CARA PHILLIPS, JEN DAVIS, STACEY TYRELL | GAZED UPON
Ampersand Gallery, Portland
29.3.2012 - 24.4.2012
Ampersand is pleased to present an exhibition of photographs curated by photographer Amy Elkins, whose work has been exhibited both nationally & internationally & is represented by Yancy Richardson Gallery in New York. In addition to her work as a photographer, Elkins is co-founder, along with Cara Philips, of Women in Photography (wipnyc.org), a platform for showcasing both established and emerging women photographers. With Gazed Upon, Elkins brings to Ampersand the work of three women photographers, each of whom investigates representations of female beauty & self identity.
“In bringing together the work of North American artists Jen Davis, Cara Philips & Stacey Tyrell in the current exhibition, Gazed Upon, curator & artist Amy Elkins asks the viewer to interrogate his or her own sense of looking. We are presented with three artists who challenge standard notions of “beauty” & perception, causing a schism between what we think we see & how we might read or interpret it. Along these lines, we, as viewers, are directed through the title of the exhibition to employ the gaze, that loaded Lacanian term that piles all of our potency & desires onto the “object” upon which we gaze. These artists, working in different media & different shooting styles all dance with this complex set of ideas about the role of the observer, how the gaze, itself, is employed & how it might reflect back on an audience.” - Sarah Palmer (from the book essay).
© Cara Phillips