EXHIBITION: Ian Amell
"Here There be Dragons"

May 9 - May 20, 2007


Opening Reception:

Friday, May 11, 2007, 6 - 9 pm

 

  
 


 
 
 
 
   
 
 
 
 
   
 
     
    In the ancient past cartographers wrote, “here there be dragons” in areas outside the known world. The life of “drag queens” and others who cross dress has been outside the known world of most of society. Today that is changing. The advent of television has enabled the dissemination of previously little-known cultures and “subcultures”. This agitprop has widened and enriched society even while it has gone screaming and scratching into the unknown. Western society is better for it and is learning to embrace other cultures. While this transition is not complete, the collection of images Here There Be Dragons sets out to challenge the preconceptions and fears of society’s unknowns.

This group of work is not merely documentation of people and events but explores the essence of those involved. Digital altering of the images further adds to certain surreal aspects of their stories. If a “picture is worth a thousand words”, these images speak volumes. They are a testament to the human quality in all of us while exploring a “critical perspective” of a specific group. Painting and drawing would have been the pathway, in the past, to this kind of exploration. Digitization, however, now allows for a more immediate relationship with the transformative potential of photography.

Ian Amell