“Pulp” Preview: Judith Black

A preview of a work that will be in “Pulp: Works on Paper by the Studio Art Faculty“:  “Cadie, July 2008″, a photograph by Judith Black.  Read her artist statement below the image.

As I start a sabbatical leave for 2009-10, this exhibit gives me an opportunity to work with one theme, one location, one space in which many of my photographs have been taken: the backyard. In 1997, I exhibited work in the Davis Museum which was titled “I Need To See You.” That installation presented new work, but looked back on older images to give context and family history. Given this year in which to organize and work with 30 plus years of negatives, these more recent images are part of a larger body of work focusing on family.

My father turned 90 this year and death is becoming a more familiar companion to those of us in our 60s. Our grandchildren are growing up too fast. Photos are what we use to keep from having too many “senior moments” of forgetfulness. Embedded in the images are the fleeting and ever changing moments of recognition that Roland Barthes writes about in “Camera Lucida.” -Judith Black