Yolanda del Amo: Archipelago

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Yolanda del Amo–Archipelago
Exhibition Dates: November 1–December 22, 2010
Gallery Reception: November 4, 5:00–7:00pm

Powerful forces deep below the surface of the earth form archipelagos, which are chains or clusters of individual islands. In her series Archipelago, artist Yolanda del Amo depicts the powerful forces between people—their conflicting needs for intimacy and connection, independence and individuality. In Archipelago, these competing needs seem to have reached a peaceful if temporary stasis. These beautiful images show people who, although in the presence of another, appear surrounded on all sides not by water but by silence.

Del Amo leaves the relationships of her subjects to each other deliberately vague, which makes her images all the more universal and compelling. Each photograph represents a fragile time in any relationship when two people—whether they are mother and son, husband and wife, or simply friends—momentarily live alone, together.

Archipelago will be accompanied by a 48-page exhibition catalogue, Contact Sheet 159, featuring thirty-eight color reproductions of del Amo’s work. Contact Sheet 159 will be published in November 2010. del Amo’s image Edith, Juan will be featured in Light Work’s 2010 Fine Print Program, also available in November 2010.

Del Amo was born in Madrid. She received a BS and MS in mathematics from the Universität zu Köln in Cologne, Germany, and an MFA in photography from the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, RI. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally in numerous venues, including the National Portrait Gallery both in London and in Washington, DC; the Instituto Cervantes, New York City; Hudson Franklin Gallery, New York City, Barbara Walters Gallery at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York; the Centro de Cultura Contemporánea in Barcelona, Spain; and the Palais de Glace in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Del Amo was a resident fellow at the Spanish Academy in Rome in 2010, and previous residences include Light Work; the Terra Foundation for American Art in Giverny, France; and the Lower Manhattan Culture Council in New York City. She is currently an assistant professor of photography at Ramapo College of New Jersey.

Also on view at this time is the Light Work Grants in Photography exhibition, featuring photographs by 2010 grant recipients Yasser Aggour, Ron Jude, and Lida Suchy. 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, please contact Jessica Heckman at Light Work, 315-443-1300 or jhheckma@syr.edu.

Laura Heyman—Pa Bouje Ankò: Don’t Move Again

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Laura Heyman—Pa Bouje Ankò: Don’t Move Again
Exhibition Dates: September 13–October 15, 2010
Lecture, Gallery Reception, and Verbal Blend Performance: October 7, 5:00–8:00pm

Laura Heyman’s intriguing photographs, on view this fall at Light Work in the exhibition Pa Bouje Ankò: Don’t Move Again, capture life in Haiti both before and after the earthquake. She began the photographic project in Port-Au-Prince with a question:”Can someone from the first world see and photograph within the third world without voyeurism or objectification?”

Heyman works with an 8×10 camera to create black-and-white portraits that recall the work of earlier studio photographers like Mike Disfarmer and James VanderZee. According to the artist, while making these photographs, she was aware of the many cultural complexities of this type of representation, stating,”I was highly conscious of everything that stood in the way of a real exchange between myself and each person who sat for a portrait—race, class, opportunity and lack of opportunity, agency, the ability to move freely through the world. These things can make communication difficult, as they are always present, but rarely discussed.”

Heyman’s first visit to Haiti was in November 2009. On subsequent trips and in the aftermath of the earthquake, her project has evolved to include various rapidly expanding populations in Port-Au-Prince tied to reconstruction. United Nations officials, NGO employees, volunteers, grassroots organizations, business investors, and local politicians are among the subjects she plans to shoot; the first group of non-Haitian subjects photographed for the project was the U.S. Infantry, in May 2010.

Heyman is an associate professor of photography in Syracuse University’s College of Visual and Performing Arts. Her work has been exhibited at such venues as Ampersand International Arts, San Francisco, CA; Deutsches Polen-Institut, Darmstadt, Germany; Senko Studio, Viborg, Denmark; and The National Portrait Gallery, London, United Kingdom. Her most recent curatorial project, Who’s Afraid of America, featuring the work of Justyna Badach, Larry Clark, Cheryl Dunn, LaToya Ruby Frazier, Zoe Strauss and Tobin Yelland, was exhibited at Wonderland Art Space, in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Light Work will feature a Syracuse Symposium event with the artist on Thursday, October 7 from 5–8pm. The evening will begin with a spoken-word poetry performance by Verbal Blend, followed by a lecture by Heyman and a gallery reception. Verbal Blend is a spoken-word poetry program sponsored by Syracuse University’s Office of Multicultural Affairs, designed to enhance participants’ confidence in writing and performing original poems. The program is comprised of a five-week workshop series on poetry forms and formats, journal entry and peer-reviews. Participants get the opportunity to showcase their work at public venues such as open mic nights. For this event, a group of SU students, high school students and community members have prepared spoken-word performances in response to Heyman’s images. Syracuse Symposium is a semester-long intellectual and artistic festival celebrating interdisciplinary thinking, imagining and creating, presented by SU’s College of Arts and Sciences to the entire Syracuse community. The 2010 Syracuse Symposium theme is Conflict (Peace & War).

Also on view during this exhibition is Bearing Witness: The Light Work Collection, featuring work from Light Work Collection. 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 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, please contact Jessica Heckman at Light Work, 315-443-1300 or jhheckma@syr.edu.
**Digital press images and image information for this exhibition/event are available upon request.

John Reis—By the Way: Two Decades of America Observed 1973–1993

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Jon Reis—By the Way:
Two Decades of America Observed 1973–1993
Robert B. Menschel Photography Gallery,
Schine Student Center, Syracuse University
Exhibition Dates: April–December, 2010
Gallery talk and Reception: Oct. 22, 6 p.m.

Light Work is pleased to present an exhibition featuring the photographic work of Ithaca-based photographer Jon Reis. By the Way: Two Decades of America Observed 1973–1993 is on view in the Robert B. Menschel Photography Gallery in Syracuse University’s Schine Student Center.

This exhibition features black-and-white photographs from Reis’s Aviation series. Many of the pictures were taken directly on the premises of the airports Reis photographed. This may be in part due to his travel mode. He piloted his own plane to many of the airports, and once there was landlocked without a car. He flew in, photographed, and flew out again. But his speedy travel mode did not translate into rushed images. The captured moments communicate life at its best, spiced up with a smidgen of humor, such as the two women chatting while resting their heads on a plane at Accomack County Airport, or a father sharing a happy moment with his toddler son as they inspect a Cessna airplane at Tompkins County Airport.

Light Work has supported this project since the early ‘70s—Reis received two Light Work Grants, and was featured in two early Light Work exhibitions. Light Work also supported Reis in his application for a NYSCA Conduit Grant, which he received in 1986. This substantial grant enabled him to photograph dozens of municipal airports and resulted in exhibitions at the following airports: Albany County, Syracuse/Hancock International, Rochester/Monroe County, Greater Buffalo International, and Ithaca/Tompkins County. In 2009 Reis generously donated an additional 93 hand-printed silver gelatin images and photo postcards to the Light Work Collection, bringing the total of images to 112.

Reis continues to work actively as an artist and runs a photography business in Ithaca, N.Y. In addition to the Light Work Collection, his work can be viewed at http://www.jonreis.com and at http://www.arttrail.com/artists/REIS.html.

Light Work will host a gallery talk and reception on Friday, Oct. 22, at 6 p.m. to celebrate this exhibition.

This exhibition is on view in the Robert B. Menschel Photography Gallery in Syracuse University’s Schine Student Center. Gallery hours are Sunday to Saturday, 10 a.m.–10 p.m. (except school holidays) and by appointment. To schedule an appointment, please call (315) 443-1300. Both the exhibition and gallery talk are free and open to the public.

Light Work invites groups and individuals to schedule tours and gallery talks of the exhibition and facility. 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 CMAC, the Coalition of Museum and Art Centers at Syracuse University.

For more information, please contact Jessica Heckman at Light Work, (315) 443-1300 or jhheckma@syr.edu.
**Digital press images and image information are available upon request.

Stephen Chalmers: Unmarked

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Stephen Chalmers: Unmarked
Exhibition Dates: March 22–May 29, 2010
Gallery Reception: April 1, 2010, 5:00–7:00pm

Light Work is pleased to announce our upcoming exhibition Unmarked, featuring photographs by Stephen Chalmers. Contact Sheet 156 will be published concurrently with the exhibition.

The large-format landscape photographs in Unmarked connect remembrance and the land by investigating the locations where serial killers abandoned the bodies of their victims. Photographing these places in a deliberately generic manner, Chalmers presents beautiful but ambiguous landscapes that seem to conflict with our veritable knowledge that something terrible ended at these sites.

By inviting viewers to gaze directly on the sites of untimely and tragic deaths, Chalmers gives them courage to confront their fears about the end of life and its remembrance. The sites are referred to as dumpsites, a term made popular by both law enforcement agents as well as television crime dramas. By acknowledging these dumpsites and the people who died there through his images, Chalmers lifts a stigma that unceremoniously draws a line of remembrance between those who died by intentional acts of violence and those who did not.

While Chalmers treads on sensitive ground as he explores and documents dumpsites in the Pacific Northwest and beyond, he hopes to exchange sensational headlines and the inevitable scandal tied to such sites with something more meaningful. Instead, he offers an elegant memorial that shifts the viewer’s gaze away from infamy and back to the humanity of the victims. Chalmers writes, “As a latecomer who has visited these sites months or years after
the event and the associated media coverage, one is immediately struck by the absence of spectacle, the beauty of the sites, and their silence and stillness.”

Chalmers received his MFA in Cinema and Photography from Southern Illinois University, and a BA in Fine Art Photography and BS in Psychology from the University of Louisville, KY. His work has been exhibited internationally, including at Sushi Center for Urban Art in San Diego, CA; Center for Photography at Woodstock in Woodstock, NY; Shift Gallery in Seattle, WA; and the Pingyao International Photography Festival in Pingyao, China; among many others. His work is featured in permanent collections at the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago, IL; J. Paul Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles, CA; and the Polaroid Collection in Waltham, MA; among others. He has received numerous awards and grants, and was an Artist-in-Residence at Light Work in 2007.

Light Work will host a gallery reception on Thursday, April 1, 2010 from 5–7pm to celebrate this exhibition.

Also on view at this time is Downstream: Encounters with the Colorado River, featuring photographs by Karen Halverson. 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, please contact Jessica Heckman at Light Work, 315-443-1300 or jhheckma@syr.edu.
**Digital press images and image information for this exhibition are available upon request.

Karen Halverson—Downstream: Encounters with the Colorado River

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Light Work and Library Associates Present Exhibition and Lecture
Karen Halverson—Downstream: Encounters with the Colorado River
Exhibition Dates: March 8–May 29, 2010
Lecture and Book Signing: March 11, 5:00pm, Watson Theater
Gallery Reception: April 1, 2010, 5:00–7:00pm

Light Work and Syracuse University’s Library Associates are pleased to present an exhibition featuring the photographic work of Karen Halverson, and a lecture by the artist.

Halverson, a Syracuse native and fine are photographer, has been drawn to the open spaces and monumental land forms of the American West for a quarter-century, traveling the region’s vast expanses and stopping when moved to set up her large-format camera. In Downstream: Encounters with the Colorado River, a two-year study of the 1,700-mile river, she maintains her signature focus on human relationships to the natural environment. “In my travels along the Colorado,” Halverson writes, “sometimes I find beauty, sometimes desecration, often a perplexing and absurd combination.”

Halverson will tell stories of her “Photographic Adventures in the American West” at the next Library Associates lecture, March 11, 2010 at 5:00 p.m. She will speak about the photographic process and land use issues while presenting selected works. Guests are encouraged to arrive at least a half hour early to view the exhibition of her photographs before the talk. Copies of her book, Downstream: Encounters with the Colorado River will be available to purchase and have Halverson sign at the event. The lecture will take place in Watson Theater at Light Work, 316 Waverly Avenue, Syracuse, NY. Free event parking is available in Booth Garage, on the corner of Waverly and Comstock avenues. The event is sponsored by Syracuse University Library Associates. Visit library.syr.edu/libraryassociates for full details.

Halverson graduated from Nottingham High School and Stanford University and holds master’s degrees from Brandeis and Columbia universities. Her work has appeared at the J. Paul Getty Museum, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Los Angeles Museum of Modern Art, the Corcoran Gallery, and the Library of Congress.

Light Work will host a gallery reception on Thursday, April 1, 2010 from 5–7pm to celebrate Halverson’s exhibition.

Gallery hours for this exhibition 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.

Library Associates is a society devoted to the enrichment of the University Library and the greater Syracuse community. Members share an interest in books, learning, and the preservation of knowledge. To learn more, visit library.syr.edu/libraryassociates.

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 this event, contact Anne Roth, 315-685-6832 or ABJigger@aol.com. For more information about the exhibition, please contact Jessica Heckman at Light Work, 315-443-1300 or jhheckma@syr.edu.
**Digital press images and image information for this exhibition/event are available upon request.

Rachel Herman: The Imp of Love

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Rachel Herman—The Imp of Love
January 14–March 12, 2010
Gallery Reception: January 28, 2010, 5:00–7:00pm

Light Work is pleased to announce the exhibition The Imp of Love, featuring the work of Rachel Herman. The photographs capture moments between two people who were once lovers, but are now trying to maintain their relationship as just friends. According to Herman, she hopes to depict visually “how love bends but doesn’t break.”

This attempt to maintain a friendship where there was once a more intense love can lead to awkward or painful moments, or in some cases tender and confusing interactions between the couples. Many of the images in this exhibition capture affection that is, in the artist’s words, “loaded, layered, complicated, or unrequited.” Yet the couples are willing to endure this discomfort in an attempt to retain a friendship with their former lover, and not cut off contact entirely.

Herman holds an MFA in Visual Arts/Photography from The University of Chicago, and a BA in English Literature from the University of Michigan. Her work has been exhibited nationwide, including at such galleries as Photographic Center Northwest in Seattle, WA; Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Snowmass Village, CO; Photo-Four Gallery at South Suburban College in South Holland, IL; and H.J. Johnson Gallery at Carthage College in Kenosha, WI, among others. She was an Artist-in-Residence at Anderson Ranch, and participated in Review Santa Fe. She is currently a photography instructor at Columbia College in Chicago, IL; Dominican University in River Forest, IL; Evanston Art Center, and is an adjunct faculty member in the art department of South Suburban College in South Holland, IL.

Also on view at this time is the Transmedia Photography Annual exhibition. This exhibition features work by seniors and graduate students studying photography in Syracuse University’s College of Visual and Performing Arts, Transmedia Department.

Light Work will host a gallery reception on Thursday, January 28, 2010 from 5–7pm to celebrate these exhibitions.

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.

Deana Lawson: Corporeal

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Deana Lawson: Corporeal
November 2–December 23, 2009
Gallery Reception: November 5, 2009, 5:00–8:00pm

Light Work is pleased to announce the exhibition Corporeal, featuring the work of Deana Lawson.

Lawson’s photographs examine how the body informs personal, political, and historical identities.
At first glance, Lawson’s images have a seemingly straightforward quality that dissolves into a complex set of questions about representation of the self, the construction of notions of beauty, and the nature of photographing, questions that will never have clear and finite answers, no matter how hard and long we look.

Added dynamic layers emerge from the photographs as many subjects appear nude. Sometimes this exposure seems to act as a passport direct to a hidden truth, but with other images, we must come to terms with an uncomfortable feeling of perhaps hitting an invisible barrier between what is and what is not meant to be seen. The beauty of Lawson’s images is that we can’t turn away, even in this uncertainty.

Lawson holds an MFA in Photography from Rhode Island School of Design and has received numerous awards, such as fellowships with the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) and The Photography Institute at Columbia University. Her work has received national recognition and is exhibited widely at venues like The Print Center in Philadelphia, PA, and the Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY.

Also on view at this time is the exhibition Artists at Work: Transmedia Photo Faculty. For many years Light Work has enjoyed a close affiliation with the Art Photography department in the College of Visual and Performing Arts. The faculty and students of Art Photo interact with Light Work’s roster of international artists through lectures, internships, and classroom visits. In addition, they utilize the Community Darkrooms facilities and take full advantage of the expertise of the Light Work staff. Together we share an energy, passion, and commitment to contemporary art and photography. The exhibition Artists At Work: Transmedia Photo Faculty highlights this relationship by featuring work by Doug Dubois, Laura Heyman, Yasser Aggour, John Mannion, and Aaron Hraba in the Light Work Hallway Gallery.

Light Work will host a gallery reception on Thursday, November 5, 2009 from 5–8pm to celebrate these exhibitions.

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.

Light Work and P.E.A.C.E. Inc.: Photography at the Little White House of Hope

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Photography at the Little White House of Hope:
Collaborations between Light Work and P.E.A.C.E. Inc. Westside Family Resource Center

In August 2009, artist Stephen Mahan worked with Light Work and P.E.A.C.E. Incorporated Westside Family Resource Center (WFRC), also known as the Little White House of Hope, to conduct a workshop for teens about photography, identity and community. When he arrived with 20 digital cameras, he found a unique and vibrant community center run by Mary Alice Smothers and her colleagues. The WFRC is located on Wyoming Street and offers a variety of services and programs to families that live in and around the Near Westside, including employment support, youth activities, advocacy and resource development and education life skills. Their mission is to help people in the community realize their potential for becoming self-sufficient.

Smothers and Mahan made a great team with their combined passion and belief in the strength of the human spirit, as well as their understanding of how creating images of community and identity can foster self esteem, and build awareness and pride in the southwest side’s unique and richly diverse community. At the end of the workshop, large-scale digital photographs were installed across the street from the Little White House of Hope on West Street by local business Media Finishings. The exhibition will be up indefinitely, and the hope is that it will continue to grow over time.

The partnership between Mahan and WFRC is also deeply in line with the goals and efforts of the Near Westside Initiative (NWSI), a nonprofit corporation housed at Syracuse University and partnering with the greater Near Westside community. The NWSI, owners of the Case Supply Warehouse, were thrilled to showcase the artwork as public art on the side of the building. “This project has been great on so many levels. It has educated youth, it has encouraged and fostered the arts, and it has beautified a widely visible building in Syracuse, bringing great attention to the Near Westside community, and the residents that live there” says Maarten Jacobs, director of the Near Westside Initiative.

Mahan is an artist, photographer, educator and community activist. He has worked with Light Work/Community Darkrooms on numerous occasions. His innovative curriculum was inspired by a national movement to promote literacy through the arts and is proving to be a great success in promoting communication skills and self esteem.

Light Work is a nonprofit, artist-run, photo and imaging center in Syracuse, N.Y. Our mission is to support emerging and under-recognized artists working in photo and photo-based media. We do this through exhibitions, publications and an internationally renowned Artist-in-Residence Program. We also seek to foster an appreciation and understanding of contemporary photography in Central New York through classes, workshops, lectures and community programming.

For more information contact, Mary Lee Hodgens, program manager, 315-443-5785.

Barry Anderson: Intermissions

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Barry Anderson: Intermissions
August 14–October 21, 2009
Reception with Syracuse Symposium Lecture Event: Tuesday, September 29
(Reception 5–6pm, Lecture 6–8pm)

Light Work is pleased to announce Intermissions, an innovative art exhibition and related programs featuring the video and photographic art of Kansas City artist Barry Anderson. In a time of economic uncertainty and other societal stresses, this project provides viewers a welcomed artistic interruption to daily life. Anderson’s work, and the entire project, is designed to bring art into the community, and focuses on reminding people of the importance of remembering to stop and enjoy the moment. This exhibition will reach the community as a whole, including people who may not normally visit a gallery—they may come across the project by walking by a video projected onto a building or by driving past a billboard whose function is as a piece of art instead of an advertisement.

Anderson’s colorful video pieces include abstract patterns, nature scenes, and semi-nostalgic images from decade-old advertising. Each piece creates a good-natured, introspective scene that contrasts the busy settings where the work is shown. Anderson’s work addresses our cultural need to escape the onslaught of media input through isolated fantasy worlds. By slowing or re-interpreting space and time, he strives to identify the existence of introspective spaces within the everyday, proposing that we don’t need to retreat, but to re-envision and re-think what is already around us. Light Work’s project places video art and photographs at multiple venues across Syracuse, making it accessible to the general community and creating many opportunities for meaningful interaction with the work.

The level of collaboration that is provided through this exhibition and programming is an exciting step for the arts in Syracuse, and will bring a common thread through all involved spaces during the exhibition period. Embracing the concept of art intervention, the exhibition will expand beyond Light Work’s main gallery to many venues in town, thereby creating dozens of points for interaction both indoors and outdoors. This represents a departure from Light Work’s usual photography exhibitions and allows the entire community to become engaged with the work. The following partners will participate in this unique collaboration with the Light Work gallery spaces: the Everson Museum of Art, multiple venues at Syracuse University, SUArt Galleries, Syracuse Symposium, The Warehouse, the Urban Video Project, Orange TV Network, Community Folk Art Center, the Red House Arts Center, and more. Exhibition sites also include public spaces such as billboards and multiple video projections onto buildings in downtown Syracuse.

Find out what work will be shown where and when by consulting the fold-out maps available at all participating venues and an animated map on Light Work’s flat-panel screen. Maps are also available for download from Light Work’s website at www.lightwork.org. Visit Light Work’s blog or Facebook page for the latest event updates, photos, and other exhibition-related news. Planned events include a gallery reception and lecture by the artist as part of the Syracuse Symposium programming, workshops, tours, among other exciting programs. This project is receiving support from Syracuse Symposium, the Division of Student Affairs Co-Curricular Fee, and the Central New York Community Foundation.

Anderson’s work has been shown in solo and group exhibitions throughout the country, as well as in Thailand, South America, Cuba, and the UK. Recent exhibition venues include the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art in Overland Park, KS; Packer Schopf Gallery in Chicago, IL; Salina Art Center in Salina, KS; Gallery 210 at the University of Missouri in St. Louis; Hotcakes Gallery in Milwaukee; and the Centre for Contemporary Photography in Toronto. He participated in Light Work’s Artist-in-Residence Program in 2006. Anderson was born in Greenville, TX. He holds an MFA from Indiana University. Anderson’s installations, single-channel work, and still photography can be seen on his website.

This project is receiving support from Syracuse Symposium, the Division of Student Affairs Co-Curricular Fee, the Central New York Community Foundation, and Lamar Outdoor Advertising. Syracuse Symposium is a semester-long intellectual and artistic festival celebrating interdisciplinary thinking, imagining, and creating, presented by The College of Arts and Sciences to the entire Syracuse community. The Central New York Community Foundation connects the generosity of donors with community needs by making grants to organizations working to enhance the quality of life of those who live and work in Central New York.

Gallery hours at Light Work are Sunday to Tuesday, 10am–10pm; Wednesday to Friday, 10am–6pm; and by appointment. The gallery is closed during Syracuse University holidays. 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.

Admas Habteslasie: Limbo

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Admas Habteslasie—Limbo
March 16–June 12, 2009
Spoken-Word Poetry Performance and Gallery Reception: April 9, 2009, 5:30–8:00pm

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.” The images in the Limboexhibition capture both destruction and construction, both the unhealed wounds of war and a fierce optimism and hope for a brighter future.

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 venues such as Flowers East and 198 Gallery in London. His work has also been published inSource 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. Habteslasie was the tenth artist to participate in the Artist-in-Residence program through the collaboration. For more information about Autograph ABP visit www.autograph-abp.co.uk.

Light Work will feature an evening with the artist on April 9 from 5:30 to 8:00pm. The evening will begin with a spoken-word poetry performance by Verbal Blend, followed by a question and answer session with Habteslasie, and a gallery reception. Verbal Blend is a spoken-word poetry program sponsored by Syracuse University’s Office of Multicultural Affairs, designed to enhance participants’ confidence in writing and performing original poems. The program comprises of a five-week workshop series on poetry forms and formats, journal entry, and peer-reviews. Participants get the opportunity to showcase their work at public venues such as open mic nights. For this event, a group of SU students, high school students, and community members have prepared spoken-word performances in response to Habteslasie’s images.

Also on view at this time is As it Happens: Artists-in-Residence at Light Work. This exhibition, curated by Syracuse University Museum Studies graduate student Josh Brilliant, features work by participants in Light Work’s Artist-in-Residence program. The exhibition celebrates Light Work’s commitment to supporting emerging and under-recognized artists by featuring work that has been donated to the Light Work Collection by participants in the program. Artists included in this exhibition include Kelli Connell, Cristina Fraire, Tony Gleaton, Suzanne Mejean, Peggy Nolan, Christine Osinski, and Amy Stein.

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.

Artist Showcase: Images by Jane Walker

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Artist Showcase: Images by Jane Walker
March 16–April 16, 2009
Spoken-Word Poetry Performance and Gallery Reception: April 9, 2009, 5:30–8:00pm

Light Work is pleased to announce the exhibition Artist Showcase: Images by Jane Walker on view in the Community Darkrooms Gallery. The images in this exhibition capture portraits of people with their animals. Walker grew up in Corning and has lived in the Finger Lakes region of New York most of her life. Her deep connection with the people and the land inform her environmental portraits of people and their pets.

According to Walker, there are three elements central to each of the images in this exhibition—the place, the person, and the animal. She states, “The most enjoyable aspect of this portrait process has been the time spent with the people. I slow down, think about who they are and see them. All my human subjects have been open and cooperative, patiently waiting as I attempt to get the image I want. Animals are not quite as accommodating, but they do help the person relax by sharing the spotlight. When I see my subject in a print, a persona I had not seen before will often emerge. It is that essence of the person I try to capture.”

Jane Walker lives in Freeville, NY with her husband, two daughters, five dogs, six canaries, toad, flock of chickens, herd of goats, a cat and, during the summer, turkeys, pigs, and a vegetable garden, all of which contribute to her passion for photographing people with their animals.

Light Work will feature an evening with the artists on April 9 from 5:30 to 8:00pm. The evening will begin with a spoken-word poetry performance by Verbal Blend, followed by a question and answer session with Admas Habteslasie, whose Limbo series is on view in Light Work’s main gallery. This event will be followed by a gallery reception. Verbal Blend is a spoken-word poetry program sponsored by Syracuse University’s Office of Multicultural Affairs, designed to enhance participants’ confidence in writing and performing original poems. For this event, a group of SU students, high school students, and community members have prepared spoken-word performances in response to Habteslasie’s images.

Also on view at this time is As it Happens: Artists-in-Residence at Light Work. This exhibition, curated by Syracuse University Museum Studies graduate student Josh Brilliant, features work by participants in Light Work’s Artist-in-Residence program. The exhibition celebrates Light Work’s commitment to supporting emerging and under-recognized artists by featuring work that has been donated to the Light Work Collection by participants in the program. Artists included in this exhibition include Kelli Connell, Cristina Fraire, Tony Gleaton, Suzanne Mejean, Peggy Nolan, Christine Osinski, and Amy Stein.

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.