Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Visual Arts High time for Sheila Pree Bright
Posted by David Lee Simmons on Tue, Apr 29, 2008 at 2:00 PM
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As Felicia Feaster reported in her excellent cover story in Creative Loafing, Atlanta photographer Sheila Pree Bright hits the big time this weekend when she opens her Young Americans exhibit at the High Museum — a companion exhibit to the High's Road to Freedom photography exhibit. Here's what Felicia had to say about the much-anticipated exhibit …
The project centers on a generation, roughly aged 16-27 – reared on their parents’ world of war, consumerism and corruption – a generation that soon will be running the country. In her layered examination of Gen Y and its complicated relationship to America, her ethnically and racially diverse subjects pose with the flag in a way they think best expresses their identity as Americans: cradling it like a baby, hiding under it, kissing it, protectively draping it over their bodies like a shroud; loving it, hating it, trying to wrap their minds around what America means in the same way Bright tries. …An obvious expansion of Bright’s interest in multiculturalism, Young Americans advances ideas addressed by a number of prominent photographers – among them, Robert Frank, Richard Avedon, James VanDerZee and Weegee – who have revealed the nuances and underlying tensions involved in being an American. Bright claims Roy DeCarava as a particular influence; his velvety images of Harlem shed light on the black experience, often lurking on photography’s margins.
Don't forget to check out the audio slide show that accompanies the cover story, hosted by Felicia and featuring comments by Bright on her work.
(Photo by Joeff Davis)
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