Opening Reception: "Seen/Unseen" by Tara Bogart and Christa Blackwood

Hawthorn Contemporary is pleased to announce the opening of Seen/Unseen: Contemporary Views on Gender and Representation by Tara Bogart and Christa Blackwood

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Seen/Unseen presents the work of two photo-based artists that employ experimental, historically rich photographic processes that engage with issues of gender, power, and representation, including perceptions of beauty, masculinity and femininity. Tara Bogart’s cyanotypes, videos and prints examine gender and the processes of aging through a striking use of vibrant, painterly hues and a crisp, meticulous centering of the human body.  Christa Blackwood’s photographs incorporate an evocative use of embellished color and scale, as well as marbling and other manipulations of silver gelatin prints as a commentary of the male gaze and the ongoing objectification of women. Both bodies of work pay homage to the pioneering work of Victorian photographers Anna Atkins (1799-1871) and Julia Margaret Cameron (1815-1879).  Together, these recent works highlight gendered distinctions between the…