Images as Gateway - Morgain Bailey
This year has become a global turning point, filled with myriad opportunities for change. As the curator of this gallery, I chose images from a diverse group of creative minds who used abstraction and composition as their primary communication tools. A focus on these formal elements provides the viewer with an invitation to enter into the prism of the image without needing to focus on a specific interpretation. This allows room for the viewer to move through their private response with less guidance and more opportunity for a meditative response. When we are dealing with crises and are needing to dive into the process of creating change, we also need a place to go to get away from the onslaught of information most of us are experiencing.
Abstract images invite the viewer to explore their own non-linear reactions. The photographer has their reasons for making these images, which become offerings to the viewer. The images soundlessly offer compassion, seek empathy, provide an escape, and express anxiety.
Deciding to create abstract and non-linear images or to focus on composition as one’s primary tool for visual communication can be a method for coping with discomfort, escaping from lived experience, or for diving deeper into the moment. This can become a meditative practice for the photographer, allowing them to transcend difficulty or to create space for understanding experiences that move too fast to comprehend in real-time.
Semi or non-referential images not only allow the viewer space to interpret them freely, but they also bypass the need for written or spoken language and can be effective at communicating and processing complex emotions and experiences. During a time like this, we need as much help as we can get to process our reactions.
Using composition to convey meaning is a way to bypass the perceived realism of photography. Some of the images in this collection are not abstract but contain abstract elements created by composition. These elements invite a more visceral and non-linear response.
Things change, with or without guidance. Sometimes change happens so fast we don’t see it until after it’s over. I hope that the work of these photographers will remind us of the value of each moment and offer some space to reflect on this time while contributing to our lived experiences.
Morgain Bailey is a queer-identified, non-binary artist who works with photography as her primary media. She has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from The San Francisco Art Institute and has maintained a studio art practice for 34 years while juggling multiple careers. These days, she is a working artist who is continuing to explore new methods of creative problem-solving while simultaneously expanding on recurring themes. She moved to the rural northeast in 2015 and works out of her home in western Maine.