Tamara Rafkin shares her work:
2015 version: Scars

Scars, the scars of history past
Where things were broken.
 
Restored but with evidence left behind
…it happened, it was there & it may be solid again, but it happened.
 
Healed? Repaired? 
...Made functional; made beautiful.
Bears witness.
Reflects souls.
Holes.
Patches.
Marks of life, of time, of events;
Marks of prior people.
 
Buildings hold scars like people hold scars.
They can be covered over but eventually time brings them to the surface.
Rafkin says, "Early this year, 2015, I had the opportunity to travel to Berlin and stay for an extended period of time. This opportunity came about due to convergence of events in my life - the abrupt ending of a long term relationship late in 2014, my living in Europe plus friends that wanted to help me through this difficult period by offering me a sanctuary to gather my thoughts and focus on my art practice.

During the first week in Berlin I spent my time giving myself space to heal my own ‘break’ while wandering Berlin, opening myself up to what inspiration I might find to direct my work. It was during that time I noticed the amount of scars the older buildings in Berlin bare. Everywhere I went I saw shrapnel wounds or repairs that left visible evidence that something had happened there. I became entranced with these details, with this marks of the building’s and the societies’ history.

The wounds spoke to me and in them I saw not only the anger and hurt of the past but the beauty of their existence. Berlin is what it is, not in spite of these marks of history, but partially because of them and they can be beautiful; I wanted to honor that, to get close and witness it - to show the beauty.
This is what led me to seven weeks of traversing Berlin on foot for hours, looking and searching for these scars of time. Creating what is abstract at first glance but is actually a record of the life of Berlin of beauty from pain and destruction… and in return, Berlin said to me it’s okay to have scars.

2018 version ( I got a lot of comments about the personal nature of the original statement, as I've healed from teh circumstances the work has evolved into being a metaphor for the way we as people deal with traumas) :

Creating what is abstract at first glance, but is actually a record of the life - beauty from pain and destruction- a metaphor for the scars we all have that make us who we are.
We all suffer tragedy and pain; it is part of the human existence. We can choose to remember it and learn from it.

Change it into something beautiful or we can choose to forget it, ignore it, cover it up and risk returning to it later to be hurt again.
These marks are of Berlin and they remain to remind everyone of the communal history. I became entranced with these details while exploring the city, these marks of the society's’ history and the acknowledgement of their past. They choose to remember, discuss and live with it as part of their being.
 
The wounds spoke to me, and in them I saw not only the anger and hurt of the past but the beauty of their existence. The way the city acts as a corporeal body for the culture at large, exposing it’s scars and accepting them."

Tamara Rafkin is an American / Belgian artist.  Having grown up in Charleston SC and obtaining a BFA from The Atlanta College of Art, in the early 1990’s she has exhibited her photographic artworks extensively in the US, Europe and in Brazil.

Her imagery walks the line between the documentary and the narrative approaching the subject of how our emotions and culture are imprinted on our public spaces. A subject that she is drawn to both by personal history and an interest in cultural anthropology, perpetuated by having lived in several regions of the US and in Belgium.

 CV

Tamara Rafkin Selected Exhibition History:
Museum Exhibitions:


2014
“3rd International Biennial of Fine Art and Documentary Photography” Municipal Heritage Museum. Malaga Spain.
 
2010
"Visual Arts Center of New Jersey 24th International Juried Exhibition" Curator: Susan Kismaric. Visual Arts Center of New Jersey. Summit N.J.
 
2009
“Truc Troc” BOZAR Centre for Fine Arts Brussels. Brussels Belgium.
 
Solo Exhibitions:

2005
“Ninty9 to 2thousand5” Soho Studios. New York N.Y.
 
Group Exhibitions:

2017
“What the World Needs Now” Curators: Anita Arliss and Ruben Natal San-Miguel. B Complex Gallery. Atlanta Celebrates Photography. Atlanta Ga.
 
2010
“Photographs by Michael Chia, Luc Dratwa and Tamara Rafkin” US Department of State European Media Center ,
                  US Embassy. Brussels Belgium.
“ARTist@WORK” ArtyParty met De Werf Cultuurcentrum. Aalst Belgium.
 
2008
 “Aalst Salon 2008” De Werf and Belfort Crypte. Aalst Belgium.
"Urban Space" Curators: Llana Bessler, Randolph Albright, Sixten Kai Nielsen, and Martin Rosengaard. Wooloo Independent Curator Program. Traveling Exhibition. CVS Cultural Center. New York N.Y.
 
2007
"Urban Space" Curators: Llana Bessler, Randolph Albright, Sixten Kai Nielsen, and Martin Rosengaard. -Wooloo Independent Curator Program. Traveling Exhibition. FotoRio - Oi Futuro,, Rio de Janeiro Brazil. New Life Shop, Berlin Germany. Fotopub, Novo Mesto Slovenia. Foto Arte, Brasilia Brazil.
 
Art Fairs & Related ActivitiesPortfolio Pitch, UNSEEN Photo Fair Amsterdam 2012. Curators: Marcel Feil (Foam), Pjotr de Jong (Vandejong) and Lars Boering (FotografenFederatie). Amsterdam, Netherlands. 2012.
Lens Culture FotoFest Paris 2011  Portfolio Review & Open Portfolio Event. Spéos Photographic Institute Paris France. 2011.
Brussels Accessible Art Fair. Curator: Stephanie Manasseh. Brussels Belgium. 2009 & 2010 .
Postcards From the Edge, A Benefit for Visual AIDS. James Cohen Gallery. New York City N.Y. 2007
 
Awards7th Annual International Color Photography Masters Cup. Fine Art Category-Nominee. London, UK. 2014.
5th Annual International Color Photography Masters Cup. Still Life Category-Nominee. London, UK. 2011.
PX3 Prix de Fotografie Paris Honorable Mention. Paris, France. 2008
 
Selected Bibliography

“Tamara Rafkin” LetKiss Online Magazine, France. August 2017.
“ASMPNY: Tamara Rafkin” L’Oeil de la Photographie  March 2016.
“Scars” Lens Culture ( lensculture.com) Explore; Fine Art Section. July 2015
“Sleeping Houses- Watchful Houses” OSMOS Magazine. January 2015.
“Fresh View: Tamara Rafkin.” Fresh Art International.com February 2013.
“Lens Culture FotoFest Paris 2011” Participating Photographers Catalogue. 2011.
“Saatchi Online Weekly Top 10 Chosen By Rebecca Wilson: May 30 – June 4, 2011” Saatchionline.com 2011.
"De Galerij:Slaap Zacht" Goedele. Belgium. December 2009.
“Salon Aalst 08” Exhibition Catalogue. City of Aalst Belgium in conjunction with Cultural Division of the Flemish Government. May 2008. 
Projects, Presentations & ResidenciesOBRAS NL artist in residency. OBRAS Foundation. Renkum, Netherlands. 2012.
The Chemistry of Great Photos: Greenlight for Girls 2011. Workshop by Tamara Rafkin. Brussels, Belgium 2011.
ARTist@WORK: Kunst ontdekken rondom jou. Workshops by Tamara Rafkin, in relation to the exhibit ARTist@WORK in coordination with the Cultural Department of Aalst Belgium. 2010.

   
www.tamararafkin.com
  
 

Tamar Haytayan says, "Where do you feel your grief today?
Do you want to feel it?
Do you want to remember it?
It is ok if you don't
we do not want to feel all the pain
lodged in our body
all the time
today though
I want to feel it
in its entirety
I want it to speak with me
this pain
this sorrow
this grief
as I know on the other side
maybe even tomorrow
or in one hour
there will be 
some joy
some love
some fun
Life as we know it.
Where do you want to feel your grief today?
Where do you feel your grief?
Where do you feel your joy?
They are intertwined
They come together
twins
born of the same 
and yet
nothing like each other
Where do you feel your grief today? 
Is it in the joy you are feeling right now?"
Tamar Haytayan’s work explores the relationship with the self and others, challenging the notion of the ideal relationship and the complexity of contrasting feelings."
 
Tamar Haytayan studied photography at the Bournemouth & Poole College of Art & Design and her body of work spans over the last 28 years. Tamar continues to work on several projects, one of her recent ones concentrating on the relationship between fathers and daughters.
 
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

Group Shows

St Martin’s in The Field, London Various artists exhibiting 2001
Armenian Center for Contemporary Experimental Art, Yerevan, Armenia 2002
PhotoHaus Gallery, Vancouver Summer Salon Exhibition June 13 – 27 2014
The 5th Annual Contemporary Show at The Philadelphia Photo Arts Center, June 12 – August 30 2014
(Juried by the late Mary Ellen Mark)
2015 Pacific Northwest Photography Viewing Drawers, Blue Sky Gallery, Portland April 2015 – April 2016
Beyond the Surface, Women’s Art Show, Vancouver February 29 – April 3 2016

PUBLIC SPEAKING / TEACHING

Photo Workshop at Hope in Shadows Event in Vancouver, September 2014
Ongoing project with kids at an inner city school in Vancouver
Sparkfly – Women’s gathering in Vancouver to share, inspire and create

 www.tamarhaytayan.com 

Terry LaRue says,"C.R.P.S. Complex Regional Pain Syndrome is the most painful thing anyone can possibly go through.

Even rating higher than unprepared childbirth or amputation. Being diagnosed with a rare pain syndrome and loosing movement in my left thumb in my late 20’s wasn’t easy.

Excepting and living with constant high levels of pain has been a long difficult road with constant medication changes Physical therapy and experimental treatments.

One treatment I undergo is Ketamine infusion’s. Where I’m put in to a medically induced coma thru IV pump with Ketamine till my brain disconnects with my nervous system and resets, lowering the pain I’m in.

I have to do this more than you can imagine.

Otherwise I wouldn’t even be able to handle having a light breeze hit my skin without excruciating pain.

My work expresses the inner battles I fight and how the pain and medication has changed the way I look at the world. Using photography to improve my life by giving a outlet to express emotions threw images instead bottling them up inside.
 

Wes Bell says of his series, 'Snag', "Four years ago, I was leaving for the airport after saying goodbye to my mother. She was dying of cancer.

On the long drive across the windblown Alberta prairie, I found myself distracted by flapping remnants of plastic bags, caught in barbed-wire fences that lined the ditches. Whipped violently by the merciless wind, they were left shredded and lacerated, but trapped nonetheless in the no man's land of boundary fences, neither here nor there, caught somewhere in an emotional purgatory between life and death.

Thinking about mortality, pain and death in the context of my mother's terminal illness that in the end took her life, these forgotten shreds of plastic took on a deeper significance. Snag.
 
Shooting during the seemingly lifeless seasons between winter and spring in 2015 through 2017, I photographed sixty-eight of these ubiquitous sites in Southern Alberta, Canada.

Some locations required multiple visits to ensure the optimal lighting and wind conditions to maximize the isolation and elevation of these commonly unseen objects.

All the photographs were shot using black and white analogue film in a medium square format camera. Given the focus of the subject matter on physical, material processes of deconstruction by natural forces, it was critical to the logic of this series to maintain the immediacy of their chemical, indexical imprint on the film. Its translation onto a slightly warm toned fiber-based photo paper creates a material, substantial presence that would have been impossible to achieve digitally."
 
Wes Bell was born and raised in Medicine Hat, Alberta. From an early age he was fascinated by art, which led him to the studio-intensive program at the Alberta College of Art and Design, where he received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography.
 
After school he pursued a career in fashion photography. Bell lived and worked in Milan and London, eventually relocating to New York, while travelling the world extensively on assignment to meet his client’s needs. His acute sense of design, style and aesthetics were highly respected by fashion editors, leading to editorial spreads in publications such as British GQ and Esquire, Conde Nast Traveler and The New York Times Magazine. However, despite his success, his true love for the fine arts persisted.
 
Since departing the fast-paced commercial world of freelance fashion photography, he has reignited a passion for photography as art, and today he photographs on location, responding to the natural beauty in the outlying boundaries of small Alberta cities and towns and in the rural environments that surround him. Wes returned to live in Alberta three years ago after residing in New York for more than twenty years.
 
On his new journey as an emerging fine artist, Bell has produced five interrelated photographic series of work. These previously unseen bodies of work were first presented for submission calls in late 2016. Over this short period of time as a new artist on the scene, he has notably exhibited his photographs both in Canada and internationally in numerous group and solo exhibitions. He is a recipient of the LensCulture Exposure Awards 2017 – Jurist Award as selected by MaryAnne Golon, Director of Photography at The Washington Post. More recently, he received the 2017 Bronze Award for the Royal Photographic Society International Photography Exhibition 160 in London, UK.

CV

Education:
 
Alberta College of Art and Design, Calgary, AB - B.F.A., Photography (2011)
 
State University of New York, New Paltz, NY  (2010 – 2011)
 - Credited Courses: History of Photography ARH368                           
History of Film ARH528
Photography in Contemporary Art ARH793
 
Alberta College of Art, Calgary, AB - Diploma, Visual Communications - Photography (1976 – 1980)
 
Solo Exhibitions 2018:
 
- Snag, The Irene Carlson Gallery of Photography, University of La Verne, CA, USA
     January 29 – March 16, 2018
- On the Line, Esplanade Art Gallery, Medicine Hat, AB, Canada, January 20 – March 10, 2018
      
Group Exhibitions:
 
- Depth of Field, Center for Photographic Art, Carmel, CA, USA (2018)
- Royal Photographic Society International Exhibition 160, Photoblock at the Old
    Truman Brewery, London, UK (2017)
- Art and Oppression – Marion Center for Photographic Arts, Santa Fe University,
   Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA (2017)
- Power – LensCulture, Online Exhibition, Jurist: Judy Walgren (2017)
- Punctum – PH21 Gallery, Budapest, Hungary, Jurist: Zsolt Bátori (2017)
- Composed – Texas Photographic Society, PhotoPlace Gallery, Middlebury, VT, USA           
    Jurist: Sam Abell (2017)          
- 4th FotoFilmic//PULP – The Cabin Gallery, Bowen Island, Vancouver, BC, Canada
    Jurist: Stefan Milev (2017)
- Exposure 2017 – Exposure Photography Festival, cSpace, Calgary, AB, Canada 
    Jurist: Nancy Tousley (2017)
- Ten Voices – Visual Arts Alberta, Jubilee Gallery, Southern Jubilee Auditorium, 
   Calgary, AB, Canada (2017)
- Ten Voices – Visual Arts Alberta, Kaasa Gallery, Northern Jubilee Auditorium,
    Edmonton, AB, Canada (2017)
- The Future – InFocus Photo – The Front Gallery, Edmonton, AB, Canada
   Curator: Alexis Marie Chute (2017)
- ACAD 75th Anniversary Exhibition – Illingworth Kerr Gallery, ACAD, Calgary, AB, Canada (2001) Awards & Honors:
 
- Bronze Award 2017, Royal Photographic Society International Photography
   International 160, London, UK
   Jurists: Kim Bareman, Zelda Cheatle, Ingrid Pollard 
- The 2017 Juried Call, Rfotofolio, Houston, TX, USA, Jurist: Barbara Bullock – Wilson (2017)
- Jurist Selection – LensCulture Exposure Awards 2017 – Jurist: MaryAnne Golon,
  Director of Photography, The Washington Post (2017)
- Honorable Mention, Punctum - Jurist: Zsolt Bátori, PH21 Gallery, Budapest, Hungary (2017)
- Individual Project Grant – Alberta Foundation for the Arts, Alberta, Canada (2017)
- InFocus 2017 People’s Choice Award, InFocus Photo, The Front Gallery,
   Edmonton, AB, Canada (2017)
- Winter Shortlist, FotoFilmic 17, Vancouver, BC, Canada (2017)
- 75th Anniversary Alumni Award of Excellence, Alberta College of Art & Design - (2002)
 
Press:
 
- The Royal Photographic Society Competition, BBC News, In Pictures, October 04, 2017
- “These Forgotten Shreds of Plastic Helped a Photographer Mourn His Mom”,
    MaryAnne Golon, The Washington Post, In Sight (March 13, 2017)
- The Longest Running Photography Exhibiton in the World, Freire Barnes,
   TheCultureTrip.com, London – Art, October 17, 2017
- Winners of the RPS 160th International Exhibition, Salon Gadfil, Creative Review,
   Creative Inspiration, September 29, 2017
- Royal Photographic Society Winners, David Sim, International Business Times,
   Art. Sept 29, 2017
- The 2017 Selections, Barbara Bullock-Wilson, Rfotofolio.org Interview – Photographers,
    July 02, 2017
- Witness to the Persecution: “Art & Oppression”, Michael Abatermarco,
    Santa Fe New Mexican, Pasatiempo, June 23, 2017
- The Future of Canadian Photography, Alexis Marie Chute, PhotoED, April 2017
- Snag: Impermanence on the Vast Alberta Prairie, LensCulture, April 2017
- Power, LensCulture Curated Exhibition, LensCulture, October 2017
 
Fine Art Projects In-Progress – Exhibition and Book: On the Line
 
Lost for Words – Series 1 – 137 photographs - Silver Gelatin Prints (2011 – 2014) 
Final Steps – Series 2 – 53 photographs - Silver Gelatin Prints (2012 – 2013)
Rapt – Series 3 – 54 photographs - Silver Gelatin Prints (2013 – 2017)
Snag– Series 4 – 57 photographs - Silver Gelatin Prints (2015 – present)
In Plain Site – Series 5 – 46 photographs - Silver Gelatin Prints (2015 – present)
Wound – Series 6 – prototypes only – final shooting to commence in spring 2018 (2017- present)
 

wes@wesbellphoto.com

Yasmeen Melius says, "Viewing 'Missing May,' reveals not only a process of grief but my longing for her and the unspoken goodbye."

Melius’ practice is focused on photography and writing, in which she explores personal experiences, thoughts and questions.

With the influence of philosophy and narrative, her work increases the dynamic between artist and audience through expression, while investigating the duality that develops through different interpretations. The artist's fusion of delicate surfaces, raw subjects and her honesty of being, allow the audience to reflect on both themselves and the subject. 

CV - Education

2014-2017  | London College of Communication, BA (Hons) Photography.
2013- 2014 | Leyton Sixth Form, Foundation Diploma in Art and Design.
 
Exhibition & Screenings
 
2018 : Letter from Missing May, Letters for Lost Lovers, Kreativ House, London, UK.
2017: Missing May, Allegorical Ghosts - Wave Collective, Carmel by the Green, London, UK.
2017: Missing May, Kind Of, BA Photography Show, London College of Communication, London.
 
Awards

Michael Wilson award for Missing May in London College of Communication, BA Photography Show, 'Kind Of' 2017.

www.yasmeenmelius.com
Instagram - @yasmeenmelius

 

Yelena Zhavoronkova says of this series, 'Dead End', "Some places are hard to visit or even drive by.

For different reasons. Over the years I collected quite a number of these spots in the city of San Francisco, where I live since the early 1990s.

To break the pattern, to remove the spell which is giving me the heart ache every time I am passing by one of those areas, I started to visit them with my camera, reliving the moments from my past. 

The name of the project, the "Dead End", is coming from one of the images, and is very accurately describing the situation my life put me into a few years ago. In my native Russian, the end of the road, "tu-PIK", doesn't sound that literate as it sounds in English though could also be used to express the sadness and hopelessness. 

Here is the beginning of my long journey, which is still ahead of me, but with a great hope for the best."

Yelena Zhavoronkova is a California based Fine Art Photographer and Graphic Designer. She received a Master’s degree in Industrial Design from the St. Petersburg Academy of Art and Industry, Russia, and has worked as a graphic designer for over three decades. Over the past decade Yelena has been intensively studying and working in photography, which helps her to express her artistic vision. 

Yelena’s projects are simultaneously very personal and universal in nature, speaking to the viewers on an intimate level that is familiar to all. 

Since 2010 her projects were exhibited in de Young Museum of Arts in San Francisco, City Hall of San Francisco and RayKo Photo Center of San Francisco; Blue Sky Gallery and LightBox Gallery in Oregon; and many other galleries around the United States and in Europe. Her works were published in the online edition of The New Yorker magazine, featured in Shutterbug magazine and Transformation literary journal, among others.

As a part of the Indie Photobook Library Collection Yelena’s “Memories in Red” book is included in the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Yale University. 

Yelena’s Archival Digital, Silver Gelatin and Platinum/Palladium prints are the part of many private collections and institutions in USA and in Europe. Currently she represented by the Anzenberger Gallery in Vienna, Austria and Corden|Potts Gallery, San Francisco, CA.

CV
SELECTED Exhibitions

2018
“SEEING RED” Group Show, Gray Loft Gallery, Oakland, CA. Juried by Ann Jastrab.

2017
“HOLIDAY Selections,” Gallery Artists Group Show, Corden|Potts Gallery, San Francisco, CA
"Summer Selections," Gallery Artists Group Show, Corden|Potts Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Top 200 "2017 Critical Mass" Finalist. International Competition by Photolucida, Portland, OR
 "Here, Part II: FINE LINES AND OTHER FICTIONS," Curated by Renny Pritikin of Contemporary Jewish Museum. Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley, CA
 "Alternative Process Photography," Juried by Mark Nelson, Max Kellenberger, & The Image Flow. The Image Flow Gallery, Mill Valley, CA
 "Davis Orton Gallery 8th Annual Photobook Show," Juried by Paula Tognarelli and Karen Davis. Davis Orton Gallery, Hudson, NY and Griffin Museum of Photography, Winchester, MA
"Tree Talk," Juried by Paula Tognarelli. Griffin Museum of Photography, Winchester, MA.
"Fairy Tales and Nuclear Bombs, Lightbox Photography Gallery, Astoria, OR
Photo Alliance "Our World" Portfolio Review Participant, San Francisco, CA
"Black and White," Juried by Ann Jastrab. The Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, CO

2016
Top 200 "2016 Critical Mass" Finalist. International Competition by Photolucida, Portland, OR
  "Something Personal," APA San Francisco 19th Annual Show, San Francisco, CA
  "It’s All in the Details," PWP group show, New York, NY
   "Alternative Process Photography," Juried by Brian Taylor, Kerik Kouklis, & The Image Flow. The Image Flow Gallery, Mill Valley, CA.
"OLD," Juried by Ann Jastrab. A Smith Gallery, Johnson City, TX
  "Handmade III," Platinum/Palladium Prints, "Grana" Collection, Anzenberger Gallery, Vienna, Austria
   "Davis Orton Gallery 2nd Annual Group Show," Juried by Paula Tognarelli. Davis Orton Gallery, Hudson, NY.
  "FotoFest 2016 Biennal," International Meeting Place, Participant. Houston, TX
  "HEAVY METAL III," Jured by Susan Burnstine. LightBox Photographic Gallery, Astoria, OR
  "MINIMALISM," 81 Bees Collective Group Show, Mullen Brothers Imaging, San Francisco, CA

2015
 "Memories, Stories, Histories," Juried Show, curated by Amy Galpin. The Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, CO
"FAMILY," Group Show, Curated by Ann Jastrab. RayKo Photo Center, San Francisco, CA
"PRINTS," Solo Show, Glass Key Photo, San Francisco, CA
"Platinum/Palladium Prints, Seeds Collection," PHOTO Art Gallery, Oakland, CA
"Treasure," Jured Exhibition, Juried by Roy Flukinger. A Smith Gallery, Johnson City, TX

2014
 "75 years: Selections from the CCSF Photography Department." Group Show. Juried by Sandra S. Philips, SF MOMA; Richard Koci Hernandez, New Media UC Berkeley; and Chuck Mobley, SF Camerawork. SF Camerawork, San Francisco, CA
“Now that You’re Gone … San Francisco Neighborhoods Without Us," The SFAC Galleries Art at City Hall program in partnership with PhotoAlliance. Curated by Meg Shiffler and Thom Sempere. City Hall of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
"Best of Botanicals," Juried Show. PHOTO Oakland Gallery, Oakland, CA
"Trees," Juried Exhibition, Juried by Ellen Jantzen. A Smith Gallery, Johnson City, TX

2010-13
"The Optical," Juried Exhibition, Juried by Allan Chasanoff. Blue Sky Gallery, Portland, OR
"Plastic Fantastic IV Show," Juried by Susan Burnstine. LightBox Photgraphic Gallery, Astoria, OR
"Looking Back: The Art of Nostalgia," Juried by Mary Ann Lynch. PhotoPlace Gallery, Middlebury, VT
"Spring in Japan," Solo Show. 4x5 Gallery, San Francisco, CA
“Memories in Red” Collection, Solo Show, Porto Franco Art Parlor, San Francisco, CA

www.photo.yzdesign.com