An artist-run, non-profit photography and digital media center
Supporting artists since 1973
Supporting artists since 1973
- Home
- About & Beyond
- Artists & Work
- Read & Explore
- Create & Learn
- Buy & Subscribe
- Search
- Contact Sheet
I Believe the Wind is a Beautiful Dance:
A Photographic Collaboration between
Light Work and Hutchings Psychiatric Center
FUNDED BY THE JOHN BEN SNOW FOUNDATION
On view at the Link Gallery, The Warehouse
350 West Fayette Street, Syracuse, NY
March 3 - April 3, 2009
Reception: March 19, 5–7pm
Also on view at Hutchings Psychiatric Center
620 Madison Street, 2nd floor, Syracuse, NY
April 6 - May 8, 2009
Reception: April 16, 1–3pm
Free and open to the public
An exhibition of 37 color digital photographs, journals, drawings, writing and video will be on display throughout the month of March in the Link Gallery at Syracuse University's Warehouse in Armory Square and in April at Hutchings Psychiatric Center in Syracuse. The exhibition is the culmination of a five-month-long collaboration between Light Work and Hutchings Psychiatric Center.
In early September 2008, artist, educator and photographer Stephen Mahan and three SU students arrived at Hutchings Psychiatric Center with 20 digital cameras, purchased through the John Ben Snow Foundation, to teach photography in collaboration with Hutchings art therapist Amy Lau.
With an open mind and many years of experience teaching diverse students, Lau and Mahan distributed the cameras and began to encourage students to create images of identity. All adolescent participants were asked to respect patient confidentiality and were not allowed to take photographs of their own faces or of others' faces, in order to protect their privacy. Adult participants, after signing consent forms, were allowed to show their faces if they chose to. The patients were inspired to consider the many different ways they could create images of themselves through their environment, personal belongings, nature and writing.
"Simply having access to the camera seemed to energize the patients," Lau says. "In the process of taking pictures, they became more introspective and more engaged in creative and honest self-expression. While in this introspective state, participants often shared thoughts and feelings with each other, which they had not disclosed with their therapists. The verbal and written expressions that resulted from taking pictures and reflecting on them helped to provide a greater understanding of each individual, bridging varying disciplines and enriching each participant's therapeutic experience.
"In addition, the universal appeal of the camera made it easier for all participants to become involved without worrying about their degree of artistic talent," Lau says. "Most poignantly, giving cameras to our students not only inspired them creatively, but made them active participants in their treatment in a manner that felt freeing, independent and hopeful."
The collection of images on display in the Link Gallery help us to look beyond the stigma of mental health issues and connect to people often forgotten behind the walls of an institution.
For more information, contact Mary Lee Hodgens, program manager of Light Work, 443-5785. Light Work is a nonprofit, artist-run organization dedicated to the support of artists working in photography and electronic media. Light Work is a member of the Coalition of Museum and Art Centers at Syracuse University (CMAC).