The photo-based body of work, Wish You Were Here You Are, contributes to a contemporary representation of motherhood through constructed, rephotographed images and video montage. The resulting open-ended visuals exist in a kind of in-between place that oscillates between the real and the unreal. Through its varied visuals, Wish You Were Here You Are does not rely on a singular point of view, fixed identity, or function of photography. Alternately, the work creates opportunities for the viewer to consider the multiplicity of signification, contingency of meaning, and relationships between truth and illusion in every layered pictorial plane. Wish You Were Here You Are simultaneously navigates and explores maternal experience through constructed rephotography that foregrounds the illusory condition of the medium and provides a new, multilayered representation of motherhood.

Emma Creighton Hopson’s visual images explore themes of identity and time as they relate to relationships and the social landscape. She works primarily with a view camera as a way to connect with the history and craft of photography and she embraces the medium’s ability to affect perception. She lives with her family in Savannah, Georgia. Emma is currently an MFA candidate in Photography at the Savannah College of Art and Design.

emmahopson.com

Noēsis: As time goes on, I realized that it was no longer easy for me to conceal my emotions. They are always abundant but restrained. Being with myself disengages me temporarily from reality and immerse me in the universe of emotions. I enjoy the silence and appreciate the rich thoughts that being alone brings to me. At the same time, I deal with ambiguous and incomprehensible darkness hidden deep in my heart. The project aims to visualize my inner dialogues and thoughts, which are sensitive, fragile, and dark.

Jiabao (Bonnie) Sun was born in Hangzhou, China, and currently lives in Atlanta, Georgia. She is completing the degree of Master of Fine Arts at Savannah College of Arts and Design in Atlanta, Georgia. Jiabao’s works, which often explore time and self-development using photography and poetry. She also works in many mediums including alternative photographic processes, collage, and paint. She has been included in numerous group exhibitions and was recently nominated by the 7th Fine Art Photography Awards. 

sunjiabao.com

Unity of opposites: I am interested in achieving a unity of opposites. Painting can be an object, but also be expressive force. Real and illusory, positive and negative, abstract and realistic, conscious and unconscious, similar and dissimilar, casual and serious. Painting can fuse seemingly incompatible things together to create a new product. My paintings come from reality as well as from abstraction. I reproduce abstract fluid textures with realistic brush strokes, abstract patterns and constructions are formed unconsciously, and the random flow of paint intermingles and pushes each other to formulate natural texture, presenting uncontrollable consequence. I researched the idea that human beings should look at the world in general from the macro perspective of the universe. In the process of understanding the work, people see life anew, see things around them anew, and search for new possibilities. My work reveals a powerful existence with the unity of opposites as its core composition, I present an aesthetic of conceptual opposition in abstract realistic form.

 Jiachun Zheng is currently an MFA candidate in Painting at the Savannah College of Art and Design. Jiachun is good at using oil painting skills to express her voice. She loves to explore the truth and mystery of the world, about people, missions, the earth and the universe. Jiachun believes that the responsibility and obligation of an artist is to find more meaning in the world, and even to transform meaninglessness into meaning. Her career ambition is to become an independent artist, create more interesting works, and take art as her lifelong ideal.

jiachunzhengartist.com

Landwalks is a collaboration between the natural landscape and the artist. Using a light source to trace distance, I utilize my body and tools to map the topography. These explorations reveal a dynamic interaction between myself and the environment that speak to the complicated relationship between nature and man. Performance is highly present in the work, as each photograph is specific to the location. While each light trail and landscape is unique, my goal is to explore the interconnectedness of nature, man, and technology, illustrating the symbiotic relationship between them; one party never holds absolute control over the other.

John Villarreal Jr., born and raised in Galveston, Texas, has always been surrounded by art and creative individuals. Having a passion for the natural world, he completed his BFA in Studio Art with a minor in Biology Veterinary Medicine from University of the Incarnate World. Whilst studying abroad in Rome, Italy he restored frescos. Upon completion of his undergraduate degree, he went on to pursue an MFA in Photography from Savannah College of Art and Design. Inspired by his love of nature and art, his work combines performance, photography, and installation in collaboration with the environment.

johnvillarrealphotography.squarespace.com

“Plastics” showcases the nature of nostalgic, consumer products. Behind product function and its mass marketing lies a deeper significance to the formal elements of line, color, and shape in its identity. Through appropriation, deconstruction, and reconfiguration of these product’s intricate parts, they are abstracted. This transformation reveals a new visual language to understanding the origins of object aesthetics in consumer culture.

As a child, Johnny Cohen could be found wide eyed, hands pressed against the immense, glass windows at the striking window displays of retail stores.  The silhouettes, colors, and stage lighting left him starry eyed. After graduating with his bachelor’s degree in marketing and working as a window display artist, he pursued his MFA in Sculpture at Savannah College of Art and Design to follow his passion. Currently, Johnny collects everyday objects that are fascinating-whether it be the shape, function, or color making their way into unique compositions that reflect on his experience within consumer culture.

johnnycohenart.com

“SOMA” reflects on the displacement, objectification, social politics, and psychological imprisonment of feminized/racialized bodies, largely promoted by hegemonic representation practices, media, and cliches. My creative process unfolds by using known imagery, ranging from art history to vintage porn, and the reassignment of meaning by dissecting and juxtaposing traditional and contemporary images. Working with mixed media and photo-based processes, creating layers of information, the superimposed images become metaphors for the plurality of the female character. Intertwining positive and negative images challenge historical and contemporary references and symbols, revealing the oppressed, divided, and subverted notions attached to women and the female persona.

Katy Beltran is a Colombian-born fine arts photographer currently living in Atlanta, GA. Beltran is in the final stages of her MFA Photography program at SCAD Atlanta. Beltran has five years of fieldwork as a nonprofit manager, founding Museo Nueva Memoria in Colombia, a non-profit that uses art and photography to honor the life narratives of at-risk communities. She also works with SISTERLOVE, INC, an international nonprofit organization working to protect Sexual and Reproductive Health rights of women and the LGBTQ+ community. Through her work, she deals with the personal human dramas of life focusing on the feminine body and the soul.

katybeltran.com

“My Skin My Logo” captured subjects in places they had felt most comfortable. Most of the time, I found myself in the worst parts of town. It took me no time to adapt to any location because I was always welcomed as family. Some were surprised I found beauty in their surroundings. Other’s embraced their “hoods” wholeheartedly. A lot of the people in these areas were surprised that a young Black woman with no gun had been traveling alone. Nonetheless, I felt comfortable, protected even. Being in these spaces brought me closer to my subjects in more ways than I could imagine. I was not ashamed of them, and they were anything but ashamed of themselves. This was their life, and I was just there to document their stories. I felt at home, and I think my subject’s understood that, allowing them to let their guards down. We had an underlying connection, which was that of our skin. Our logo, that would define us whether we wanted it to or not.

Kourtney Iman (b. 1997) is a photographer and creative director based in Alabama. Kourtney received her B.A from the University of Alabama in Criminal Justice and African-American Studies. In 2020 she began working towards her MFA in photography at Savannah College of Art and Design, focusing on street photography and portraiture. Her work explores the overall notions of blackness - the culture and the aesthetics that follow.

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In her thesis exhibition Unseen, Unloved & Unheard, Sharidyn Barnes navigates complex ideas of identity and race through a series of portraits of her SCAD contemporaries. Placing the depiction of Black stories at the forefront of her practice, Barnes draws from the visual language of hip-hop and popular culture while using a European style of painting and representation to investigate Western ideas of beauty and challenge notions of the white gaze. Fearless, uncompromising, and unapologetically themselves, Barnes’ subjects display a range of emotions, emphasizing their humanity. The artist engages in purposeful mark-making, giving agency to the individual while bringing visibility to broader issues of systemic racism.

Sharidyn Barnes (b.1995, United States) is an artist from Dallas, Texas who received a B.A. in Studio Art at Jackson State in 2018. She is an artist who captures the personal relationships and experiences as an African American woman. She seeks to create a universal understanding by exploring the characteristics of her subjects. These ideas are made to challenge the stigma of race by shifting the conversation to the individual. Her work has been featured in group exhibitions at Gallery 1 in Jackson Mississippi and Open Studio at SCAD. She has also participated in the Margaret Walker Creative Festival and volunteered her artistic abilities at Dallas Museum of Art and the Mint Foundation. She graduated with an M.F.A from Savannah College of Art and Design in Spring 2021.

sharidynbarnes.com