SJU Galleries Open New Semester with Dual Exhibitions
"Pink Line," a photo from Ydeen's series.
Saint Joseph’s University Galleries will begin the new academic year with a pair of professional exhibitions. “Easton Nights,” a collection investigating Americana through low-light stills by photographer Peter Ydeen, will be on display in the Merion Hall Gallery through September 25. “Z,” a series of photos exploring gender variance using historical developing techniques by multimedia artist Rowan Renee, will showcase in the Boland Hall Gallery through September 20.
“Easton Nights” highlights the town of Easton, Pennsylvania. Though Easton is located just over an hour from both two major cities — Philadelphia and New York City — Ydeen began the project thinking it was “disconnected and drawn into itself,” according to his artist’s statement. By photographing scenes at night, he found there was more to the area than he first imagined.
“The Lehigh Valley is home to almost one million people and an almost, three-hundred-year history, but still retains the small town atmosphere which mixes with a broad ethnicity and thus reflects so much of the country,” he says. “It is a narrative of the subtlety of who we are: unassuming, but at the same time, permeated with the magical and mystical.”
Gallery Curator Jeanne Bracy sees playfulness in the dichotomy of darkness and color in Ydeen’s photos.
“His ability to capture humor in the mundane cleverly contrast his black mattes and flat gray frames,” she says. “One must look closely to notice the details in the dreamlike photos.”
Ydeen will deliver an artist talk at the Merion Hall gallery, located on the James J. Maguire ’58 Campus, on Tuesday, Sept. 25, at 11:30 a.m.
“Z” is a collection of nude portraits working with transgender, cisgender and a spectrum of gender non-conforming individuals. The photos are produced using a 19th century process called wet plate collodion, in which a glass plate is treated with a photosensitive chemical to produce negatives, then developed into positives on another piece of glass. The use of this process, according to the artist, revises and reimagines the historic omission of gender variance from the photographic record
“The images in ‘Z’ are conceived as reparative acts, superimposing new imagery into the gaps left by history,” says Renee
“Renee’s process achieves dark, gritty details in the models' skin and faces that set the mood for the series,” says Bracy. “Renee wants the viewer to reflect on how the individual knowledge that they bring into the gallery influences their perception of the figure and series.
Renee will deliver an artist talk at the Boland Hall gallery, located on Lapsley Lane, on Thursday, Sept. 20, at 11:30 a.m
Both galleries are open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Merion Hall offers additional open hours Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. A campus map is available online.