Amy Elkins is a fine art photographer, curator and WIPNYC co-founder with roots in NOLA, NYC, LA & PDX. Repped by Yancey Richardson Gallery, NYC.
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Your Thievin' Art? At Play in the Field of Fair Use
Your mug shot. Your profile picture. Your breakfast table. Is anything safe from appropriation artists?
“I know once we sail away from land, the tie that holds me back will dissolve of itself.”
—
Rabindranath Tagore from the The Diary of a Westward Voyage. 1924
Written in one of the opening pages of my travel notebook just before departing Portland in September 2012. Once I left, I never really came back.
A six-hour flight to NYC, a photo shoot and a few days with friends. 3 months, 7 Countries, 5 foreign languages, 4 currencies. A photo festival in Turkey, photo shoots in Denmark, an exhibition in Germany tied to a two-month long artist residency in Bavaria, Paris Photo. Quick trips to London and Austria. Soaking in hot mineral pools with strangers in Iceland. Then back to NYC for several days. Jetlag, a photo shoot, loss, time with friends, a different type of culture shock. It was December. My relationship of 4 years dissolved as soon as I landed back in the States in one quick phone call. I was too tired and weary from traveling to understand any of it. I flew back to Portland into rain and uncertainty and loss. I visited with friends. I packed my house and life into boxes and left them scattered for several weeks while I visited family and friends in CA and planned what would unfold next. By then it was a new year. I flew from LA to Portland and in several days I moved those boxes into a 5x10 storage unit. I took my printer, my computers, my hard drives, my cameras, my desks, lights, book dummies, prints, negs.. a few suitcases of clothes and comforts. And I drove 1,000 miles away.
The tie that held me back dissolved of itself. I didn’t entirely understand Tagore’s words when I scrawled them down back in September. I associated the words with the fear of the unknown dissolving once my experiences began. And it did. That tie dissolving was the best thing that could have happened to me.
Another view #laserprints #editing #whilstiwasdrawingbreath looking through all the work I shot for this in #Europe and #California. Funny how #experiments and tangent projects can grow and grow. Started in fall of 2012 while traveling solo through #Turkey, #Denmark, #Germany, #France, #England, #Iceland.. Landed back in the states to find everything shifting and collapsing. Slowly to be brought to life all over again. #lost #found #heartache #wanderlust #homesickness #quietude #loss #stillness #growth #love #travel #hopefullyafuturebook
Only 1/3 of my images actually fit in this snapshot. There are piles of others just out of the frame. Editing, editing, editing. Laser printers are awesome.
Just scored this portrait and 12 others following a wealthy Mexican family from 1911-1926 in an antique store for 60c a pop. #photonerd
#laserprints #editing #whilstiwasdrawingbreath looking through all the work I shot for this in Europe and California. Funny how experiments and tangent projects can grow and grow. Started in fall of 2012 while traveling solo through Turkey, Denmark, Germany, France, England, Iceland.. Landed back in the states to find everything shifting and collapsing. Slowly to be brought to life all over again. #lost #found #heartache #wanderlust #homesickness #quietude #loss #stillness #growth #love #travel #hopefullyafuturebook
Traveling backwards, here is Willow in 2006 and 2007
Looking through work I’ve shot in late December and early January. I haven’t lived close enough to family to work consistently with my niece, ever. So it’s refreshing to not feel as rushed. It’s allowing her to relax.
These are a few new portraits of her. It’s amazing to see her grow up before a lens.
My copies of the May issue of Real Simple arrived in the mail! Super pleased with how this turned out. #realsimplemagazine #mothersday #femalephotographers #annabelclark #jessicatoddharper
Happy to finally see the new issue of #realsimplemagazine which has a lovely #mothersday feature. My image opens the story and is in good company amongst 5 other #femalephotographers #looking to their #moms. #KatherineWolkoff #Annabelclark and others..
I am digging being a part of this fun and interactive curatorial experiment on Culture Hall put together by Cindy Rucker and Brad Silk.
“While the term curation has been used in many areas, both cultural and economic, it is most commonly associated with art. In this context, the role of a curator is to select and interpret materials within a collection. When we impart this sort of filter, do we then invite a censorship of possibilities or do we save ourselves from the tidal wave of information too large to decipher or digest?”
Photography Prison: Neruda Pulled Out The Ground As Thatcher Goes In It
Being the huge Pablo Neruda fan that I am… I find this crazy fascinating
40 years after his death, the lover, poet, and Communist Pablo Neruda is stealing some of the news reel from Thatcher.
Neruda’s body is being exhumed.
It is being investigated as to whether Pinochet’s secret police poisoned Neruda 11 days after the ‘83 military coup.
Thatcher and Pinochet…
#whilstiwasdrawingbreath #bw #hands #signs #everythingisgoingtobeokay
#whilstiwasdrawingbreath #bw #pacificocean #california #shadows #reflections #light
