20/20 Photo Festival & THE HALIDE PROJECT present:
From the Ashes

The landscape is everchanging. Whether at the scale of geologic or human time, our planet is in constant flux. However, climate change is causing natural disruptions that are more frequent and catastrophic in scope, and we – during our relatively brief sojourn on the planet – are witness to these transformations. 

As a way to process the emotions – grief, reverence, curiosity, anger, etc. – that are associated with the loss of natural habitats, artists create work in response to the changes they observe. Those represented in From the Ashes utilize historic and alternative process photography to explore both personal and political relationships with landscapes being impacted and transformed by a variety of causes. From documenting clearcuts and abstracting feed lot architecture to creating imagery of and directly onto local flora, they individualize the artistic response to the loss of natural spaces. Using destruction as their starting point, they create something new out of the literal and proverbial ashes of what was. 

Special programming includes Light Talks with each artist: Talmor will speak on Monday, September 22 at 5:00 pm, followed by Morton on Monday, October 20 at 7:00 pm.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Kari Varner (American b. 1991 Overland Park, KS) is an artist whose work explores representations of the landscape through the photographic image. Kari received her BFA in Electronic Media Arts Design from the University of Denver and her MFA from Washington University in St. Louis. Kari currently teaches photography at Binghamton University in New York. She has previously taught at Santa Reparata International School of Art, Florence Institute of Art and Design and the University of Denver. Kari has led workshops at Studio Art College International and Anderson Ranch Arts Center.

Her recent work has focused on humans’ impact on the landscape, particularly through industrialized agricultural and waterway channelization. Using satellite imagery, historical photographic processes, and experimental image making, Kari seeks to portray the ways that we have profoundly altered our land and water.
https://www.karivarner.com/

Dafna Talmor is a London-based artist and lecturer whose work focuses on photography, video, curation, and collaborative projects. Her ongoing series, Constructed Landscapes, transforms everyday snapshots of landscapes into abstract, contemplative spaces that challenge how we experience and interpret landscape photography. Talmor’s photographs are held in collections including the Victoria and Albert Museum and Deutsche Bank, and her work has been featured in major publications and international exhibitions.
dafnatalmor.co.uk