificent frailty of the human body. This exhibition unites photographs from Garvens' Ambivalence series with photo-based sculptures from her Constructions series.
Garvens began creating the images from the Ambivalence series, which documents the manufacture of prosthetics, at around the same time the war in Iraq started. The prosthetics depicted in these straightforward and elegant photographs serve as reminders of the consequence of conflict and the ephemeral nature of humans who carry out that conflict. The photo-based sculptures from Garvens' body of work titled Constructions combine images of the body within delicate metal framings. Much as prosthetic devices contain the memory of the body, the hand-tools and metal framings of this series give form to the photographs within them.
Garvens received a BS in Art from the University of Wisconsin, and both an MA and MFA from the University of New Mexico. Her work has been exhibited nationwide, including at such venues as Solomon Fine Art in Seattle, WA; Jayne H. Baum Gallery in New York, NY; Cleveland Center for Contemporary Art in Cleveland, OH; Fotofest International in Houston, TX; and Dolby Chadwick Gallery in San Francisco, CA, among others. She has received numerous grants, awards, and fellowships, including a Royalty Research Fund Grant and an Artist Trust Fellowship from the Washington State Arts Commission, among others. Her work is included in permanent collections at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, NY; Houston Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, TX; Allen Memorial Art Museum in Oberlin, OH; and Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT.
Admas Habteslasie—Limbo
March 16–May 29, 2009
Gallery Reception: April 9, 2009, 5–7pm
Light Work is pleased to announce the exhibition Limbo, featuring the work of Admas Habteslasie. The images from this series depict a graceful yet unusually honest and insightful snapshot of Eritrea, an East African country suspended in an unsettled state between war and peace.
Eritrea warred with neighboring Ethiopia for thirty years before gaining independence in 1991. Then, in 1998, they entered another war with Ethiopia that lasted two years. Today the war-torn country is yet again at the brink of war with their neighbor. Years of unrest have left the people of Eritrea waiting for life to improve. According to Habteslasie, "Transitory states become permanent; empty villas, destroyed old buildings and unfinished new buildings dot the landscape, monuments to the suspension of history. The collision between Eritrea's proud historical narrative and the bleak ennui of the present has produced an obsessive focus on the future. Reconstruction and infrastructure development are energetically driven forward whilst the economy remains essentially shut off from the outside world."
Habteslasie was born in Kuwait and his parents are Eritrean. He received his MA from the London College of Communication in photojournalism and documentary photography. His photographic projects look at the ideas of identity and history, and reevaluation of our relationship with historical process. His work has been exhibited at such venues as Flowers East and 198 Gallery in London. His work has also been published in Source Magazine.
Habteslasie participated in Light Work's Artist-in-Residence program in June 2008 through a collaboration with London-based charity Autograph ABP. Each year Light Work welcomes one Artist-in-Residence selected through Autograph ABP, which works internationally to educate the public about photography, with a particular emphasis on issues of cultural identity and human rights. For more information about Autograph ABP visit www.autograph-abp.co.uk.
Gallery hours for these exhibitions are Sunday to Friday, 10am–6pm, and by appointment. To schedule an appointment, please call 315-443-1300. Both the exhibition and reception are free and open to the public. Paid parking is available in the Marion Parking Lot and Booth Garage.
Light Work invites groups and individuals to schedule tours and gallery talks of the exhibition and facility. Light Work is a non-profit, artist-run organization dedicated to the support of artists working in photography and electronic media. Light Work is a member of CMAC, the Coalition of Museum and Art Centers at Syracuse University.
For more information about any of these exhibitions, please contact Jessica Heckman at Light Work, 315-443-1300 or jhheckma@syr.edu.
**Digital press images and image information from both exhibitions are available upon request.