30 Over 50/In Context at the Center for Fine Art Photography

30 Over 50/In Context at the Center for Fine Art Photography by Aline SmithsonApril 11, 2021

©Toni Lovejoy, Winner of the in Context Award

Toni Lovejoy, Winner of the In Context Award

A new exhibition recently opened online at the Center for Fine Art Photography that celebrates artists over the age of 50, with an eye on wisdom and history accrued over decades of living. Titled 30 Over 50 /In Context, the exhibition was jurored by gallerist Arnika Dawkins. Complete projects and bios are on the C4FAP site. There is a curator and artist talk with Arnika Dawkins and the award-winning artists on April 14th at 5 pm mountain time via zoom. Please join them by signing up HERE.

Hamidah Glasgow, Executive Director and Curator at The Center for Fine Art Photography shares her vision for the exhibition: “In our youth-centered culture, often, people of a certain age are overlooked and/or ignored. While some artists find their calling early and make art all their lives, many don’t discover the creative impulse until later in life. Or they felt obligated to pursue another path due to family expectations or a myriad of other reasons. At The Center, we wanted to give a platform to photographic artists over 50. We also liked the idea of the work being in context with current conversations or current social issues. Fortunately, we were able to entice Arnika Dawkins to curate the online exhibition. There was an outpouring of excitement when we announced the show and throughout the process. Given that there is a great need, we will be offering the opportunity again in 2022.”

Honorable Mentions

©Marcy Juran

©Sarah Ketelaars

©Charlie McCullers and Cecilia Montalvo

©Catherine Paneblanco

©Zoë Zimmerman

Juror’s Statement

They’ve seen a lot, years lived that bear reflection and provide perspective. Time passes swiftly, and change is inevitable; perhaps it was merely a matter of shifting priorities or interests, exploring what could yet be discovered in life. A journey of discovery with perspective 30 over 50 | In Context explores the notion of wisdom. Creatives becoming more attuned can be a gift allowing oneself to transcend barriers of time, gain permission to pursue something, ignite passions, explore, and delve deep into what it is that they capture. Wisdom can be the very source of creativity.

I believe that artists are dialed to a different level of sensitivity. My most gratifying interactions with photographs are with the ones that have something to say, those that make me reflect and make me feel something. In 30 over 50 | In Context, you will enjoy creatives that explore the world around us. Their muse is humanity; their responses to our times are apparent. These photographs respond to how our world has changed, examines the current times and our place in it. This pursuit is engaging and relevant; it includes imagination, originality, and innovation by utilizing alternative processes, cyanotypes; digital collaging; and layering the past and the present.

The artists in 30 over 50 | In Context have a historical perspective on cultural and societal events, firmly knowing their place in and seasoned through perspective and wisdom. It fuels me to see the use of photography as the medium of our time to express ideas and convey what artists have to say with their art. We are left with much more than a beautiful picture or a legacy of the ‘here and now’ for generations to view. I also gravitate to the carefree aesthetic of exploration that comes with living. I am interested in this intersection; what can we glean from it, what can we learn if we are able to see?

In 30 over 50 | In Context, the artist submissions endeavor and have been able to find beauty in the derelict, humor and wit, and compassion right in front of them. Some work may offer more questions than answers, but that it is what is engaging, and the viewers are the recipients of these gifts, full of purpose and intent.

The exhibition is about memory, our place in it, the here and now, firmly cast with the perspective of current events that shape us as individuals and a nation. Activism about humanity, the pandemic, the environment, our inability to coexist providing an intimate point of view exploring the world and their surroundings; nonetheless, that point of view is personal and is shared with all that view; a slice of life.

I would like to thank the Center for Fine Art Photography Executive Director and Curator Hamidah Glasgow for this opportunity and the many artists that shared their time, talent, and artistry with me. – Arnika Dawkins