“The images of photographs, once seen, exist in our memory until some actual incident, which we witness or live, refers to one of them as though to a more solid reality.” — John Berger
Martha Strawn’s photographs are of images that she has lived to understand; they’re images that are very real and very meaningful to her. And this is what she shares with us in Martha Strawn: New Works, a new exhibit at Hodges Taylor Gallery.
The prints in this small exhibit are divided into three different series of works. The “Threshold Series” features seven photographs of threshold diagrams, which are traditional symbolic images drawn with rice flour that transform the secular to the sacred. These diagrams made by Hindu women assert their power to maintain an important cultural and spiritual link between the past and the present. The “Water and Light Series” consists of images that are more personal, more meditative — they’re more about Strawn than any particular subject or culture. And the “Davidson Lands Series” presents the areas that the Davidson Lands Conservancy is working to preserve.
In a recent conversation with Strawn, who’s not only a local artist but also a longtime teacher at UNC-Charlotte, she allowed a glimpse into her creative thought process.
Creative Loafing: What are you trying to capture in your work?
Martha Strawn: I’m interested in capturing a sense of place, to create an image that conveys culture by capturing the environment and its contextual reality. For me, a sense of place is different than the identity of place. It relates more to an understanding or a feeling geographically and culturally along with my own experience of that place.
Tell me about your method. What kind of equipment do you use, and how do you choose your subject matter?
I use a 35 mm Nikon; most of the time I use a 24 mm lens. It’s more natural for me because I like to change position when I work. I like to move in and out. Plus, I prefer the wide angle. I also tend to flatten the perspective in my prints because I like to see the patterning over the surface of the picture plane. I find that flattening the perspective also asserts the two-dimensionality of my medium. I use every kind of exposure. Depth of field is important to give my images a sharpness from front to back.
My subject matter is linked with my interests in different cultures. I’m also very interested in anthropology and environmental issues. All of the photographs in the show were born of these interests. When I take on these series, however, it’s not just about capturing the images but also about immersing myself in the culture, the environs. I do a lot of reading and research to understand my subject. In 1997, John Hopkins Press published my book Alligators: Prehistoric Presence in the American Landscape. This was a 10-year project. A book presently in the process of publication, Across the Thresholds of India, draws from my research and photographs of Threshold Diagrams.
What do you like about photography as an art form?
I like the refinement of the medium. I especially like its magical qualities, working with the various chemicals, the alchemy that happens in the darkroom. I sometimes work on a print for as long as two days, shifting tones around until they’re just right in terms of light.
The notion of time is an interesting issue in photography. What are your thoughts on this?
I aim to make photographs that are not “place-able” in time. My hope is that when you look at the images, you’re not aware of when they were taken. Since I seek to capture a sense of place, I want to take pictures that are timeless.
Tell me about the Water and Light Series.
When I was a child, my father used to always say, “Look at the sky.” I’m still drawn to water and light. These photographs are more personal, more meditative. Also, the medium of photography is light — you wouldn’t have a photograph without it. Taking photographs of water is all about how the light comes off of its surface. Water can have a meditative quality or a fury, but every bit of it is about the light.
Strawn’s success as a photographer depends upon her technical skill, her ability to select, her understanding of the places that she visits, her sense of timing, and her use of the camera. What most determines her success and what I like most about her photographs is that she balances a documentary approach with the personal. Her images could easily be sterile or they can quickly become sentimental, but they avoid both these traps because of her sincere respect for her subjects and her desire to photograph what she sees and feels. Her photographs hit an interesting mid-point between objectivity and subjectivity. It’s not an easy task, requiring a great deal of skill, experience, and determination.
Martha Strawn: New Works will be on exhibit through May 31 at Hodges Taylor Gallery, 401 N. Tryon Street. For details, call 334-3799. *
This article appears in Apr 24-30, 2002.
