Graduate Project

A soft word

This Master of Fine Arts culminating exhibition, A Soft Word, is an attempt to negotiate the contradictory expectations demanded by the two cultures in which I was raised. This is the documentation of an exploration, a search to find my own identity and an attempt to find the threads that connect people of vastly different lifestyles. The objects created for this exhibition are rooted in traditionally accepted forms of creativity within the Old Order Amish church while incorporating photography, a medium banned by the church. Contemporary photography is seeing a return to processes of the nineteenth century, processes used before digital photography was invented. Techniques including wet plate collodion, tin-type, cyanotype, and Van Dyke are all experiencing a resurgence in popularity. These photographers who are going back to the traditional photographic processes are in search of purity of process and a literal use of hand in creating of an object. These are also things I am searching for in my work. I hope to make the viewer question the importance of medium within the context of communicating a concept and create a space where people from vastly different backgrounds can find a common ground upon which to communicate.

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