Mohammad Ali Zare Mojtahedy

Mehrdad Afsari

Mina Momeni

Gohar Dashti

Arash Hanaei

November-December 2008

The Burden of Representation

Co-curated by Maryam Ovissi and Hillyer Art Space

The Burden of Representation: Contemporary Photography from Iran features new works by six Tehran-based photographers:  Mehrdad Afsari, Mina Momeni, Farhad Fakhrian, Gohar Dashti, Arash Hanaei, and Ali Zare . The selected works offer insight into the multiple layers of Iranian society as experienced by those living within it. Each artist combines varying techniques within the medium of photography to express the profound and complex sentiments one feels about one’s homeland. This exhibition explores the notion of an authentic identity outside of expectations in contrast to the perceived identity.

November-December 2008

Known Unknowns

Hillyer Art Space and Washington Project for the Arts (WPA) in conjunction with FotoWeek DC are proud to present Known Unknowns, a group photography exhibition curated by Amanda Maddox, Assistant Curator of Photography and Media at the Corcoran College of Art + Design. Taking its title from Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s infamous phrase, the exhibition considers how the medium itself indicates that photographic representations cannot stand as forms of verification. It brings together four local artists—Avi Gupta, Kate MacDonell, Sandra Rottmann, and Christopher Saah—whose work explores some of the complications and contradictions involved in treating photography as evidence.

September-October 2008

Fragmented Light

Fragmented Light consists of original photographic material of Kerameikos, an ancient cemetery in Athens, Greece, printed as platinum palladium prints. Vandorou uses an eclectic mix of photographic techniques spanning three centuries of photography to create a series of images that convey a sense of time passing, the brevity of life, and the fragility of both. All the images are taken with a medium format camera using black and white film, followed by a digital process to enlarge the negatives. The images are contact printed as Platinotypes on a rare, handmade paper made from the fibers of the Gampi bush found only in the wild, mountainous regions of Japan. The effect is a monochromatic, translucent image on a delicate paper that reflects the feeling of the images themselves: ephemeral, delicate and precious.

Visit Vandorou’s website at www.marovandorou.com.

Paul Reuther, Pyhänaapa, 2008

Paul Reuther, Kemijärvi, 2008

Paul Reuther, Evening, Sokanaapa, 2008

Paul Reuther, Midnight, Kemijoki, 2008

Paul Reuther, Road to Niiranen Summer House, Vuohijärvi, 2008

Paul Reuther, Pelkosenniemiaapa, 2008

Paul Reuther, Vuohijärvi Birches, 2008

September-October 2008

Northmen’s Place Made Southfolk’s Thing: Landscapes from Finland to Nova Scotia

Northmen’s Place Made Southfolk’s Thing: Landscapes of Finland and Nova Scotia is a painterly manifestation of Paul Reuther’s attraction to and passion for the landscape and culture of the north. The exhibition features the last few years of Reuther’s efforts to represent the landscapes of Maine, Maritime Canada and most recently, Kemijärvi, Finland where he attended an artist residency last summer. Northern lights, cool water-based climates, and the outdoors are typical characteristics in Reuther’s paintings, all of which were completed on location.

Visit Reuther’s website at www.paulreuther.com.

Mandy Burrow, Little Things, 2008

Mandy Burrow, Little Things, 2008

Mandy Burrow, Undone, 2006

Mandy Burrow, Teabag Quilt, 2006

Mandy Burrow, Shoes Burrow

Mandy Burrow, Rides Home, 2005/06

July-August 2008

Every Day

Every Day by Mandy Burrow features five sculptural installations that explore life, death and resurrection. Through this artistic investigation, Burrow confronts the issue of time and its effects on memory. The work embodies the contrasts of what is there and what is not, what is remembered and what is forgotten. Burrow’s pieces transcend this divide between the past and present, the lost and found, and exist somewhere in the between.

Visit Burrow’s website at www.mandycano.com.