Disappearances Artist Salon: David Ellingsen and Yasmeen Strang

FREE

How do we contend with looming threats to ecological and cultural diversity? This artist talk accompanies an exhibition that presents the notion of “disappearances” as seen through the lens of two photo-based artists: David Ellingsen and Yasmeen Strang.

Ellingsen’s works are a response to the ravages of human activity on the natural world. His solarized Polaroid negatives reveal deep mixed feelings of preservation and loss; we are allowed such close intimacy with life forms we would rarely see in person, and yet they are removed so profoundly from living nature.

Strang’s portraits of the Suri tribe in Ethiopia offer us a rare view into this remote culture. Juxtaposing traditional markings on the women’s bodies with graphic texts of Westernized teachings, Strang’s images raise questions about the encroachment of Western culture on tribal knowledge and practices.