Mirror to the World Documentary Photography 2016
“Vanishing Glacier, Argentina” by Dorte Verner
Opening Reception: Friday, April 22, 6-8PM
Exhibition Artists
Dorte Verner
Brian Flynn
Mark Parascandola
Michele Egan
Ginger Werz-Petricka
Mirror to the World Documentary Photography Exhibition
Glen Echo Photoworks’ eighth annual “Mirror to the World” exhibition of documentary photography will feature work by five area photographers who have traveled the world to capture stories of people and their environments. From fishermen battling the sea on Campobello, New Brunswick, to moviemakers in China, to dramatic views of the effect of climate change worldwide, this year’s “Mirror” show lives up to its mandate to provide compelling, colorful stories that reflect the human condition.
As before, this year’s show was curated by Frank Van Riper, longtime Photoworks faculty member and author of five books, including the internationally bestselling Serenissima: Venice in Winter.
Each of the five picture stories on the walls is accompanied by explanatory text written by the photographers, in keeping with the show’s tradition that documentary photography is a synergistic combination of photos and words. “I always am tempted to speak of each ‘Mirror’ show in superlatives,” Van Riper said, “but this year’s show, I think, literally has something for everyone.”
In what easily is the most wide-ranging picture story ever mounted in this show, photographer, author and PhD economist Dorte Verner documents the catastrophic effect of climate change on indigenous people in no fewer than ten countries: Iran, Argentina, Cuba, Morocco, Ethiopia, Syria, Jordan, Thailand and Tunisia. Closer to home photographer Brian Flynn offers stunning views of the seaborne life of fisherman on Campobello Island, NB. His strong images are twinned with “Voices of Fisherman,” trenchant, poignant–and at times wryly funny–observations from his book of the same name.
A returnee to the “Mirror” show, Mark Parascandola documents in huge prints the occasionally bizarre world of moviemaking in China, on sets that seem to dwarf the grandest efforts of Hollywood or Europe. With a keen eye and a gentle heart, Michele Egan offers a fascinating glimpse at winemaking in the Alsace that twins pastoral and timeless views of vineyards with the high-tech automation of big-volume bottling.
Finally, in the only unpeopled picture story this year, Ginger Werz-Petricka presents a gorgeous interpretation of the ruin that is Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia, the former prison facility that once held bank robber Willie “The Actor” Sutton and Chicago crime boss Al Capone.
As Van Riper said: “something for everyone.”
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