THE GAZE- Jerry Russo > THE GAZE: SECOND PLACE: Donna Bassin 'My Own Witness, Rupture & Repair, Aya 1
THE GAZE: SECOND PLACE: Donna Bassin 'My Own Witness, Rupture & Repair, Aya 1
MY OWN WITNESS, RUPTURE & REPAIR, AYA 1 by Donna Bassin
SECOND PLACE
(Click on image for larger view)
SECOND PLACE
(Click on image for larger view)
“What is a portrait, if not an acknowledgment of a human encounter: an opportunity to imagine the life of another?”
Donna Bassin says, "Following the 2016 presidential election, I initiated portrait collaborations between those who – through race, sexuality, gender identity, age, ethnicity, and/or disability – felt they had been deemed invisible and un-entitled to their place in this American moment. Storytelling through pose, gesture, gaze, and props, they turned themselves "inside out" to visually assert their identity and invite a visceral face-to-face encounter with their humanity. The shared black velvet background and chiaroscuro lighting create an aesthetic unity, joining the individual to the collective.
I responded to the further injuries brought on by the pandemic, ongoing racial and economic inequality, and further erosion of our democracy by ripping the original portraits to create “wounds” of our individual and collective suffering.
Inspired by the Japanese practice of Kintsugi – which mends broken pottery by using gold lacquer to repair damage while highlighting the scars – I restored the torn portraits using golden rice paper and thread. The resulting scars remind us that we must not forget the incidents that create our wounds, but rather use them as a touchstone to move forward and mend our fractured relationships with ourselves and each other."
Donna Bassin, Ph.D., is an award-winning photographer, artist, author, professor, and filmmaker. Influenced by her work as a clinical psychologist and her experiences working with war veterans and at Ground Zero, Donna uses art to explore the creative edge of collective loss, grief, mourning, and transformation.
She is known for her documentaries, Leave No Soldier and The Mourning After, and her series The Afterlife of Dolls – an exhibition that was featured on PBS' State of the Arts and received a Golden Bell and Gradiva Award. She was selected as a recipient for the 2021 New Jersey Council on the Arts Fellowship in Photography.
Her work has been shown in numerous group exhibitions stretching from New York City to Los Angeles. Her photographs have also been commissioned for book covers and private collections.
Donna has contributed portraits from her series, My Own Witness, to Smack Mellon Gallery for their exhibition of Bound Up Together: On the 100th Anniversary of the 19th Amendment, and to the Her Flag project (www.herflag.com), where she created the stripe for New Jersey, which was displayed at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C. on Flag Day of 2021.
Donna's current projects, My Own Witness: Rupture and Repair and Precious Scars, explore the human desire for reconciliation in the wake of social fractures. The former was recently featured in the Newark Museum for the 2021 New Jersey Arts Annual: ReVision and Respond as well as a solo exhibition at the Soho Photo Gallery in New York City.
By Our Own Hand, an installation designed by Donna in collaboration with Frontline Arts, is on display at the Montclair Art Museum until August 2022. Inspired by Tibetan prayer flags, it consists of handmade paper made from military uniforms to serve as a reflective space.
Career Highlights:
Solo Exhibitions:
2021
My Own Witness: Rupture and Repair, Soho Photo Gallery, New York, NY
2004
Playing Around, Pierro Gallery, South Orange, NJ
Memories: Ascending/Descending, Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, NJ
2003
The Afterlife of Dolls, Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, NJ
Installations:
2022
RAW: Reassessment and Wonder, curated by Danielle Ogden, Jamestown Arts Center, Jamestown, RI; March 18 – May 7
2021
By Our Own Hand: Frontline Arts in Collaboration with Donna Bassin, Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, NJ; September 2021 – August 2022
Her Flag, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C.2020 Prayers for the Pandemic; Prayers for Progress; Prayers the Planet; Prayers for the Presidency!, Drawing Rooms, Jersey City, NJ
Bound Up Together: On the 100th Anniversary of the 19th Amendment, Smack Mellon, Brooklyn, NY
Art4Equality x Life, Liberty, & The Pursuit of Happiness, SaveArtSpace/Art4Equality; Billboard at McGuinness Blvd and Calyer St, Brooklyn, NY
Art Off-Screen, Neumeraki – curated by Eileen Jeng Lynch, D*FIT Studio, Montclair, NJ
2016
Cherry Blossoms in Winter, Rutgers – Newark, Branch Brook Park, Newark, NJ
Awards and Grants:
2021
New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation – Individual Artist Fellowship in Photography
2020
First Place – Los Angeles Center of Photography’s 5th annual juried exhibition: Exploring Humanity
Curator’s Choice – ProArts Jersey City
2018
Honorable Mention for Segregation and Human Rights in the 12th Julia Margaret Cameron Award, Photography Gala Awards
2017
NAAP Gradiva Award for “The Mourning After”
2014
Psychoanalytic Electronic Publishing, Video Grant for “The Mourning After”
2008
Leave No Soldier, Director/Producer. Documentary. Official Selection of the Rhode Island International Film Festival, The Big Muddy, New Filmmakers Festival, Best Director at the First Glance Film Festival and Merit award at the Accolade Film Festival
2007
The American Psychological Association, Division 39 Section IX Achievement Award
Group Exhibitions:
2022
NJSCA Artist Fellowship Showcase, Artworks Visual Arts Center, Trenton, NJ
Healing and Hope, Kente Royal Gallery, Harlem, NY
Expanding the Concept of Photography, Raritan Valley Community College, Branchburg, NJ
2021
Extinction – Save the Planet, Gallerium, Toronto, Ontario
What Lies Ahead, L.A. Photo Curator, Susan Spiritus Gallery, Irvine, CA
Contemporary Portrait, SE Center for Photography, Greenville, SC
Transformed: Objects Reimagined by American Artists, Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, NJ
New Jersey Arts Annual: ReVision and Respond, Newark Museum, Newark, NJ
The Empowering, Pro Arts Jersey City, Jersey City, NJ
Privilege, Power and Everyday Life, Studio Montclair, Montclair, NJ
2020
For Which It Stands, Ford Foundation Gallery and Assembly Room, New York, NY
Exploring Humanity, 5th Annual Fine Art Exhibition, Los Angeles Center of Photography, Los Angeles, CA
Artists for Social Justice, Kupferberg Center for the Arts at Queens College, New York, NY
Artists for Social Justice, Arc Gallery & Educational Foundation, Chicago, IL
Portrait 2020, SE Center for Photography, Greenville, SC
Art4Equality x Life, Liberty, & The Pursuit of Happiness, SaveArtSpace/Art4Equality; The Untitled Space, New York, NY
Her Flag, Old Barracks Museum, Trenton, NJ
2019
Little by Little, Art Intersection, Gilbert, AZ
State of the Art 2019, Studio Montclair, Montclair, NJ
Contemporary Portraiture: To See Each Other, Passaic County Arts Center, Hawthorne, NJ
ViewPoints 2019, Studio Montclair, Montclair, NJ
Titles of Photographs:
Donna_Bassin_My_Own_Witness_Rupture_and_Repair_Aya_1
Donna_Bassin_My_Own_Witness_Rupture_and_Repair_Shontel_11
Donna_Bassin_My_Own_Witness_Rupture_and_Repair_Tacy_5
Images for Sale:
My Own Witness: Rupture and Repair.Aya.1
18"W x 24"H / 13"W x 19"H
Archival pigment print, gold rice paper, sewn with gold thread
$1100 unframed / $650 unframed
Limited edition of 3 unique prints / Limited edition of 8 unique prints
Signed on front
My Own Witness: Rupture and Repair.Shontel.11
18"W x 24"H / 13"W x 19"H
Archival pigment print, gold rice paper, sewn with gold thread
$1100 unframed / $650 unframed
Limited edition of 3 unique prints / Limited edition of 8 unique prints
Signed on front
My Own Witness: Rupture and Repair.Tacy.5
18"W x 24"H / 13"W x 19"H
Archival pigment print, gold rice paper, sewn with gold thread
$1100 unframed / $650 unframed
Limited edition of 3 unique prints / Limited edition of 8 unique prints
Signed on front
Contact: Donna Bassin
dibassin@gmail.com
www.donnabassin.com
Instagram: www.instagram.com/p1nhole
----------------------------------
Donna Bassin says, "Following the 2016 presidential election, I initiated portrait collaborations between those who – through race, sexuality, gender identity, age, ethnicity, and/or disability – felt they had been deemed invisible and un-entitled to their place in this American moment. Storytelling through pose, gesture, gaze, and props, they turned themselves "inside out" to visually assert their identity and invite a visceral face-to-face encounter with their humanity. The shared black velvet background and chiaroscuro lighting create an aesthetic unity, joining the individual to the collective.
I responded to the further injuries brought on by the pandemic, ongoing racial and economic inequality, and further erosion of our democracy by ripping the original portraits to create “wounds” of our individual and collective suffering.
Inspired by the Japanese practice of Kintsugi – which mends broken pottery by using gold lacquer to repair damage while highlighting the scars – I restored the torn portraits using golden rice paper and thread. The resulting scars remind us that we must not forget the incidents that create our wounds, but rather use them as a touchstone to move forward and mend our fractured relationships with ourselves and each other."
Donna Bassin, Ph.D., is an award-winning photographer, artist, author, professor, and filmmaker. Influenced by her work as a clinical psychologist and her experiences working with war veterans and at Ground Zero, Donna uses art to explore the creative edge of collective loss, grief, mourning, and transformation.
She is known for her documentaries, Leave No Soldier and The Mourning After, and her series The Afterlife of Dolls – an exhibition that was featured on PBS' State of the Arts and received a Golden Bell and Gradiva Award. She was selected as a recipient for the 2021 New Jersey Council on the Arts Fellowship in Photography.
Her work has been shown in numerous group exhibitions stretching from New York City to Los Angeles. Her photographs have also been commissioned for book covers and private collections.
Donna has contributed portraits from her series, My Own Witness, to Smack Mellon Gallery for their exhibition of Bound Up Together: On the 100th Anniversary of the 19th Amendment, and to the Her Flag project (www.herflag.com), where she created the stripe for New Jersey, which was displayed at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C. on Flag Day of 2021.
Donna's current projects, My Own Witness: Rupture and Repair and Precious Scars, explore the human desire for reconciliation in the wake of social fractures. The former was recently featured in the Newark Museum for the 2021 New Jersey Arts Annual: ReVision and Respond as well as a solo exhibition at the Soho Photo Gallery in New York City.
By Our Own Hand, an installation designed by Donna in collaboration with Frontline Arts, is on display at the Montclair Art Museum until August 2022. Inspired by Tibetan prayer flags, it consists of handmade paper made from military uniforms to serve as a reflective space.
Career Highlights:
Solo Exhibitions:
2021
My Own Witness: Rupture and Repair, Soho Photo Gallery, New York, NY
2004
Playing Around, Pierro Gallery, South Orange, NJ
Memories: Ascending/Descending, Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, NJ
2003
The Afterlife of Dolls, Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, NJ
Installations:
2022
RAW: Reassessment and Wonder, curated by Danielle Ogden, Jamestown Arts Center, Jamestown, RI; March 18 – May 7
2021
By Our Own Hand: Frontline Arts in Collaboration with Donna Bassin, Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, NJ; September 2021 – August 2022
Her Flag, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C.2020 Prayers for the Pandemic; Prayers for Progress; Prayers the Planet; Prayers for the Presidency!, Drawing Rooms, Jersey City, NJ
Bound Up Together: On the 100th Anniversary of the 19th Amendment, Smack Mellon, Brooklyn, NY
Art4Equality x Life, Liberty, & The Pursuit of Happiness, SaveArtSpace/Art4Equality; Billboard at McGuinness Blvd and Calyer St, Brooklyn, NY
Art Off-Screen, Neumeraki – curated by Eileen Jeng Lynch, D*FIT Studio, Montclair, NJ
2016
Cherry Blossoms in Winter, Rutgers – Newark, Branch Brook Park, Newark, NJ
Awards and Grants:
2021
New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation – Individual Artist Fellowship in Photography
2020
First Place – Los Angeles Center of Photography’s 5th annual juried exhibition: Exploring Humanity
Curator’s Choice – ProArts Jersey City
2018
Honorable Mention for Segregation and Human Rights in the 12th Julia Margaret Cameron Award, Photography Gala Awards
2017
NAAP Gradiva Award for “The Mourning After”
2014
Psychoanalytic Electronic Publishing, Video Grant for “The Mourning After”
2008
Leave No Soldier, Director/Producer. Documentary. Official Selection of the Rhode Island International Film Festival, The Big Muddy, New Filmmakers Festival, Best Director at the First Glance Film Festival and Merit award at the Accolade Film Festival
2007
The American Psychological Association, Division 39 Section IX Achievement Award
Group Exhibitions:
2022
NJSCA Artist Fellowship Showcase, Artworks Visual Arts Center, Trenton, NJ
Healing and Hope, Kente Royal Gallery, Harlem, NY
Expanding the Concept of Photography, Raritan Valley Community College, Branchburg, NJ
2021
Extinction – Save the Planet, Gallerium, Toronto, Ontario
What Lies Ahead, L.A. Photo Curator, Susan Spiritus Gallery, Irvine, CA
Contemporary Portrait, SE Center for Photography, Greenville, SC
Transformed: Objects Reimagined by American Artists, Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, NJ
New Jersey Arts Annual: ReVision and Respond, Newark Museum, Newark, NJ
The Empowering, Pro Arts Jersey City, Jersey City, NJ
Privilege, Power and Everyday Life, Studio Montclair, Montclair, NJ
2020
For Which It Stands, Ford Foundation Gallery and Assembly Room, New York, NY
Exploring Humanity, 5th Annual Fine Art Exhibition, Los Angeles Center of Photography, Los Angeles, CA
Artists for Social Justice, Kupferberg Center for the Arts at Queens College, New York, NY
Artists for Social Justice, Arc Gallery & Educational Foundation, Chicago, IL
Portrait 2020, SE Center for Photography, Greenville, SC
Art4Equality x Life, Liberty, & The Pursuit of Happiness, SaveArtSpace/Art4Equality; The Untitled Space, New York, NY
Her Flag, Old Barracks Museum, Trenton, NJ
2019
Little by Little, Art Intersection, Gilbert, AZ
State of the Art 2019, Studio Montclair, Montclair, NJ
Contemporary Portraiture: To See Each Other, Passaic County Arts Center, Hawthorne, NJ
ViewPoints 2019, Studio Montclair, Montclair, NJ
Titles of Photographs:
Donna_Bassin_My_Own_Witness_Rupture_and_Repair_Aya_1
Donna_Bassin_My_Own_Witness_Rupture_and_Repair_Shontel_11
Donna_Bassin_My_Own_Witness_Rupture_and_Repair_Tacy_5
Images for Sale:
My Own Witness: Rupture and Repair.Aya.1
18"W x 24"H / 13"W x 19"H
Archival pigment print, gold rice paper, sewn with gold thread
$1100 unframed / $650 unframed
Limited edition of 3 unique prints / Limited edition of 8 unique prints
Signed on front
My Own Witness: Rupture and Repair.Shontel.11
18"W x 24"H / 13"W x 19"H
Archival pigment print, gold rice paper, sewn with gold thread
$1100 unframed / $650 unframed
Limited edition of 3 unique prints / Limited edition of 8 unique prints
Signed on front
My Own Witness: Rupture and Repair.Tacy.5
18"W x 24"H / 13"W x 19"H
Archival pigment print, gold rice paper, sewn with gold thread
$1100 unframed / $650 unframed
Limited edition of 3 unique prints / Limited edition of 8 unique prints
Signed on front
Contact: Donna Bassin
dibassin@gmail.com
www.donnabassin.com
Instagram: www.instagram.com/p1nhole
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