Trust the Story: An Exhibition -- Installation Images
Starting in 2019, we started a collaborative process for an exhibition to be installed at the Middle Tennessee State University’s (MTSU) Baldwin Photographic Gallery in February 2020. Instructor and Gallery Curator Jackie Heigle and I sat in her Santa Fe home discussing the logistics for this initial call for entry for this long-standing gallery dedicated to the photographic medium.
After much discussion, Jackie and I, along with input from MTSU photograph department staff Shannon Randol and Jonathan Trundle, settled on many the details and the theme/title of Trust the Story. Shannon soon took over Jackie’s position as curator of the Baldwin Photographic Gallery and managed the images as they were submitted, and provided the images for me in a blind review. Shannon managed all communication with the artists and, from my perspective, seamlessly coordinated the delivery of the framed pieces of 39 artists for the exhibition and arranged to have three of those artists for the panel. I juried the pieces, sequenced, and sent this order to MTSU. I was not able to assist in the installation process and had a strong faith in Shannon and his students to create an amazing exhibition. I was not disappointed, nor were any of the artists in attendance. I am happy to present some snapshots of the installation here and hope to have an online gallery of all images in the near future.
Thanks to Shannon, Jackie, Jonathan, and all the students for their excellent work at MTSU; thanks to all the artists who submitted work for the show; and thanks to Emily Matyas, Sharon Draghi, and Lake Newton for such an intriguing panel.
Featuring the work of: Michael Amato, Laura J. Bennett, Carl Bower, Barbara Ciurej & Lindsay Lochman, Elizabeth Claffey, Roxanne Darling, Virgil Dibiase, Sharon Draghi, Daniel Farnum, Jo Fields, Cristina Fontsaré, Jennifer Georgescu, Bryan D Griffith, Pato Hebert, Abbey Hepner, Jennifer Hoag, Chris Ireland, Emily Matyas, Calli McCaw, Christopher Nail, Lake Newton, Natalie Obermaier, Christine Osinksi, Daniel Peebles, Benjamin Rusnak, Lynn Silverman, John Slepian, Jason Tannen, Terri Warpinski, and Sandra Chen Weinstein
Shannon Randal in the seemless backdrop studio at MTSU, February 2020
Jackie Heigle in the darkroom at MTSU, February 2020
Melanie McWhorter at the Trust the Story exhibition, February 2020
Trust the Story Juror’s Statement
Melanie McWhorter
February 2020
The works in Trust the Story emerges from a desire to create a universally recognizable narrative for a broad human experience of life. The tale woven from the submitted images for this exhibition touches on experiences that evoke the greatest and most encompassing emotions surrounding utter despair and isolation to happiness and wonderment.
Trust the Story is a journey from the first stages of life to the final days of dignified death and visually explores how we all enter, occupy, and exit this physical space. The photographs may elicit an overall feeling of sadness, yet, there is a contrast of a tentative feeling of extant or impending joy. This is not the euphoria that endures through each moment, but an ebb and flow: a fluctuation that leads us through our experiences in endurance, fear, lightness, and love. There is disquiet in the stillness of the forests, in the presence of the metaphorically iconic serpent, and in the absence of children from scenes showing their abandoned toys. These are contrasted by the comfort and familiarity shown in the chaos of quotidian domestic scenes and the display of affection between two lovers.
This is not a linear story nor an attempt to tell the truth. Photography is a documentary tool for those who witness or contrive, a tool to reflect the universal, and a cathartic medium for introspection. Trust the Story is emotionally heavy – here the day-to-day is intermingled with the evidentiary and presents scenes of that range from isolation and vulnerability to connectivity and hopefulness, all leading to an attempt to explore the wider human experience.