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Contact Us || Wednesday, March 19,
2003
Photographer invites viewers into her family's private moments
TRIBUNE-REVIEW ART CRITIC Sunday, March 16, 2003 Photography is a form of devotion: We take pictures of the things we adore, and adore the things we take pictures of. For Jessica Todd Harper, like most of us, that is her family. The 27-year-old photographer says she has made them the central subjects of her work for the past 12 years, finding them to be an ever-changing source of inspiration. ³The nice thing about families is that they evolve and change with time,² Harper says. "So it isnıt like you are always photographing the same subject. You always see it from a different perspective.² But instead of being pictures of family members involved in the goings-on of a family vacation, at an occasional birthday party or other celebration, Harperıs photographs are of those in-between moments: her sister reading a book, her mother working on a crossword puzzle, her grandfather feeding his dog. Now on display at Pittsburgh Filmmakers' New Gallery in Oakland, 13 photographs of Harperıs family can be seen in the solo exhibition ³Portraits from Private Spaces: Photographs by Jessica Todd Harper.² Although, at first glance, the photos might seem to be of mundane moments, what will strike visitors to this exhibition, other than the large format of the photographs, is the overwhelming sense of light contained within them. This preoccupation with light, no doubt, is a reflection of her studied background in art: She has an undergraduate degree in art history from Bryn Mawr College, as well as a master of fine arts degree in photography from the Rochester Institute of Technology. ³Iım highly influenced by Northern Renaissance painting,² Harper says. ³I really love Vermeer (Dutch painter Jan Vermeer, 1632-75) and the way that he uses natural light. The way that he fits people into their spaces and the way that the light points them out thereıs something that leaves a mark about a human presence being there which is very beautiful and very compelling.² To that effect, these photographs can most certainly attest. Take, for example, the photograph titled ³Sandra (Vermont).² There, an intimate moment is captured in which a nude woman stands bedside while cast in an orange early-morning glow coming from an unseen window. Although the womanıs backside takes center stage in the photograph, its conspicuousness diminishes as one begins to notice the light as it cascades across the rippled bedspread, as it glimmers off a gold picture frame and spills into the furling designs of the well-aged wallpaper that surrounds the woman. In another photograph, "Becky in the Den," Harperıs sister lounges on a white couch in front of a large window in an all-white room. Behind her, intense white light pours in from the window as if a snowstorm is blustering outside. Spend some time with the photograph, though, and the viewer will begin to notice that outside the window a bird sits in a birdfeeder, the trees are full of foliage and the hill that serves as a backdrop to it all is full of grass. That picture was taken two years ago in Tucson, Ariz., where Harperıs grandfather maintains a winter home. In summer, ³Papa² spends his days at an old fishing cottage in upstate New York. That is where Harper photographed another of the works in the show, ³Self Portrait with Christopher, Papa and Ah-Choo.² In it, two simultaneous but unrelated intimate moments are happening at once: Harper and her husband are embracing, while her grandfather feeds his dog. Scenes such as this, where disparate interactions, gestures or expressions occur in tandem, are not uncommon in Harperıs photographs. For example, in one, ³Dad, Self Portrait and Becky Laughing,² three family members are caught in individual, isolated moments. As Harperıs father stares off, her sister rolls with laughter while Harper herself slumps in nonchalance on a big, white bed that serves as a stage for these incongruities. In another, Harper has caught the wayward yet pensive glance of her grandmother as she sits with other family members each involved in seemingly unrelated modes of expression of their own around a dining room table. In a third, "Mom with Becky," another of these intimate moments is captured, in which Harperıs mother strokes the hair of Harper's sister while deep in thought over a crossword puzzle. The details of the well-appointed living room that surrounds them seem superfluous to Harperıs reclining sister, who, in this photograph, confronts the viewer by way of her outward gaze as if she is scrutinizing the very person who is observing her. ³Photography is the way that I understand whatıs going on around me,² Harper says about her work. ³Iım one of those people where relationships are the most important thing in my life, so I am going to photograph my relationships.² After looking at these photographs, the viewer might be inclined toward a twinge of jealousy. We should all be so lucky to have our lives recorded in this way, in these private and most intimate of moments.
Kurt Shaw can be reached at kshaw@tribweb.com.
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