John Bessa
Having experienced much of my political and philosophical inspiration here in the mountains of Northwest Connecticut, or the Southern Berkshires, I am very happy to present for you photographs taken in the region that will be exhibited in Litchfield County's biggest city, Torrington Connecticut at Brazen Betty's
With time, the photos there will be replaced with photographic constructions that leverage back lighting in a way that resembles Joseph Cornell's Boxes. See them here: Windows and roots (click)
My photography is the art of photojournalism. What I see, and how I feel when I take a picture what I want to convey to the viewer truthfully. I photographed many crows in Poughkeepsie and many landscapes of Poughkeepsie's many artifacts, but rarely did a good crow shot appear within the perfect landscape. So I made this, my only composite from a picture of a crow landing on construction equipment, and typical Poughkeepsie roof-scape under a hanging cloud. The scene and the feeling it conveys is genuine however: the smart, social and often maligned crows over this old and beautiful, yet often troubled, city.
Window in Rain
The Window is an unplanned theme in my art, a happy accident. Many pictures that look good on a computer may not work in print, in fact, some dramatic pictures of clouds have come out muddy. Back lighting solved this problem, and I used glass panes from an old door for my first light box. Since then windows have become important, and this window is in the stairway where I live in Torrington.
Roll of tape
This roll was found in the abandoned lot of a long-closed factory in Poughkeepsie. It is old and useless, but iridescent. It is part of my series memorializing America's closed factories and discarded workers that hopes to help revive American manufacturing.
Warm Window in Torrington
Another in my window series, this one gives a warm feeling of the house within.
Late commute through the Poughkeepsie rain
Taken near the Poughkeepsie factory that gave me so many scenes, it is the trip home in the rain, snug and warm in the car with a pleasant, if cold, drizzle outside. Power-lines provide strong symbolism for photography. They are beautiful and imposing, and represent the power of our society, and also bring us back to the early days of modern America, the rural electrification of the 30s. The 30s were also a Rennasaince for photojournalism, especially during the continual crises in Europe photographed by the amazing photojournalists of the time.
Mythology on Birch Bark Parchment
Birch bark has significant meaning to the Native culture here, one of the most important documents of our continent, the Anishabe Prophecy that predicts a joining of all the World's people in peace through stages called "fires."
I was searching for the perfect representation of birch bark as an symbol of knowledge, and I found also a quill, and then mythological beast with in the span of the same roll of film, near Music Mountain.
The Anishinabie Prophecy has been maintained on birch bark since the mid-1700s, as European colonialists began the Native decimation. Today the Great Medicine Lodge, or the Midewiwin, maintains the prophecy only having stepped forward in the 1970s. Today the Mediwinin elders hold social science PhDs.
Julia Sloan, as Brazen Betty, Super heroine, has a fine jewelery, clothes, and art store that seeks only the efforts of desingers and artists in the Litchfield, or Southern Berkshire area of Connecticut. The clothes she features come from as far away as New York City, but the inspiration is purely local.
Julia Sloan, as Brazen Betty
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